Latest / Deep Tech Germany – AI, Robotics & Frontier Innovation by Startuprad.io™ / Hardware-and-App EdTech: Inside Edurino's Learning System
Transcript
- WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.840 If you're a founder, parent or investor watching the ad tech 2 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:07.320 wave, here's the challenge. How do we give kids the 3 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:11.120 benefit of digital education without drowning them in 4 00:00:11.120 --> 00:00:14.920 screen time? Irene Klemm, co founder and co CEO of Edu 5 00:00:14.920 --> 00:00:18.640 Reno, has raised millions to build a hybrid 6 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.000 learning model combining physical toys 7 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:25.920 with digital apps that's scaling fast across Europe. 8 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:30.260 Today we'll uncover how she's reimagining early childhood 9 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:33.500 education, attract top VCs and 10 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:37.180 reshaping the future of learning so the next generation grows 11 00:00:37.180 --> 00:00:40.820 up curious, confident and ready for what's next. 12 00:00:40.980 --> 00:00:44.780 And by the way, Irene was just named Female Entrepreneur 13 00:00:44.780 --> 00:00:47.700 of the year 2025 at the German Startup World. 14 00:00:47.700 --> 00:00:48.820 Congratulations. 15 00:00:54.820 --> 00:00:57.620 Welcome to Startuprad I, 16 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.000 your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German 17 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:05.520 startup scene with news, interviews and 18 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:06.960 live events. 19 00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:13.120 My guest today is Irene Klemm, the co founder and co CEO 20 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:16.560 of Edu Reno, one of Europe's most exciting edtech 21 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.360 startups. Since launch 2019, Irene and 22 00:01:20.360 --> 00:01:23.760 her co founders have built a hybrid learning platform 23 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:27.770 that combines beautiful designed physical toys with 24 00:01:27.770 --> 00:01:31.530 a gaming digital app for children ages 4 to 8. 25 00:01:31.610 --> 00:01:34.970 The mission? To make digital education safe, 26 00:01:35.050 --> 00:01:38.890 playful and truly effective. Irene's 27 00:01:38.890 --> 00:01:42.290 work has been recognized in major ways. She was 28 00:01:42.290 --> 00:01:46.010 named to Forbes 3030 and just this year 29 00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:49.570 she was awarded Female Entrepreneur of the Year at the German Startup 30 00:01:49.570 --> 00:01:53.370 Awards 2025 handed out by the German Startup Association. 31 00:01:54.020 --> 00:01:57.820 Congratulations Irene. This continues our 32 00:01:57.820 --> 00:02:01.540 Startup Radio tradition of interviewing winners of the German Startup Awards 33 00:02:01.540 --> 00:02:05.300 every year since 2021. I'm impressed by myself 34 00:02:05.460 --> 00:02:08.940 actually. Edu Reno has already 35 00:02:08.940 --> 00:02:12.340 attracted a 17 million Series B investment by 36 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:15.740 Ravensburger Ventures. For everybody who doesn't know them, they are the 37 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:19.220 tabletop game people here in Germany, 38 00:02:19.540 --> 00:02:23.180 Summit here and existing investors, bringing a total to more 39 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:26.550 than 3,30 million euros according to Crunchbase. 40 00:02:26.630 --> 00:02:30.310 Amongst the investors is DN Capital, known for investments like 41 00:02:30.310 --> 00:02:34.030 Shazam Eda, now part of Oracle 42 00:02:34.030 --> 00:02:37.670 and Auto1. And the company has 43 00:02:37.670 --> 00:02:40.710 scaled across Europe, the UK and 44 00:02:41.430 --> 00:02:45.270 other countries, partnering with major retailers like Muller and 45 00:02:45.270 --> 00:02:48.310 Abon to bring the toys and apps into 46 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.720 homes across Europe. Today we'll dive into how 47 00:02:52.720 --> 00:02:56.240 Irena and her team are navigating the challenges of 48 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:59.920 balancing screen time with real play, scaling an ad 49 00:02:59.920 --> 00:03:03.720 tech startup across multiple European markets and what the 50 00:03:03.720 --> 00:03:07.520 future of hybrid learning means for founders, investors and parents 51 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:10.880 worldwide. That was 52 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:14.480 quite a lot of introduction. Thank you for being here and 53 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:17.910 congratulations to your German Startup Award. Thank you so much. 54 00:03:18.150 --> 00:03:21.350 Thanks a lot for having me. I'm very excited to be here today. 55 00:03:23.030 --> 00:03:26.510 Before we get started, where did you put the award? Where is it located? 56 00:03:26.510 --> 00:03:30.310 Physically, right now, I put it into the office because 57 00:03:30.390 --> 00:03:34.150 the award is not just for me, but for the entire team. 58 00:03:34.390 --> 00:03:36.470 So therefore it's there to see for everyone. 59 00:03:38.310 --> 00:03:42.150 My virtual assistant helped me to prepare this interview and I really love this. 60 00:03:42.630 --> 00:03:46.230 Once upon a time. Irene, take us back to the very 61 00:03:46.230 --> 00:03:49.950 beginning before Edo Reno became one of Europe's fastest growing ad tech 62 00:03:49.950 --> 00:03:53.750 startups. What was your personal journey into early childhood 63 00:03:53.750 --> 00:03:57.350 education and what inspired you to build a hybrid 64 00:03:57.350 --> 00:04:00.870 learning solution that combines physical toys and apps? 65 00:04:01.910 --> 00:04:05.590 So my brother was very early on into computer games and 66 00:04:05.670 --> 00:04:09.510 coding. And I remember when I was still a child, our 67 00:04:09.510 --> 00:04:13.270 parents never bought us a Nintendo or any console of any kind, 68 00:04:13.510 --> 00:04:17.010 but they gave us one computer to share, which is always interesting 69 00:04:17.010 --> 00:04:20.770 amongst siblings. And I love playing learning games, 70 00:04:20.770 --> 00:04:24.450 even back then. And the interesting thing is that they haven't 71 00:04:24.450 --> 00:04:28.170 really evolved any further. So back then, the computer wasn't 72 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:31.970 just for fun, but it was for discovery for us. And this early 73 00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:35.330 fascination shaped my belief that technology, if designed right, 74 00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:39.450 could spark curiosity rather than kill it. I was laughing 75 00:04:39.450 --> 00:04:43.050 here a little bit. I was just imagining the great 76 00:04:43.050 --> 00:04:46.750 idea to share a computer between siblings. Links 77 00:04:47.310 --> 00:04:51.070 and actually have to admit, no surprise that your brother was into gaming 78 00:04:51.070 --> 00:04:54.870 and coding. I was at least into the same 79 00:04:54.870 --> 