Our Story
Built by someone who wished it existed.
Bread Head started with a simple frustration — every teenager is expected to manage money, file taxes, and understand credit within months of graduating. Nobody teaches them how.
The Mission
Bread Head gives every teenager the financial literacy and real-world money skills to budget, save, and build wealth — so they can take control of their future no matter where they're starting from.
Congressional App Challenge · U.S. House of Representatives
Bread Head won a national competition run by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Congressional App Challenge is one of the most prestigious student technology competitions in the country — a nationwide program where high school students compete by building original apps, judged district-by-district by members of the U.S. Congress.
Bread Head took the win for Minnesota's 5th Congressional District in 2025. The award was presented at a congressional district townhall in Minneapolis.
View Official Listing →Presented at a congressional district townhall, Minneapolis
What We Believe
Principles we build by.
Respect the learner
Teens aren't children. We don't talk down, dumb down, or sugarcoat. Every lesson treats the reader like the capable adult they're becoming.
Real over theoretical
Pay stubs over abstract economics. Apartment budgets over hypothetical portfolios. If a teen won't face it in the next five years, it's not in the curriculum.
Habits over knowledge
Knowing isn't doing. Bread Head is built around repetition, reflection, and small daily actions — because that's what actually changes financial behavior.
Access for everyone
A teen in a well-funded district shouldn't have a better financial future than one who isn't. We're building toward universal access, regardless of zip code.
Recognition drives growth
Seeing your habits and blind spots clearly beats any lecture. Bread Head helps teens recognize what's actually happening with their money so they can make better decisions on purpose.
Ownership over excuses
Financial growth takes ownership, not perfection or shame. Bread Head is built to help teens track their choices, reflect over time, and turn responsibility into a lasting habit — not a one-time motivation spike.
Ved Bastodkar
Founder & Builder
I'm still in high school, and what I kept running into was that the resources out there for teens just aren't put together right. Some tools have budgeting but no lessons behind them — so what's the point? Others have content but skip journaling entirely, which is always the first thing to get cut. The individual pieces exist. Nobody had combined them in a way that actually works.
My background is in software and product design. I've spent the last few years building apps and learning what makes people actually change their behavior — not just what makes them nod along in a classroom.
The thing with teens is that we have to drive the change ourselves. That's why Bread Head is built around self-reflection — not to check a box, but because it's how you actually figure out what you need to do. It's not connected to parents like most financial apps. There's no one watching over your shoulder to tell you what to do or get upset instead of actually helping you reflect. It's just you, looking at your own habits honestly.
Dorian Matuszak
Head of Lesson Content Design
At Bread Head, I design the lessons that shape how people learn about money.
I'm interested in making financial education feel less like something you're supposed to get through and more like something that actually helps. A lot of financial content is either overloaded with jargon or stripped down so much that it loses substance. I work on building lessons that are easy to follow without feeling shallow.
That means thinking carefully about flow, tone, and what makes information stick. The best learning experiences don't just explain something well. They make people feel capable of using what they learned in real life.
That's what I try to build at Bread Head: financial education that feels clear, relevant, and genuinely worth paying attention to.
Mason Thies
Head of Marketing & Media Design
I manage media for Bread Head with one goal in mind — make financial education actually reach people.
What stood out wasn't a lack of information. It was a lack of connection. The content exists, but it rarely lands in a way that people engage with, or remember.
My background is in digital media and content strategy. I focus on how ideas move — what makes someone stop scrolling, what makes them care, and what makes them come back.
The goal is simple. Take something that's usually ignored and make it impossible to overlook. If the message doesn't reach people, it doesn't matter how good it is. That's the gap I try to work on every day.
100%
free for students, always
5 min
lessons, no fluff
Learn. Simulate. Reflect.
Want to bring Bread Head to your community?
We're actively partnering with schools, youth organizations, and foundations. Reach out — we respond to every message.