Yes, quite a bit of what you are suggesting is in my game-plan already. I have an excellent relationship with my kid's elementary school. The Principal already presented Tommy Teaches to all the teachers and I got good reviews.
I am also about to get involved with their developmentally disabled classes. I know the teachers who look after those kids (one of them lives across the street from me) and they've already told me about a general lack of tools for their kids. My plan is to spend a week or two with the kids at school observing and interacting with them. I'm sure it will be heart-breaking to some extent but if I can help them in any way it'd be absolutely wonderful.
Ditto for the eBooks and some of the other ideas. I even have a very interesting concept for a Tommy Teaches toy.
At one point you start to run into the limits of a solo founder. I can't do everything. I have so far, including developing the character and doing all of the animation work (and I am not a designer at all). This is where intelligent money (meaning money that comes with vision, contacts, perspective, ideas, etc.) could be valuable.
Another interesting angle on Tommy is adult learning. Tommy's genetically-evolved teaching engine could be applied to teaching various subjects that adults want to learn. That's a very interesting market.
In terms of additional languages, yes, absolutely. I speak a couple of languages myself outside of English and am very aware of the lack of quality apps in those domains. Thinking out loud, Spanish might be the first I'd target.
You are welcome. I paid 99 cents for the alphabet app and left a review for you on the app store.
My wife is half-Thai and I know a lot of Thai people who want to learn English. You might want to consider an ESL aspect of your app for adults who speak a foreign language.
I think this proves that I know what I am talking about in this thread. My plan I wrote for your app is very similar to what you are doing, and you didn't tell me what it was.
Yes at some point you have to hire other people or take on investors and cofounders to help out. Make sure you research them thoroughly before you sign any contract with them. Don't take just anyone, there are a lot of scam artists out there that prey on startups like sharks.
Many thanks for purchasing the app. I'd certainly value your feedback if you have a chance to have small children play with it.
Yes, at one point you have to hire-in help. I am on the camp that an experienced solo founder could be better than inexperienced young co-founders. You can hire-in (and fire) help but if you discover that your co-founders are, shall we say, problematic, it can get ugly fast.
Prior to this I started a tech company in my garage that did pretty well until circumstances around the economic collapse of 2008 imploded it. Basically, most of our business was through leasing and when banks stopped lending our customers (and orders) evaporated nearly overnight. Ugly. Anyhow, I started it solo. Spent two years locked in the garage developing hardware and software. Grew it to twenty employees and a 10,000 square foot manufacturing facility at the peak. It was a fantastic ride. Not without peril, but, putting aside the pain of the loss of a twelve year effort, a wonderful experience.
You comment about scam artists one to heed. Newbie entrepreneurs can be prime targets. I have my share of scars to prove how "real" it can be.
Yes, quite a bit of what you are suggesting is in my game-plan already. I have an excellent relationship with my kid's elementary school. The Principal already presented Tommy Teaches to all the teachers and I got good reviews.
I am also about to get involved with their developmentally disabled classes. I know the teachers who look after those kids (one of them lives across the street from me) and they've already told me about a general lack of tools for their kids. My plan is to spend a week or two with the kids at school observing and interacting with them. I'm sure it will be heart-breaking to some extent but if I can help them in any way it'd be absolutely wonderful.
Ditto for the eBooks and some of the other ideas. I even have a very interesting concept for a Tommy Teaches toy.
At one point you start to run into the limits of a solo founder. I can't do everything. I have so far, including developing the character and doing all of the animation work (and I am not a designer at all). This is where intelligent money (meaning money that comes with vision, contacts, perspective, ideas, etc.) could be valuable.
Another interesting angle on Tommy is adult learning. Tommy's genetically-evolved teaching engine could be applied to teaching various subjects that adults want to learn. That's a very interesting market.
In terms of additional languages, yes, absolutely. I speak a couple of languages myself outside of English and am very aware of the lack of quality apps in those domains. Thinking out loud, Spanish might be the first I'd target.
Thanks again for the pointers.