00:04:58.670 stuff. Before Eduardo was launched in 2021, 80 00:04:58.750 --> 00:05:02.350 what was the state of early childhood education and 81 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:05.790 attack in Europe? And why were parents and educators 82 00:05:05.950 --> 00:05:09.630 still struggling with digital learning for kids aged 4 to 83 00:05:09.630 --> 00:05:12.910 8? So before Edino, parents basically had two 84 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:16.720 extremes. Either avoid screens completely or try to avoid them 85 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:20.560 completely, or hand over the tablet to the kid and hope for 86 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:24.160 the best. And neither was good enough and neither is 87 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.880 preparing them properly for the future. Educators back 88 00:05:27.880 --> 00:05:31.640 then told us that there was no trusted digital solution tailored for 89 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:35.320 kids at this very young age, particularly in the preschool age. 90 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:39.360 And if you looked at the infrastructure, it was quite shocking. So around 91 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:43.040 25% of schools in Germany had Vlan wi 92 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.680 fi, meaning that 75% of schools didn't. Before COVID 93 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:50.400 there was basically no digital infrastructure. And Covid then 94 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:54.080 accelerated the conversations. But parents were left with 95 00:05:54.080 --> 00:05:57.880 very few quality tools designed for young kids. And that's 96 00:05:57.880 --> 00:06:01.240 the problem that we are actively solving with Atari. Now. 97 00:06:05.640 --> 00:06:09.330 I'm a little bit curious. Was there a specific moment, 98 00:06:09.650 --> 00:06:12.930 maybe a parent, educator or entrepreneur, when you 99 00:06:12.930 --> 00:06:16.730 realize the way kids learn with Green is Broken and 100 00:06:16.730 --> 00:06:20.450 a hybrid play based approach could be the solution? 101 00:06:21.090 --> 00:06:24.450 And what was the moment you actually 102 00:06:26.450 --> 00:06:30.050 imagined this hybrid? Did you just 103 00:06:30.450 --> 00:06:34.290 put a toy on a tablet? How is the process? 104 00:06:36.490 --> 00:06:39.770 So I'm taking you back again to 2020 COVID 105 00:06:39.770 --> 00:06:43.490 lockdown. Kindergarten suddenly closed, primary school suddenly 106 00:06:43.490 --> 00:06:46.650 closed. And of course there were some solutions for 107 00:06:47.610 --> 00:06:51.290 schools, but parents were very much left alone at 108 00:06:51.290 --> 00:06:55.050 homes because everybody assumed both parents are home so they can take care of 109 00:06:55.050 --> 00:06:58.650 the child. But of course also back then both parents were working and they had 110 00:06:58.650 --> 00:07:02.440 to occupy the kids somehow. And then when we 111 00:07:02.440 --> 00:07:06.200 realized this, we went actively into families and I 112 00:07:06.200 --> 00:07:10.000 remember watching a friend's child swiping on the tablet and 113 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:13.680 completely absorbed by the screen. But the content 114 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:17.360 ultimately was empty calories. So in that moment I thought we need to 115 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:20.640 rethink screens completely because they are not TV 116 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:24.520 replacements anymore. They are fully fledged computers and we have to 117 00:07:24.520 --> 00:07:28.220 choose what to do with it. Is it passive consumption or, or 118 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:31.020 is it something positive, interact, interactive, 119 00:07:31.420 --> 00:07:35.140 educational with it? And we also need to be the driver of that 120 00:07:35.140 --> 00:07:38.860 and we need to teach the children early on how to use these tools. 121 00:07:39.580 --> 00:07:43.180 So of course Covid accelerated that realization 122 00:07:43.180 --> 00:07:46.860 and the infrastructure because suddenly millions of families were forced into digital 123 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:50.660 learning without any quality solutions. And we could see that 124 00:07:50.660 --> 00:07:54.460 ever since the tech market grew massively. So global 125 00:07:54.860 --> 00:07:58.220 investments jumped just under and 5 billion pre 126 00:07:58.220 --> 00:08:02.060 covered to more than 20 billion in 21. That was the, the number that 127 00:08:02.060 --> 00:08:05.700 I, that I found, but hardly any of them even back then, 128 00:08:05.700 --> 00:08:09.140 but even now is targeting early childhood because 129 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:12.979 it's a completely different model. We actively decided also back then that 130 00:08:12.979 --> 00:08:16.580 we need to target and we need to sell to directly the 131 00:08:16.580 --> 00:08:20.420 families and not to these big structures, not to the government and 132 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:24.020 not to schools primarily, even though now we of course have a very 133 00:08:24.020 --> 00:08:27.720 strong presence. But back then we knew that this D2C 134 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:31.320 approach is the only solution. How we can reach the families 135 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:35.160 fast enough with this strongly needed solution 136 00:08:35.160 --> 00:08:38.200 to bridge this time that they have at home 137 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:39.560 forcefully. By Covid. 138 00:08:43.800 --> 00:08:47.600 I've seen quite a lot of and heard quite a lot of very 139 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.040 interesting stories concerning 140 00:08:51.410 --> 00:08:55.050 how it was for a lot of parents to have one or two kids 141 00:08:55.050 --> 00:08:58.850 at home. The parents worked from home and nobody 142 00:08:58.850 --> 00:09:02.450 really had a place to sit or a setup or even an idea 143 00:09:02.450 --> 00:09:05.890 how this could work. Very interesting times 144 00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:11.290 as, as an entrepreneur you have to make difficult 145 00:09:11.290 --> 00:09:14.690 decisions. What was the toughest challenge in convincing 146 00:09:14.850 --> 00:09:18.690 both parents and investors that hybrid learning like 147 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:22.170 physical touch plus an app could be trusted as both 148 00:09:22.250 --> 00:09:25.730 educational and safe for young children. So 149 00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:29.490 edtech has historically always been under invested. So the 150 00:09:29.490 --> 00:09:33.010 hardest challenge for us was convincing parents, convincing 151 00:09:33.010 --> 00:09:36.730 investors that this hybrid learning wasn't just a gimmick, but 152 00:09:36.890 --> 00:09:40.410 that they can trust it and that this is the future. 153 00:09:40.570 --> 00:09:44.250 So that's why we very early on partnered with kindergartens, we brought educators into 154 00:09:44.250 --> 00:09:47.740 our team. We partnered with networks. 