About Me

My name is Parag Batavia. My background is in technology - specifically robotics and autonomous systems. I’ve spent my career building software and hardware systems meant to operate and survive in harsh environments, while being used by users of all kinds of backgrounds. I understand safety, reliability, and security. My wife, Urmi, owns Batavia Studios, a performing arts studio in Mars, PA. We’ve got two girls, and our oldest, Annika, is a BFA MT ‘26 at Penn State. Our youngest, Maya, is an 8th gdfdrader and loves to dance.

Over 15 years ago, I started a robotics company, Neya Systems. It was crazy hard work, but we were very successful and I sold the company in 2017. Since then, I’ve been semi-retired. I teach entrepreneurship courses part time at Carnegie Mellon. I work as an “Entrepreneur in Residence” at accelerator programs, mentoring startups, and I help VCs do due diligence on investments they’re thinking of making. I love working with the next generation, and enjoy teaching.

When my daughter went through this process, I acted as the “dadager”. I created the same gigantic spreasheet everyone else does, which is still availbale here if you’d like!. Since I have a background in this, I’ve spent the last 6 months developing MyMT to try to address even part of the struggle that parents face.

My goal is to keep this extremely affordable, recognizing how inequitable and expensive this whole process is. I’m not trying to make a living off of this. I’ve been fortunate in life, and I want to find a way to give back to a community that has meant a lot to my family. If you’re on scholarship, getting assistance, fee waivers, etc - I don’t want the cost of this software to be a barrier. Reach out and we’ll figure it out!

I hope you’re willing to give it a try!