NOTSKOOL
ORIGINAL IDEA:
PANDORA FOR ONLINE LEARNING GAMES FOR KIDS AGES 5-14
FINAL IDEA:
EDUCATIONAL APP DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR PARENTS OF KIDS 3 -9
$250M DISTRIBUTION MARKET TODAY, $950M IN 2015
116 INTERVIEWS COMPLETED
3 FULL PIVOTS
BRAD WOLFE (MBA13) JERRY LEE (MBA13)
ROBBIE ALLAN (MBA13) TOM PRYOR (MBA14)
KIRILL IGUMENSHCHEV (COMP CHEM POSTDOC)
EMILY HAHN (MBA14)
Pandora for kids online games
YouTube
for kids
Reassessed three pivot Options
Educational app delivery platform
OUR EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY
NOTSKOOL v0
Pandora for kids online games
YouTube
for kids
Reassessed three pivot Options
Educational app delivery platform
OUR EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY
NOTSKOOL v0
Pandora for kids online games
YouTube
for kids
Reassessed three pivot Options
Educational app delivery platform
OUR EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY
NOTSKOOL v0
OUR EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY
Pandora for kids online games
YouTube
for kids
Reassessed three pivot options
Educational app delivery platform
NOTSKOOL v0
TEAM NOTSKOOL
ROBBIE ALLAN – MBA 2013, STRATEGY (MCKINSEY), GAMING (ZYNGA)
EMILY HAHN – MBA 2014, ENTREPRENEUR (LIFE TIE PROJECT), USER EXPERIENCE
KIRILL IGUMENSHCHEV – COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY POSTDOC, AI, C++
JERRY LEE – MBA 2013, EDUCATION MGMT (KIPP), DIGITAL MARKETING, VC
TOM PRYOR – MBA 2014, EDUCATION INVESTING (PEARSON, LEAPFROG)
BRAD WOLFE – MBA 2013, ENTREPRENEUR (BACKLIGHT.ORG), DESIGN, OB
OUR INITIAL BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
Content suppliers:
- Existing online
education suppliers
e.g. PBS KIDS,
FunBrains, BrainNook
- Traditional game
developers wanting to
move into education,
e.g. EA, Zynga
Distribution partners
(???):
- Gates Foundation
- Charter schools,
e.g.
KIPP, Aspire,
Rocketship
- Traditional schools,
e.g. OUSD, SFUSD
Developing AI that can
generate content
personalized to
learning styles and
learning needs
- Data on learning
patterns, styles and
preferences,
- AI and big data
experts
- Engaging
educational content
-Relationship with
online ed game devs
For students 5-14 and
their teachers and
parents who seek online
learning content outside
of the school system, our
platform is an aggregator
of educational content
that recommends content
based on the learner's
interests and style.
Unlike the existing
fragmented ecosystem of
educational products, our
platform recommends
content from a
comprehensive database
of sources and tracks
and aggregates
achievement across all
sources while providing a
gamification layer on top
of all content..
As an online
service, our customers
expect us to make
useful
recommendations and
to safeguard their
records
Mass Market:
Web-connected
children (and their
parents) who want
engaging content
and
a record of
achievement across
platforms
Medium term:
Professional
education?
Long term:
K-12 institutions
Tutors
Pre-K
Customers reach us
through an engaging
online portal (like
Pandora or
Netflix for education)
Content providers
provide content
through an API
- Mostly fixed costs for ongoing development
- Marginal cost to serve customers is ~0
- Content either free or based on a revenue-sharing model
- Advertising
- Customers (freemium content or licensing)
- Big data opportunity?
INFORMED OUR FIRST CONCEPT PITCH
Frictionless
movement between
games on web
platform
Curated and
professionally vetted
educational games
Dashboard showing
kids’ progress
Machine-learning for
customization
WE HAD SOME EARLY CUSTOMER SEGMENT LEARNINGS
Multi-sided market!
Age range too broad!
AND FOUND CHALLENGES ON BOTH SIDES OF OUR MARKET
PARENTS & KIDS
• No dilation
• Purchasing behavior
concerns
• Parents “ideal self”
DEVELOPERS
• Free content not great
• Constrained to indie devs
• iOS black box
• HTML5 uncertainty
WE DEVELOPED THREE PIVOT IDEAS
“It’s not our job to tell you which one to choose… If
we were your board, we would FIRE you.”