155 00:09:48.220 --> 00:09:52.060 We also recently partnered with Cambridge University in a study 156 00:09:52.060 --> 00:09:55.900 to show that the games don't just entertain kids, but they create real 157 00:09:56.300 --> 00:09:59.980 value. So we could show that for example, problem solving skills are enhanced 158 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:03.180 by 35%, reading skills are enhanced by 159 00:10:03.180 --> 00:10:07.020 25%. And with this very hard data, with attraction 160 00:10:07.020 --> 00:10:10.660 that we could show, paired with the stories from the parents, we could 161 00:10:10.660 --> 00:10:13.740 then prove that our model is delivering real 162 00:10:13.740 --> 00:10:17.580 educational impact. And that was the key to a market where, 163 00:10:18.650 --> 00:10:22.330 where more than 70% of the parents say that they worry about too much 164 00:10:22.330 --> 00:10:26.090 screen time. So also to educate the parents and to educate 165 00:10:26.090 --> 00:10:29.730 the investors that it's not about empty screen time, but 166 00:10:29.730 --> 00:10:33.570 it's about using digital devices as a tool and creating 167 00:10:33.570 --> 00:10:37.370 something positive. Future proof and highly needed for future 168 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:41.050 skills for the children. When I was 169 00:10:41.050 --> 00:10:44.850 preparing this interview, I was thinking about there was a 170 00:10:44.850 --> 00:10:47.450 call like a year or two ago from 171 00:10:48.590 --> 00:10:52.390 educators to actually tune down the 172 00:10:52.390 --> 00:10:55.550 screen time children have at schools 173 00:10:56.910 --> 00:11:00.030 in a world where Germany lacks digital education. 174 00:11:01.150 --> 00:11:04.950 I was just wondering quickly about your thoughts about that 175 00:11:04.950 --> 00:11:08.590 before we move into the next prepared question. 176 00:11:09.150 --> 00:11:12.670 So what is quite interesting is that Germany is a bit of a 177 00:11:12.670 --> 00:11:16.030 vacuum compared to other countries around us. 178 00:11:16.750 --> 00:11:20.430 Meaning that in Germany the discussion is still screen or no 179 00:11:20.430 --> 00:11:24.110 screen. Whereas in other countries the debate is more about 180 00:11:24.270 --> 00:11:27.990 what kind of screen time and what kind of screen. So our 181 00:11:27.990 --> 00:11:31.470 message is the right kind of screen time in the right dose. 182 00:11:32.110 --> 00:11:35.390 And parents need partners that they can trust because 183 00:11:35.470 --> 00:11:39.110 ultimately there is no binary approach to this. 184 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:42.790 It's not no screen time or sitting in front of the screen for 10 185 00:11:42.790 --> 00:11:46.350 hours, but we need to find a way how we can balance 186 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:50.010 it, how we can teach the children, also how to integrate it 187 00:11:50.330 --> 00:11:54.050 purposefully into the routines without having this over consumption 188 00:11:54.050 --> 00:11:57.370 at one point. Because in reality what we observe is that 189 00:11:57.690 --> 00:12:01.290 if parents don't actively take a role and don't 190 00:12:01.530 --> 00:12:05.330 speak with children openly about what they do in the digital world, it can 191 00:12:05.330 --> 00:12:08.210 very easily happen that when they are 6, 7, 8 years old, they end up 192 00:12:08.210 --> 00:12:11.970 at tick tock without any consequence and without the parents even 193 00:12:11.970 --> 00:12:15.770 having an idea what they do on screen. And now a lot of parents 194 00:12:15.770 --> 00:12:19.600 may think how is this even possible? But kids find a lot of ways. How 195 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.440 to, how to trick a tablet, how 196 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:27.080 to enter the WI fi even though the parents think they are 197 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:30.760 not so therefore that's why it's so important to take an active 198 00:12:30.760 --> 00:12:34.599 role here and to, to accompany the 199 00:12:34.599 --> 00:12:38.360 children in this, in this frankly scary world. I 200 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:41.680 mean when we look at the numbers like Nowadays, even In Germany, 201 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.730 over 70% of the 4 to 5 year olds spend regular time on 202 00:12:45.730 --> 00:12:49.330 YouTube. Kids, meaning that they have screen time, 203 00:12:49.330 --> 00:12:52.610 and now it's about turning the screen time into time that 204 00:12:52.610 --> 00:12:56.250 matters and not being wasted by passive consumption. 205 00:12:58.010 --> 00:13:01.570 I see, I see. Yeah. It also helps if they're watching 206 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:05.410 something really exciting or stuff like that to tell them that it's made 207 00:13:05.410 --> 00:13:09.170 by someone, that it follows a predictable arc and 208 00:13:09.170 --> 00:13:12.810 that it's made for purpose. I really learned that with my children. 209 00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:18.000 Going back to Edorino, every startup hits an early wall. 210 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:21.840 What was Edorino's first major pivot in product 211 00:13:21.920 --> 00:13:25.680 distribution of messaging and how did it change your 212 00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:29.360 trajectory? Yeah, so I think there were two 213 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.360 main points. So the first one, I mean, we started with 214 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:36.960 Edorino in a bit of a special world, I'd say, with 215 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:40.160 COVID And we brought a completely new product 216 00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:43.680 to the market. And then of course the big question is, 217 00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:48.090 do people just say that they like it or do they really love it and 218 00:13:48.090 --> 00:13:51.490 are they willing to put their credit card on the table? 219 00:13:51.570 --> 00:13:55.250 So I'd say the first, and following this approach, 220 00:13:55.330 --> 00:13:58.850 we then did a crowdfunding campaign where 221 00:13:58.930 --> 00:14:02.610 people could pre purchase our products. And 222 00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:06.010 following that, we thought, ah, that's a great approach to be 223 00:14:06.010 --> 00:14:09.530 D2C only and D2C first. But we quickly 224 00:14:09.530 --> 00:14:13.130 realized that an educational product is not a one touch 225 00:14:13.130 --> 00:14:16.830 point product. People need a lot of touch points, meaning they 226 00:14:16.830 --> 00:14:20.510 may want to see it in familiar places like kindergartens, like primary 227 00:14:20.510 --> 00:14:23.990 schools. They want to see it at a friend's place or have a personal 228 00:14:23.990 --> 00:14:27.750 recommendation about it. They want to see it as at their favorite retailer. And 229 00:14:27.750 --> 00:14:31.390 that made us realize very quickly that we also need to invest strongly into 230 00:14:31.390 --> 00:14:35.070 these partnerships to create these touch points 231 00:14:35.230 --> 00:14:38.910 for parents. And another pivot was how we address the 232 00:14:38.910 --> 00:14:42.630 audiences. So online we speak very much to the 233 00:14:42.630 --> 00:14:46.390 parents about trust, about pedagogy, 234 00:14:46.390 --> 00:14:50.230 but we saw that in store because usually the parents are 235 00:14:50.230 --> 00:14:54.070 with their children. So we need to appeal also with the product a lot more 236 00:14:54.070 --> 00:14:57.790 to the kids themselves and have them getting excited 237 00:14:57.790 --> 00:15:01.550 about the characters, about everything that we offer with Adorino. So 238 00:15:01.550 --> 00:15:04.670 this dual channel approach unlocked growth for us. And 239 00:15:05.310 --> 00:15:09.070 to put this into perspective, Nowadays still around 45% 240 00:15:09.230 --> 00:15:12.590 of toy purchases are made offline, 241 00:15:12.990 --> 00:15:16.790 meaning that it has been historically very important for us to not only 242 00:15:16.790 --> 00:15:20.510 build a D2C approach, but also to trust 243 00:15:20.590 --> 00:15:23.830 these strong partners, but also our 244 00:15:23.830 --> 00:15:27.430 kindergartens, libraries, and so on and so forth. So that 245 00:15:27.430 --> 00:15:29.790 were probably two of our main pivots. 