Grockit

Grockit is a web-based social network for studying that uses collaborative learning to improve academic achievement and extend learning outside of the classroom.

Farb Nivi Founder and CEO Grockit Farb Nivi is founder and CEO of Grockit, an online test prep and collaborative learning tool that help students connect online in live real-time study games. A recognized leader in test prep education, Farb has spent much of his career helping prepare students for the SAT, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, GRE and ACT. Farb founded Grockit in 2006 with the vision to break the old paradigm of one size fits all classes and create a customized learning environment that adapts to the student. It was Farb’s desire to help students prepare for and excel at standardized tests combined with his many years of education sector experience that led him to launch Grockit, which leverages the social web to take learning out of the classroom, make it fun and empower students to learn from each other. Prior to Grockit, Farb spent several years as a manager and teacher in the field of standardized tests, witnessing firsthand the shortcomings and challenges of for-profit, classroom based teaching models optimized for the company rather than the student. During his time in the standardized test industry, Farb served as an academic director at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions in Southern California. In this role he managed the teachers and academic quality of Kaplan's Pre-College program in Southern California. Exercising his entrepreneurial skills, he helped Kaplan to consolidate their 15,000 square mile program area from eight Kaplan centers to one, employing a streamlined process to service the entire area. Before Kaplan, Farb was a Princeton Review master teacher, developing and publishing course curriculum and training teachers for the SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT, GRE and MCAT. In 2001, The Princeton Review honored Farb as National Teacher of the Year, a recognition based on the collective test score improvements and ratings of the students he taught. Farb’s teaching skills also led to an appointment to Princeton Review’s international summer school program at the prestigious Exeter Academy. Earlier in his career, Farb founded mobile computer service startup Vision Computer Solutions, eventually growing the business to over $100,000 in revenue. He also authored a proposal based on the company’s business model that garnered a Entrepreneurship Award from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Farb earned his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Michigan. In his free time, Farb is a singer songwriter and plays the guitar and the piano. His band has played in venues such as the Viper Room in Los Angeles and his songs have been featured in a major motion picture.