--Steve Blank & Jerry Engel, 2/13/13 (paraphrased)
AND INITIALLY CONSIDERED MOVING WHERE CONTENT WAS FREE
WE PREMATURELY JUMPED INTO BUILDING A PRODUCT…
http://notskool.me/
…INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO MORE CUSTOMERS
7/16
first place
votes
5/16
first place
votes
4/16
first place
votes
real pain,
proven model
fierce
competition
demand & logistics
concerns
WHO POINTED US TO OUR BEST BET
7/16
first place
votes
5/16
first place
votes
4/16
first place
votes
real pain,
proven model
fierce
competition
demand & logistics
concerns
DEEP DIVE: DEVELOPER’S DISTRIBUTION PAIN
“What I really need is an
easy way to distribute my
apps.”
--20+ developers we interviewed
WHAT WE DID: BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS UPDATE
WHAT WE DID: PRODUCT MOCKUP AND WIREFRAME
WHAT WE FOUND: STRONG POSITIVE PARENT RESPONSE
Structured
interviews
showing
mock-up
Kids use
smart-
phone
Avg. apps
downloaded
Likely to
refer us?
25 ~18 8.4
Paid
~4
“Installing your app is a no
brainer for me.”
-Father of 3 and 5 years olds
“I don’t have time to do the
research, it would be great
to outsource it to you.”
-Father of 2 and 4 yo girls
21
“I want to be on your newsletter now.”- Marius, Father of 4 and 8 year old girls
MORE LEARNING ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MARKET
PARENTS
• Sweet spot: Busy techies
• Trusted reviews critical
• Customization for age and
interests
• Integrated activities a
miss
DEVELOPERS
• All about Burst
• Traditional advertising fails
for indie devs
• Revenue model needs flex
• Customer feedback as
lifeblood
• Incentivize DL through
gamification
OUR STAGED REVENUE MODEL
FreeRevenue
shareCPI CPI + minimum
• Users: 0
• Our goal: grow
users
• Most attractive
to developers,
essentially free
UA
• Users: 5-50K
• Our goal: grow
revenue
• A low-risk
proposition for
developers
because they
won’t be left out
of pocket
• Users: 50K-2M
• Our goal: grow
profit
• More expensive
to developers
due to a proven
model and
organic value of
top 20 placing
• Users: 2M+
• Our goal:
maximize profit
• Most risky for
developers,
creates a
disincentive for
marginal apps to
use the service
Time
LAUNCHROCK > NEWSLETTER > APP BETA > FULL APP
153 sent
35% opened
13% CLICK RATE = NOT BAD!
WHERE WE ENDED UP: FINAL BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
LAUNCHROCK > NEWSLETTER > APP BETA > FULL APP
On your mobile device:
http://tinyurl.com/EdApped
FOUR BIG LESSONS
1. Kids love iPads
…but parents are
worried
2. Making education fun is hard
3. Mobile discovery and distribution a huge pain
4. Nothing beats
customer
feedback
IS THIS A VIABLE BUSINESS?
WE’VE IDENTIFIED A
REAL PROBLEM
1. Mobile/tablet use by kids
spiking
2. Parents struggles
3. Open and clicks provide
early validation
4. Devs really value burst
into top 25
…AND A MODEL FOR A
LIFESTYLE BUSINESS
1. Appgratis as our highly
lucrative analog
2. Magic #’s: 50K 1M users
(3% of our TAM)
3. Roughly an $8M a year
business
4. Churn rate a big question
mark
THANK YOU! QUESTIONS?
APPENDIX
WEEK 1 CANVAS
Content suppliers:
- Existing online
education suppliers
e.g. PBS KIDS,
FunBrains, BrainNook
- Traditional game
developers wanting to
move into education,
e.g. EA, Zynga
Distribution partners
(???):
- Gates Foundation
- Charter schools,
e.g.
KIPP, Aspire,
Rocketship
- Traditional schools,
e.g. OUSD, SFUSD
Developing AI that can
generate content
personalized to
learning styles and
learning needs
- Data on learning
patterns, styles and
preferences,
- AI and big data
experts
- Engaging
educational content
-Relationship with
online ed game devs
For students 5-14 and
their teachers and
parents who seek online
learning content outside
of the school system, our
platform is an aggregator
of educational content
that recommends content
based on the learner's
interests and style.
Unlike the existing
fragmented ecosystem of
educational products, our
platform recommends
content from a
comprehensive database
of sources and tracks
and aggregates
achievement across all
sources while providing a
gamification layer on top
of all content..
As an online
service, our customers
expect us to make
useful
recommendations and
to safeguard their
records
Mass Market:
Web-connected
children (and their
parents) who want
engaging content
and
a record of
achievement across
platforms
Medium term:
Professional
education?