246 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:34.590 And I have to admit, your little 247 00:15:34.670 --> 00:15:38.520 play toys, they look really Nice. I think you got inspired 248 00:15:38.520 --> 00:15:41.960 by totem boxes or something. Yes. There's one, for 249 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:45.200 example, and the children 250 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:49.200 can play with that. That's physically really, really 251 00:15:49.280 --> 00:15:53.120 nice. I like that. Thank you so much. I 252 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.560 was wondering, in B2B marketing you usually say 6 to 8 253 00:15:56.560 --> 00:15:59.920 contacts. In Germany it's rather 10 to 12, maybe 15 254 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.870 contacts. How many touch points do you need in order 255 00:16:03.870 --> 00:16:06.830 for somebody to really take it seriously and buy? 256 00:16:07.310 --> 00:16:11.150 Yeah, so we see in the online world for parents it's also around seven. 257 00:16:11.790 --> 00:16:15.470 And those touch points are online, but they also can be 258 00:16:15.470 --> 00:16:19.030 offline and retailers can be in partners. So also 259 00:16:19.030 --> 00:16:22.670 around seven. We've been talking about 260 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:26.430 the conflict about screen time. How do you position 261 00:16:26.590 --> 00:16:30.030 your model, especially for parents there between 262 00:16:30.350 --> 00:16:33.930 the two maximums, no screen time or all screen 263 00:16:33.930 --> 00:16:37.410 time. Yeah. So to be 264 00:16:37.970 --> 00:16:41.690 real here, no screen time is not possible anymore. Kids 265 00:16:41.690 --> 00:16:45.130 on the one hand side get in contact with 266 00:16:45.130 --> 00:16:48.850 screens if you like it or not, and on the other hand side, 267 00:16:49.250 --> 00:16:52.690 they need these skills in the future. So it's nothing 268 00:16:52.690 --> 00:16:56.130 that's optional anymore. But it's a crucial skill 269 00:16:56.290 --> 00:17:00.020 that kids are going to need also to know what happens when 270 00:17:00.020 --> 00:17:03.700 I'm in the online world, what happens with my digital footprint, 271 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:06.500 how can I use this tool in the best way to 272 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:11.900 benefit me and in a responsible way. So therefore how we position 273 00:17:11.900 --> 00:17:15.660 ourselves, even though it may sometimes seem counterintuitive, is that 274 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:18.180 we are actually a tool how to introduce 275 00:17:19.460 --> 00:17:23.180 responsible educational screen time. And in a lot of households we actually 276 00:17:23.180 --> 00:17:26.900 even used to reduce screen time because when you look at 277 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:30.000 offerings, say again a YouTube kids 278 00:17:30.080 --> 00:17:33.280 episodes go on and on and on and this is how they are designed. So 279 00:17:33.280 --> 00:17:36.680 it's very hard to find this point where you as a parent can also say, 280 00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:40.440 hey, now it's enough. And atorino, we integrated into the product 281 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:44.160 a screen time limit, meaning that after 20, 25 minutes, 282 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:48.000 whatever you said, there is a character saying, hey, that was so much fun. 283 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.160 Now you have one more game to play, helping also with the transition of the 284 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:54.920 kit and then we see you next time and then the game falls asleep 285 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:59.000 and at the same time the kids continue playing with the real character. 286 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.160 So it helps a lot more to integrate it into the daily routine and not 287 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:05.880 to lead to overconsumption at some point. So that's how we position 288 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.920 ourselves in this, in this world as a, as a positive tool. 289 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:13.360 Debate about screen time is pretty interesting because a 290 00:18:13.360 --> 00:18:15.960 few years ago when my son was born, I was pretty sure 291 00:18:17.080 --> 00:18:20.480 helping him to understand coding, helping him to speak several 292 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:24.040 languages, even Chinese would be an Advantage. 293 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:28.040 Now a lot of this went out the window with wipe coding, self 294 00:18:28.040 --> 00:18:31.720 driving cars and so on and so forth. But I do believe at 295 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:35.480 least the screen time that that will stay valid for some 296 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:39.080 time. Basically the access to the digital learning 297 00:18:39.080 --> 00:18:42.920 world and the access to this tool that is needed 298 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:46.720 to then benefit in all in everything that you just mentioned. Right. Vibe 299 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.490 coding, I mean it's going to be on a screen. Also to steer 300 00:18:50.490 --> 00:18:54.170 your self driving car, it needs to be on a screen. So 301 00:18:54.170 --> 00:18:57.930 it's about setting this seat very early on and 302 00:18:57.930 --> 00:19:01.530 educating the kids what is even possible in a responsible way. 303 00:19:01.770 --> 00:19:05.610 Our audience already knows that we are interviewing you 304 00:19:05.610 --> 00:19:09.370 for two interviews and the other one will be the founder's vault. At 305 00:19:09.370 --> 00:19:12.850 one point you faced a decision that could have made or broken it 306 00:19:12.850 --> 00:19:16.650 Arena a moment where parental trust, funding 307 00:19:16.650 --> 00:19:20.490 or your vision were all online. Inside the founders world we go 308 00:19:20.490 --> 00:19:24.080 into how you navigated that high stakes decision, what 309 00:19:24.080 --> 00:19:27.840 almost went wrong and what you learned from this 310 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:31.120 near miss. Talking about 311 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.960 obstacles here, how did you personally 312 00:19:35.040 --> 00:19:38.520 navigate skepticism from investors, educators or 313 00:19:38.520 --> 00:19:40.720 parents? I remember you talked about 314 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.240 continuously underfunded edtech 315 00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:49.210 and I'm sure they questioned whether 316 00:19:49.610 --> 00:19:53.450 the children would really engage with a hybrid model. 