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The comment section here is pretty negative, and while I tend even to agree with a lot of it, as a school administrator working in the early childhood space, I

The comment section here is pretty negative, and while I tend even to agree with a lot of it, as a school administrator working in the early childhood space, I can shed light on one important element that a lot of folks here are missing: The demand for stuff like this is ABSOLUTELY real, and growing. Lots of folks here have made very thoughtful posts about why this is not an ideal way to motivate a child/teach them habits/etc., and lots of the responses counter with some wonderful practice that commenters do at home and works for them. I, too, have delivered that spiel about a gazillion time for parents. More specifically, when talking about internet safety, or healthy device use, my mantra is always about how ineffective the notion that "some tool" can solve this for them is, and that honest, deep, meaningful communication with their children is the only real way to address these things. You know... parenting. But 100% of the time, as soon as I am done, I get asked for all sorts of recommendations for things that I JUST told them are actually suboptimal and, ultimately, ineffective. I tend to work with mostly very high-earning families, who either by choice or circumstance, spend usually not that much time with their children and look at this stuff as another one of their many problems that they can outsource a solution to. It seems that OP here has developed a tool that can sell well to the parents (you are developing good habits!) while also appealing to the kids (its just a game!), and has high production value. The thing I'd argue most of you are missing is that the educational value of this, IF THEY ARE TO SUCCEED AS A BUSINESS, actually takes a backseat to the perceived value that this has for the parents and the kids. Those are not one and the same... at all. One commenter here said that they were surprised, as a parent, that YC would fund something like this. I chuckled, because I think something like this is exactly what following "make something people want" leads you towards, especially in contrast to "make something people need." I fully agree that no family needs this, and that frankly they are missing out on a lot thinking that this is a healthy thing to bring into their home. But I promise you that loads, and loads of family with lots of money WANT this.

NAR8789 5y ago
That is insightful but also depressing. Paraphrasing... 1) the incentives are set up to create more companies like Joon, but 2) the nature of the solution space ensures those companies tend to be parasitic on society rather than helpful. i.e. all solutions in this space will be net negative on society, but the space is too fertile so solutions will grow and find traction. Externality perfect storm. Do you think there's a way Joon can take their mindshare and pivot their audience towards healthier behaviors without tanking their business?
- ChicagoBoy11 5y ago
  > all solutions in this space will be net negative on society, but the space is too fertile so solutions will grow and find traction. To me, its a bit more about being stuck in a sub-optimal steady state. If we take this as an example, "the right", or optimal way to parent someone through these challenges, has become just too difficult. It is too steep a gradient to climb, so sub-optimal alternatives like this get a lot of traction. But then these sub-optimal alternatives actually change the landscape of the domain itself, making climbing the gradient to the optimal solution even tougher. It becomes self-fulfilling, and the optimal solution becomes unreachable. (I once revealed to a parent that during a lesson a child tearfully revealed that she felt that her parents didn't care about what she had to say because they would always be on their phones at dinner instead of talking to her. When I suggested revisiting that culture at home, the parent scoffed at me and ridiculed what I was suggesting, for surely no family could operate like that). If you ever see a family at a restaurant with a younger child glued to a screen, you instinctively recognize the effect I'm talking about. Surely not getting your toddler glued to a screen as you are out in the world is the right way to raise them. But it is hard. And, the fact is, you know there exists something there that can instantly get them to behave. So you gravitate towards it -- perhaps initially, JUST THIS ONE TIME. But of course now, it gets much harder not to do this again. And we're off to the races. If I can allow myself to get on a soapbox for a moment, I think the fake news phenomenon illustrates this so well. Never, in the history of humanity, has it been so easy to learn/know things. Yet it seems that at the same time, never have so many humans been certain of their completely false beliefs. At some point, you need to recognize that really the issue we have is one of demand, and sadly for us I don't think we really demand the things that we really need a whole lot of the time. This goes with these parenting apps, gyms, news, etc. Tech is just devilishly efficient at a lot of things, so I think we notice it more readily there. steps off soapbox
- beepbooptheory 5y ago
  Maybe there are just some things that can't be fixed in this world with the tool of venture capital. And if so, childcare and education are definitely good candidates.
deleted 5y ago
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NAR8789 5y ago

That is insightful but also depressing. Paraphrasing... 1) the incentives are set up to create more companies like Joon, but 2) the nature of the solution space ensures those companies tend to be parasitic on society rather than helpful. i.e. all solutions in this space will be net negative on society, but the space is too fertile so solutions will grow and find traction. Externality perfect storm. Do you think there's a way Joon can take their mindshare and pivot their audience towards healthier behaviors without tanking their business?

ChicagoBoy11 5y ago
> all solutions in this space will be net negative on society, but the space is too fertile so solutions will grow and find traction. To me, its a bit more about being stuck in a sub-optimal steady state. If we take this as an example, "the right", or optimal way to parent someone through these challenges, has become just too difficult. It is too steep a gradient to climb, so sub-optimal alternatives like this get a lot of traction. But then these sub-optimal alternatives actually change the landscape of the domain itself, making climbing the gradient to the optimal solution even tougher. It becomes self-fulfilling, and the optimal solution becomes unreachable. (I once revealed to a parent that during a lesson a child tearfully revealed that she felt that her parents didn't care about what she had to say because they would always be on their phones at dinner instead of talking to her. When I suggested revisiting that culture at home, the parent scoffed at me and ridiculed what I was suggesting, for surely no family could operate like that). If you ever see a family at a restaurant with a younger child glued to a screen, you instinctively recognize the effect I'm talking about. Surely not getting your toddler glued to a screen as you are out in the world is the right way to raise them. But it is hard. And, the fact is, you know there exists something there that can instantly get them to behave. So you gravitate towards it -- perhaps initially, JUST THIS ONE TIME. But of course now, it gets much harder not to do this again. And we're off to the races. If I can allow myself to get on a soapbox for a moment, I think the fake news phenomenon illustrates this so well. Never, in the history of humanity, has it been so easy to learn/know things. Yet it seems that at the same time, never have so many humans been certain of their completely false beliefs. At some point, you need to recognize that really the issue we have is one of demand, and sadly for us I don't think we really demand the things that we really need a whole lot of the time. This goes with these parenting apps, gyms, news, etc. Tech is just devilishly efficient at a lot of things, so I think we notice it more readily there. steps off soapbox
beepbooptheory 5y ago
Maybe there are just some things that can't be fixed in this world with the tool of venture capital. And if so, childcare and education are definitely good candidates.

deleted 5y ago

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