Long term:
K-12 institutions
Tutors
Pre-K
Customers reach us
through an engaging
online portal (like
Pandora or
Netflix for education)
Content providers
provide content
through an API
- Mostly fixed costs for ongoing development
- Marginal cost to serve customers is ~0
- Content either free or based on a revenue-sharing model
- Advertising
- Customers (freemium content or licensing)
- Big data opportunity?
WEEK 2 CANVAS
WEEK 3 CANVAS
Trusted names in childhood education: KIPP, Common Sense Media, LeapFrog, Kumon, Little Einstein, UC Berkeley School of Education / Cognitive Science
Mentors and advisors with subject matter expertise
GET: AdWords, WOM, PR, (Gamasutra, TechCrunch), SPs
Rapid wireframing and protoyping of UI
Direct via Web Portal
Fixed costs for ongoing developmentMarginal cost to serve each additional customer should approach 0
Advertising (targeted to Parents via dashboards, kids only in-game ads)
Purchaser: Childcare (Care.com, SitterCity)
Purchaser: Afterschool Programs (Kumon, SCORE, BAGC)
Content Provider: Independent Game Developers
Content Provider: Established Publishers
End User: Children 3-7
KEEP: Good recs, trust and safety (i.e. Common Sense Media), reports
KEEP: Analytics, feedback, heat-mapping
GROW: Referrals, Cross-Promotes
Indirect via Mobile App stores (iOS, Android)
Quality online educational game content
Google and Amazon grants for free AdWords and server space
Contact developers for content / Contests?
Curation of content and development of AI
Purchaser: Tech-savvy parents; Caring parents
Content developer “guilds”
Content either free or based on a revenue-sharing model
Guilt-free way to entertain my child
Insight & reassurance that my kid is progressing
Control over what my children see and access
Confidence in content appropriateness
Simple help for my kids to meet developmental goals / give them an edge
Recommendations & confidence in the right apps/games
End User: Children 3-7
Subscriptions (monthly access, a la Netflix)
Commissions from developers for distribution to parents (?)
Revenue or user-sharing
Analytics, feedback
Ease of development
New
WEEK 4 CANVAS
WEEK 5 CANVAS
WEEK 6 CANVAS
WEEK 7 CANVAS
WEEK 8 CANVAS
WEEK 9 CANVAS
EDAPPED CUSTOMER ARCHETYPES
Type Parents of kids ages 2-7 Friends and Family Educational App
Developers
Demographics Digital 28-45yo Moms and
Dads
Multiple: Highly-connected
grandparents, “uncles and
aunts”, babysitters
Independent developers
or small studios
Product
Version
Free Mobile App Premium 1x or Subscription
Digital Giftbox
Both
Motivators “Cut through noise”; safe,
appropriate, positive content
for kids to spend time on
Provide content to enrich
and entertain my
grandkids/nephew/niece/
student
Distribution: exposure,
downloads, shared
revenue; the challenge of
making games that help
kids learn
Example(s) Han and Sammy Ralph Guggenheim and his
grandkids
I-Itch Inc., Loeschware,
Mak Gutierrez
INITIAL APP DEVELOPER CUSTOMER ARCHETYPES
“Early Indie” “Cocky Indie” “Shitty Opportunists”
Experience Less than 12 months More than 1 year of
experience
2-5 years of experience
Metrics Less than 10K
downloads/installs
10K+ downloads/installs 10K+ downloads/installs
(but not necessarily in ed
space)
Mentality “This is the next greatest
thing”
“If I build it, they will come” “How can I profit from this
edtech thing?”
Needs /
Motivation
Up and comer that wants to
put his/her work out there
Traction Scale Pure calculation of
revenues from additional
installs vs. costs of
BrightBox
LANDSCAPE OF POTENTIAL PARTNERS
Type Strategic Alliance Strategic Alliance Virtual Channel
We Need Validation, Brand Name Certification, Expert
Opinion
Parent Reach & Sign-ups
They Need Traffic, Revenue Recognition, Real-world
application of knowledge
The newest, best content
for their readership
The Cost Cross promotion/referral,
Sharing our review system
Time, potential $$$ per
review (at scale)
Time, long “sale cycle”,
revenue share?
Risks Impedence mismatch,
Potential competition
Highly dependent on
specific relationships
Impedence mismatch,
brand dilution?
Status Preliminary convo with COO
of CSM, Director of
Education at Kindertown
Working with Joseph on
structuring partnership with
Cog Sci PhD’s and
Postdocs at Berkeley
Ralph connecting us with
GGMG, emails out to a
few other mid-sized blogs