317 00:19:53.690 --> 00:19:57.450 Yeah, definitely, because it's pretty easy. 318 00:19:57.610 --> 00:20:00.490 You give the kid the tablet, you give the kid 319 00:20:01.290 --> 00:20:04.770 the nice figures and they stop playing. But if you're sitting in front of an 320 00:20:04.770 --> 00:20:08.410 investor, you don't have a kid and the toys at hand, right? Yes, 321 00:20:08.730 --> 00:20:12.410 that is true. So I think with every completely new approach and new 322 00:20:12.410 --> 00:20:16.120 model there is skepticism. So some investor asked us, 323 00:20:16.120 --> 00:20:19.720 will kids even use a hybrid toy app model? What is 324 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:23.120 the toy even for? Why isn't it just an app with a 325 00:20:23.120 --> 00:20:26.840 subscription? Then also educators question whether digital 326 00:20:26.840 --> 00:20:30.200 play could be as meaningful. Parents worried about safety. 327 00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:34.440 So what we did is we always navigated by going back to two 328 00:20:34.520 --> 00:20:38.360 main things. The first one is evidence and the second one is empathy. So 329 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:41.880 evidence. So we for investors, we showed this early 330 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:45.120 traction that the kids, the parents really love our products. 331 00:20:45.520 --> 00:20:49.120 We could see in our data that we have very high retention. 332 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:52.640 Kids play a lot of adorino, they really love it. 333 00:20:53.040 --> 00:20:56.800 And that's also the key, remembering who you're doing it for 334 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:00.760 the user. And then the second one, empathy. So listening to 335 00:21:00.760 --> 00:21:04.440 parents, listening to children primarily. So our main 336 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:08.080 users and the customer, showing them that we designed adorino with them, not just 337 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:12.160 for them. And that then spoke for itself. And when we look at the investors 338 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.960 again, a lot of them are parents. So what we did is we always asked 339 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:19.600 them also to try out our products with Their kids and to have that 340 00:21:19.600 --> 00:21:23.200 speak for themselves. I mean, of course it's just n equals 1. 341 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.280 It can't speak for entire industry. But paired with 342 00:21:27.360 --> 00:21:30.880 traction, paired with data, that then made a holistic 343 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.880 picture and that could convince them. 344 00:21:35.450 --> 00:21:38.970 In the early days, what was your first early traction 345 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:41.690 milestone? What was the first clear sign 346 00:21:43.050 --> 00:21:46.730 that there was product market fit? Was it like the first retailer that 347 00:21:46.730 --> 00:21:50.370 took you in app downloads or parents, 348 00:21:50.370 --> 00:21:54.130 they went out and did testimonials. Actually, we have to 349 00:21:54.130 --> 00:21:57.290 tell our audience 80, 85% is from Germany. But 350 00:21:57.290 --> 00:22:00.930 testimonials, reviews, text, it 351 00:22:00.930 --> 00:22:04.650 is pretty rare. I do have a lot of five star ratings. But the 352 00:22:04.650 --> 00:22:08.290 last time somebody wrote really a review in an app 353 00:22:08.290 --> 00:22:11.850 store was more than three years ago in 354 00:22:12.090 --> 00:22:15.890 Apple podcasts, three years ago. So the 355 00:22:15.890 --> 00:22:19.610 audience here is a little bit different from international norms. 356 00:22:21.530 --> 00:22:25.330 Yeah. So I mean, for us, I would say that 357 00:22:25.330 --> 00:22:28.650 it came in two stages. I mean, this very early proof was this 358 00:22:28.650 --> 00:22:32.490 crowdfunding campaign where we saw people up actively putting their credit cards there. 359 00:22:32.490 --> 00:22:36.250 So we had around 500 supporters. Yes, from our network, but not all 360 00:22:36.250 --> 00:22:40.010 of them. So there were also parents outside of our network who were like, 361 00:22:40.010 --> 00:22:43.010 okay, yes, it's something that I need and I want to purchase it. So that 362 00:22:43.010 --> 00:22:46.649 was definitely the very first sign paired with. After our very 363 00:22:46.649 --> 00:22:50.330 first article at Grundersen, a distributor approached us 364 00:22:50.330 --> 00:22:54.130 and then we quickly came into the first retailer. Our very first retail partner was 365 00:22:54.130 --> 00:22:57.970 Mueller, one of the biggest German toy retailers that there is. 366 00:22:58.250 --> 00:23:01.890 And that definitely showed us that there is a market for this because also the 367 00:23:01.890 --> 00:23:05.570 retailer thinks that they can sell this way. And then I would say there was 368 00:23:05.570 --> 00:23:09.250 a second stage because then the question of course is, is this a niche 369 00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:13.010 product or can this be a mass market product? And by now we 370 00:23:13.010 --> 00:23:16.770 are in 400,000 families and with that we could clearly show that it's not 371 00:23:16.770 --> 00:23:20.530 only for a niche, but it should be available to 372 00:23:20.530 --> 00:23:24.250 anyone, accessible to anyone. And therefore, I think the second 373 00:23:24.330 --> 00:23:28.170 point was when we sold probably the 100,000 374 00:23:28.170 --> 00:23:31.670 starter sets mark or so, when we really knew, okay, 375 00:23:31.830 --> 00:23:35.630 apparently if I imagine these people in one room, this is 376 00:23:35.630 --> 00:23:36.550 not just a niche. 377 00:23:40.310 --> 00:23:43.870 You have some experience now running Eduardo for four 378 00:23:43.870 --> 00:23:47.190 years almost. If you were, 379 00:23:47.990 --> 00:23:51.670 if you were asked to write the playbook for edtech founders today, 380 00:23:52.070 --> 00:23:54.870 what are the moves? Product design, 381 00:23:55.430 --> 00:23:58.840 retest strategy, fundraising or would you consider 382 00:23:59.560 --> 00:24:03.400 non negotiable? So if I were writing a playbook for 383 00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:06.760 edtech founders, three things for me would be non negotiable. 