SayKid

How does a personalized book turn into a podcast? When I was a new dad, my daughter received a one-of-a-kind book. The hardcover was personalized, the words rhymed beautifully, and the illustrations were customized too! Over the years, we ordered more books - all just as amazing as the first. I realized the company wasn’t just selling me books; they were helping me make memories. As fate would have it, I developed a kids product 5+ years later… and my daughter and I were traveling to Chicago for an awards event. We’re listening to the By All Means podcast in the car. Allison Kaplan is talking with Maia Haag, Founder of I See Me! Me: “Do you remember that book about your name?” Daughter: “Of course… I loved that book!” Me: “This person made it!” We learn more: - MN-based company with global scale - Modern take on old product category - Bootstrapped business and lean ops Lots of parallels to SayKid. I was so tuned in that I missed our exit and got lost. As if making a physical product isn’t hard enough, Maia created a product that brings people - kids and adults - together in the real-world... something so important, yet is increasingly hard to do. So… when Twin Cities Business reached out about joining the podcast, Ali asked if there’s anyone who might have a helpful perspective. Needless to say, I mentioned Maia. And that’s how a personalized book led to a podcast. Maia shares thoughts on cost-effectively reaching consumers with an experiential product - including an idea I’d hadn’t heard before. I hope you get as much out of it as I did. Thanks Ali and Maia for the chat! It’s not live yet, but stay tuned! In meantime, I'll link to the 1st podcast in the comments.

SayKid didn’t have a “cyber Monday deal” BUT I do have a story about a billionaire who changed how I think about marketing and distributing ToyBots… SPOILER: he used the “b word!”??? Years ago, I attended Bradley Metrock’s conference and Mark Cuban was taking Q&A For context, I believe high-quality early learning is the best way to advance education and voice tech is the most-natural and *developmentally-appropriate* way to accomplish this. So… I asked Mark what he thought about voice technology in education. Effectively, he described what we were building at SayKid… focusing on young kids and building something comfy, cuddly, and interactive. But then he said this… “The minute a voice driven device can babysit your 2-year-old or 3-year-old for you know 20 minutes or longer. That's when the game changes!” Ugh. ?? Unfortunately for kids, Mark was right about the market. But I think he's wrong about education. The market for digital babysitters is massive. But they’re not helping kids learn… Kids don’t need babysitters. Kids need adults to be the best teachers we can be. We’ve not only made a toy kids love to play with but also a tool that makes it easy for adults to model all of the things important for child development. And even though we designed ToyBots to be affordable to all, Mark’s comment made me reconsider how we market and distribute them. Today, you can only get ToyBots from specialty toy stores we’ve trained, community partners, or from SayKid directly. Last year, we even turned away two customers who said "this would make a great babysitter." Am I too much of a purist? See Mark's full thoughts in the comments. If you’re looking for a toy that helps kids play to learn while also helping adults (re)learn to play, use promo code “play” for 15% off at ToyBot.com.