384 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:10.440 And the first one by far is always 385 00:24:10.520 --> 00:24:14.239 design and live up to user first so in 386 00:24:14.239 --> 00:24:17.960 our case, if kids don't love it, nothing else matters. Therefore, 387 00:24:18.120 --> 00:24:21.760 if you have conflicting decisions to make, conflicting data 388 00:24:21.760 --> 00:24:25.600 points, always choose the ones for your main user. In our 389 00:24:25.600 --> 00:24:29.110 case, the kids. Second one non negotiable with the EdTech product, 390 00:24:29.110 --> 00:24:32.830 particular is earned trust very early. So you need to 391 00:24:32.830 --> 00:24:35.950 be able to show safety, very 392 00:24:36.030 --> 00:24:39.550 excellent pedagogy, credibility, real results. 393 00:24:40.430 --> 00:24:43.670 So when we look at the market, eight out of 10 parents say that they 394 00:24:43.670 --> 00:24:47.350 check whether an app is educational even before downloading. So this is 395 00:24:47.350 --> 00:24:50.990 crucial that you have these ticks and that you can 396 00:24:50.990 --> 00:24:54.760 show the excellence of your product. And thirdly, I'd say 397 00:24:54.760 --> 00:24:58.120 securing the right partners. So it depends a bit on the 398 00:24:58.120 --> 00:25:01.640 EdTech product, but whether in our case it's retailers, 399 00:25:01.800 --> 00:25:05.240 whether it's investors, whether it's the right 400 00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:09.520 school system, the right network, into that direction, you need the 401 00:25:09.520 --> 00:25:12.520 right allies to accelerate growth exponentially. 402 00:25:13.080 --> 00:25:16.840 And from experience in the market, Most 403 00:25:17.320 --> 00:25:20.770 models in D2C make it with the D2C first. 404 00:25:21.090 --> 00:25:24.610 Sorry, in attack, make it with a D2C first approach. So 405 00:25:24.690 --> 00:25:28.130 very, it's very, very hard to come with a B2G 406 00:25:28.210 --> 00:25:31.410 approach and make it really happen in the attack space. 407 00:25:35.090 --> 00:25:38.810 Actually, when you were talking, I was thinking about one could also make 408 00:25:38.810 --> 00:25:40.130 it into a serious game. 409 00:25:42.290 --> 00:25:45.730 Yes, of course, you scaled into multiple 410 00:25:45.730 --> 00:25:49.210 European countries already. What framework or process 411 00:25:49.770 --> 00:25:53.450 did you use to adapt Edorino for new markets with the 412 00:25:53.450 --> 00:25:57.130 different education system and parental expectations? 413 00:25:57.770 --> 00:26:01.290 Yeah, so scaling into new markets required a very clear 414 00:26:01.610 --> 00:26:04.410 framework. So we work, always work with local 415 00:26:05.050 --> 00:26:08.730 educators, parents, and we adapt our content to fit 416 00:26:08.730 --> 00:26:11.850 the cultural expectations. And that's how we were able to 417 00:26:12.330 --> 00:26:16.090 expand across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK successfully. We're 418 00:26:16.090 --> 00:26:19.680 now going to launch two additional European markets and 419 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:23.320 every launch is always backed by research. And 420 00:26:23.320 --> 00:26:26.960 depending on the country, we adapt more or less of 421 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:30.560 our product. So the good thing with Arino is that in the 422 00:26:30.560 --> 00:26:34.360 core of it, we teach core competencies that every kid is going to need around 423 00:26:34.360 --> 00:26:37.920 the globe in the future. And that's not necessarily 424 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:41.720 only school skills like hard skills, but it's also problem 425 00:26:41.800 --> 00:26:45.580 solving, creativity, critical thinking, logical thinking, 426 00:26:45.580 --> 00:26:49.420 foundations for coding, emotional skills. So everything 427 00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:52.620 that equips the children to be future proof, 428 00:26:52.860 --> 00:26:55.900 resilient human beings, whatever comes their way. 429 00:26:56.460 --> 00:27:00.220 So and then of course we also need to adapt the 430 00:27:00.220 --> 00:27:03.500 messaging and all of our advertisement around that 431 00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:07.220 accordingly. So to give you a very concrete example, we had 432 00:27:07.220 --> 00:27:10.820 this already that in Germany, the screen time is still more of a critical topic 433 00:27:10.820 --> 00:27:14.380 than it is in other countries. So in Germany it's more opening up this 434 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:18.180 entire world that you can support your kid in a good 435 00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:21.980 way with a screen, whereas in other countries it's more about turning 436 00:27:21.980 --> 00:27:25.740 screen time into positive time because they are having a 437 00:27:25.740 --> 00:27:29.340 lot more screen time already. For 438 00:27:29.340 --> 00:27:33.180 our audience. For those listening, how did you think about 439 00:27:33.180 --> 00:27:37.000 screen time in your family or school? Do you 440 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:40.880 lean towards more guardrails or more trust in 441 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:44.520 digital tools? Drop your thoughts in the comments or LinkedIn. 442 00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:48.440 We'll feature the best insights in our recap. What was 443 00:27:48.520 --> 00:27:52.240 the turning point strategy that unlocked 444 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:56.000 your Series A and how did you position your hybrid model to 445 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:59.600 stand out in a very crowded, mostly digital only ad 446 00:27:59.600 --> 00:28:03.160 tech market? So for us the turning point was 447 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:06.870 changing the narrative. So we're not selling toys, 448 00:28:07.110 --> 00:28:10.910 not at all. We're building a category defining learning system and 449 00:28:10.910 --> 00:28:14.550 this framing resonated with investors and helped us 450 00:28:14.630 --> 00:28:18.310 raise the past rounds. So in addition, as said before, 451 00:28:18.310 --> 00:28:21.990 most investors are parents and can be convinced by having 452 00:28:21.990 --> 00:28:25.790 the kids play and love Edu Reno. So for example 453 00:28:25.790 --> 00:28:28.790 in our series Seed we had an investor who 454 00:28:29.430 --> 00:28:33.220 gave the products to his son and he said this is so 455 00:28:33.220 --> 00:28:36.540 much better than YouTube and that was the trigger point for them investing. 456 00:28:37.500 --> 00:28:39.340 Ah, I see. 457 00:28:41.100 --> 00:28:44.580 We'll be back right after short Ad Break where Ureno shares the 458 00:28:44.580 --> 00:28:47.660 strategy that changed everything for Edino from 459 00:28:48.300 --> 00:28:52.060 being a promising startup to raising 30 plus millions in total 460 00:28:52.220 --> 00:28:53.980 and expanding across Europe. 461 00:28:59.110 --> 00:29:02.710 Hey guys, welcome back to the interview with Irena, 462 00:29:02.710 --> 00:29:06.310 the Female Entrepreneur of the year 2025 German startup awards 463 00:29:06.550 --> 00:29:09.670 and founder co founder of Edorino. 464 00:29:11.350 --> 00:29:14.390 When we're talking about startups, we still talk about growth. 465 00:29:14.870 --> 00:29:18.270 What growth model worked best for Edo Reno? 466 00:29:18.270 --> 00:29:21.590 Retail partnerships, direct to parents, marketing, community building 467 00:29:22.080 --> 00:29:23.600 or anything else. 468 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:29.520 So retail and institutional partnerships, they give us a lot of 469 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:33.400 credibility. But I would say that the real magic to 470 00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:36.840 unlock growth happens when parents share their real 471 00:29:36.840 --> 00:29:40.480 stories online. So that community building 472 00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:44.320 drove word of mouth more than any ad spend could. So today 473 00:29:44.320 --> 00:29:48.120 a very high percentage of our new customers comes from word of mouth, comes 474 00:29:48.120 --> 00:29:51.720 from peer recommendations and therefore that is the 475 00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:55.480 most important fuel driver for us. Let me 476 00:29:55.480 --> 00:29:59.320 put it that way. When you had limited resources, but I have to admit 477 00:29:59.320 --> 00:30:02.960 I talked to founders who raised to more than 100 million 478 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:06.880 and it's not like they could do everything. They still see the 479 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:10.320 restriction of you of their resources. But when you had 480 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:14.000 more limited resources, what strategic trade 481 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:17.590 offs did you make it? How did you decide what where to place the 482 00:30:17.590 --> 00:30:21.350 biggest bets? So when you're resource constrained, I 483 00:30:21.350 --> 00:30:24.430 think there's also some beauty in it because it forces you to 484 00:30:24.430 --> 00:30:28.270 rigorously focus on what matters. And for us 485 00:30:28.270 --> 00:30:32.070 we always Define that that is the kit, meaning that 486 00:30:32.070 --> 00:30:35.630 we have always decided against a lot of things that would be 487 00:30:35.630 --> 00:30:39.310 nice to have for the parents or nice to haves for educators, 488 00:30:39.470 --> 00:30:42.430 because we have been requested a lot, from dashboards to 489 00:30:42.990 --> 00:30:46.710 fancy extras here and there. But ultimately we always asked 490 00:30:46.710 --> 00:30:50.030 ourselves, does this benefit directly the child? 491 00:30:50.350 --> 00:30:54.190 And this clarity, of course, helped us allocate the resources to what truly 492 00:30:54.190 --> 00:30:57.870 mattered. And even though we grew and even 493 00:30:57.870 --> 00:31:01.390 though we have more resources and people now, we still 494 00:31:01.630 --> 00:31:05.070 try to bring in the same level of focus. Even now. 495 00:31:07.070 --> 00:31:08.830 We'Ve been talking about credibility. 496 00:31:10.630 --> 00:31:14.070 Originally, I want to ask you which which gave you the most credibility, 497 00:31:14.150 --> 00:31:17.990 but it was actually the institutions. We already cleared that out. In the 498 00:31:17.990 --> 00:31:21.630 other question, let us go to the scaling challenges. You 499 00:31:21.630 --> 00:31:24.310 scaled across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and uk. 500 00:31:25.190 --> 00:31:28.950 What was the hardest challenge? The logistics, because you 501 00:31:28.950 --> 00:31:32.390 still have physical toy localizing the digital 502 00:31:32.470 --> 00:31:35.910 content or hiring talent across markets. 503 00:31:36.890 --> 00:31:40.730 So we always knew that we want to reach as many kids as possible 504 00:31:40.730 --> 00:31:44.530 with Adorino. And that being said, we always designed our 505 00:31:44.530 --> 00:31:48.170 products to be scalable, to be adaptable to 506 00:31:48.170 --> 00:31:51.770 different educational models too. And I would say 507 00:31:51.770 --> 00:31:55.610 that the hardest challenge never is the 508 00:31:55.690 --> 00:31:59.450 product market fit. Because as soon as people have us in their 509 00:31:59.450 --> 00:32:03.290 hands, they love Adreno, they love the products, they remain in the 510 00:32:03.290 --> 00:32:06.610 system for a long time, etc. But the toughest 511 00:32:06.610 --> 00:32:10.130 challenge for us was this message market fit. 512 00:32:10.210 --> 00:32:13.810 I've talked about some learnings, how Germany is also different to other countries 513 00:32:13.890 --> 00:32:17.490 before. But to convey this also in your marketing messaging, 514 00:32:17.490 --> 00:32:21.130 that has definitely been a journey for us and US and also 515 00:32:21.130 --> 00:32:24.730 finding out what channels really work, who do people really 516 00:32:24.730 --> 00:32:27.730 trust? Because in Germany, let's take an example of 517 00:32:28.260 --> 00:32:32.020 influencers. An influencer, a mom influencer, once told me that she's the digital 518 00:32:32.020 --> 00:32:35.860 best friend of her followers. And in Germany this is 519 00:32:35.940 --> 00:32:39.060 really true. People have very strong trust in some 520 00:32:39.060 --> 00:32:42.260 influencers in other markets, for example the uk, 521 00:32:42.820 --> 00:32:46.620 it's not the same picture, meaning that that is also a 522 00:32:46.620 --> 00:32:50.340 channel that works very differently than it does in Germany. So 523 00:32:50.340 --> 00:32:53.860 figuring this out, where do people get their main source of information? 524 00:32:54.100 --> 00:32:57.820 Is it through the educational system? Where also in Germany, for example, 525 00:32:57.820 --> 00:33:01.600 we do have a very strong trust in the system. Also most 526 00:33:01.600 --> 00:33:05.040 of the kindergartens, everything in preschool is 527 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:09.200 state owned, Whereas in the UK 528 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.880 for example, over 30 is private. So it's a different market. 529 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:16.720 And to understand this and really build these touch 530 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:20.360 points, build these trust points and therefore reach parents, 531 00:33:20.360 --> 00:33:24.080 because we are not just selling another consumer product, 532 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:27.960 we are selling an educational product that parents need to trust and 533 00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:31.710 be convinced of. I'M actually a little bit shocked by that. 534 00:33:32.190 --> 00:33:35.950 For the simple reason people trust in influencers. They 535 00:33:35.950 --> 00:33:39.750 trust in people who make their living by selling as much 536 00:33:39.750 --> 00:33:43.590 as possible to them. Okay, that's completely 537 00:33:43.590 --> 00:33:46.950 different topic to discuss about mankind, 538 00:33:46.950 --> 00:33:50.790 humankind here. Yep. But maybe to 539 00:33:50.790 --> 00:33:54.470 just say one thing here though. We have a lot of influencers that we 540 00:33:54.470 --> 00:33:58.000 work closely with that don't just advertise any product. 541 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:01.600 They really want to test the product through and through. They have a lot of 542 00:34:01.600 --> 00:34:05.200 questions. It's very close relationships that we have and only then they 543 00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:08.880 advertise it. So I also want to say this, that there is not 544 00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:12.480 just anyone selling anything, but 545 00:34:12.560 --> 00:34:15.040 some of them have to be really, really convinced. 546 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:20.560 That's usually the best ones and the effort usually pays off. 547 00:34:21.820 --> 00:34:25.660 Inside the founders world, you'll share investor pitch deck structure 548 00:34:25.660 --> 00:34:28.860 and fundraising lessons, how you raised 30 millions 549 00:34:29.580 --> 00:34:33.340 insights you won't hear anywhere else. Let us go a 550 00:34:33.340 --> 00:34:36.820 little bit into the outlook. What's next for you guys? Are you 551 00:34:36.820 --> 00:34:40.140 focused on deeper penetration in Europe, new product categories 552 00:34:40.380 --> 00:34:43.740 or expanding to something like North America and Asia? 553 00:34:44.220 --> 00:34:47.620 So our vision is to make Adorino the gold standard for hybrid learning 554 00:34:47.620 --> 00:34:51.260 globally. So first we deepen our penetration across Europe 555 00:34:51.340 --> 00:34:55.140 and long term, we want to expand our age range so that children can 556 00:34:55.140 --> 00:34:58.740 grow with Eddarina from kindergarten all the way through primary school and 557 00:34:58.740 --> 00:35:02.420 also beyond. And we can see that the global EdTech market is 558 00:35:02.420 --> 00:35:06.260 projected to exceed 350 billion by 2030. And 559 00:35:06.260 --> 00:35:09.860 we see that early childhood education is a very important growth 560 00:35:09.860 --> 00:35:13.500 driver. Within that, however, there's still very, very 561 00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:16.630 few offerings. And that's why we 562 00:35:17.190 --> 00:35:20.870 have high ambitions to move into that and to fill that gap. 563 00:35:21.430 --> 00:35:25.150 Admittedly, Edorido is not five years old, but looking out five 564 00:35:25.150 --> 00:35:28.790 years, how do you see edtech for children evolving? Especially 565 00:35:29.510 --> 00:35:33.110 now that AI is not really in their 566 00:35:34.230 --> 00:35:37.990 gamification and hybrid learning models. So 567 00:35:37.990 --> 00:35:41.190 in five years, I believe that AI will personalize education 568 00:35:41.510 --> 00:35:45.300 at scale, but it needs to be combined with real world play, 569 00:35:45.300 --> 00:35:48.900 especially at this very young age. And therefore I'm convinced that 570 00:35:48.900 --> 00:35:52.700 hybrid learning is not a trend, but it's the future, especially for young children. 571 00:35:53.260 --> 00:35:56.780 And one thing that will always remain true is that in education, 572 00:35:56.940 --> 00:36:00.660 parents demand the highest quality and the safest product. So 573 00:36:00.660 --> 00:36:04.220 that's why successful attacks must always stay kids 574 00:36:04.220 --> 00:36:08.060 first. And just to put it into perspective, over 90% of parents 575 00:36:08.060 --> 00:36:11.840 also say that quality safety is their top priority. 576 00:36:12.160 --> 00:36:15.680 And therefore I believe, of course we will see a huge shift in the 577 00:36:15.680 --> 00:36:19.480 entire educational industry. But especially at this very 578 00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:22.720 young age, I don't believe that everything will be digital 579 00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:26.559 only. And we still need humans to 580 00:36:26.640 --> 00:36:30.240 provide this trust factor, to provide the safety factor, 581 00:36:30.240 --> 00:36:33.880 because otherwise it will be out of our hands. 582 00:36:33.880 --> 00:36:37.690 And all of us parents still want to have 583 00:36:37.690 --> 00:36:41.490 some control over what kids at that age do a 584 00:36:41.490 --> 00:36:45.290 little bit. Teasing out a contrarian view of you. What's one 585 00:36:45.290 --> 00:36:48.890 big assumption about edtech or early childhood learning that you 586 00:36:48.890 --> 00:36:51.130 believe is. Completely wrong and why 587 00:36:52.490 --> 00:36:56.330 so many still believe that children under the age of 3, 588 00:36:56.330 --> 00:36:59.450 under the age of 4 should avoid screen time entirely. 589 00:36:59.930 --> 00:37:03.320 And I personally believe quite the opposite because you 590 00:37:03.320 --> 00:37:07.160 can't. You just simply can't avoid it anymore. So therefore I believe 591 00:37:07.160 --> 00:37:10.920 that digital literacy is a new life skill and the question is 592 00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:14.600 not if, because they will come into contact with screens 593 00:37:15.880 --> 00:37:19.680 independent of what you try and what you do. So therefore the question 594 00:37:19.680 --> 00:37:23.400 is how? And we need safe, playful and 595 00:37:23.560 --> 00:37:27.360 valid screen time. Actually you can get 596 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:31.020 in contact with screens just simply by driving on the 597 00:37:31.020 --> 00:37:34.660 bus, on the tram, in the subway. Yeah, and 598 00:37:34.660 --> 00:37:38.300 it's beautiful. I mean also facetiming with your 599 00:37:38.700 --> 00:37:42.460 grandparents, etc. It's just, it's also a form 600 00:37:42.460 --> 00:37:46.220 of screen time. Yes, you just need to get them to 601 00:37:46.220 --> 00:37:48.620 reply and to pick up the call. 602 00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:54.180 Sorry, personal memories here. Our audience if 603 00:37:54.180 --> 00:37:57.890 you guys out there were to build an ad tech startup today, what would 604 00:37:57.890 --> 00:38:01.410 your focus be on? Hybrid models, AI 605 00:38:01.410 --> 00:38:05.050 driven personalization, Teacher first platforms? Share your 606 00:38:05.050 --> 00:38:08.610 vote. We'll feature the results in our follow up newsletter. 607 00:38:09.650 --> 00:38:12.930 Let's go a little bit into the advice you have for other 608 00:38:13.490 --> 00:38:17.330 founders. What's your most important piece of advice to fellow founders? 609 00:38:17.570 --> 00:38:20.970 Building in trust sensitive industries. Edtech, Healthcare, 610 00:38:20.970 --> 00:38:24.690 fintech. So in trust sensitive industry I would say that 611 00:38:24.690 --> 00:38:28.450 product is about half the battle and the other half 612 00:38:28.450 --> 00:38:31.730 is credibility. So it's important to get the right 613 00:38:31.730 --> 00:38:35.410 partners, the right advisors and never underestimate 614 00:38:35.410 --> 00:38:38.890 also the power that a brand has. If you could 615 00:38:38.970 --> 00:38:42.730 redesign education for the next generation from scratch, 616 00:38:42.730 --> 00:38:46.490 no legacy systems, no regulators holding you back, what 617 00:38:46.890 --> 00:38:50.250 would it look like? If I could redesign 618 00:38:50.410 --> 00:38:54.170 education, it would be curiosity first. 619 00:38:54.410 --> 00:38:57.610 So I wouldn't, I wouldn't provide a rigid 620 00:38:57.610 --> 00:39:00.890 curriculum. No fear of mistakes, no great 621 00:39:00.890 --> 00:39:04.370 systems so early on. So all about play, all about 622 00:39:04.370 --> 00:39:08.130 exploration. And also analog and digital tools designed 623 00:39:08.130 --> 00:39:11.730 to unlock creativity, not just consumption. That would 624 00:39:11.730 --> 00:39:15.290 be my ideal world to build everything around a very 625 00:39:15.290 --> 00:39:17.450 individual pace that every kid has. 626 00:39:19.300 --> 00:39:23.060 And the usual closing. Are you open to talk to any investors? 627 00:39:23.620 --> 00:39:27.220 Always. Always. And are you 628 00:39:27.220 --> 00:39:30.900 currently looking for talented employees? Yes, also 629 00:39:30.980 --> 00:39:34.700 always and at the moment, particularly in marketing and also 630 00:39:34.700 --> 00:39:38.260 in product. So if our vision and our 631 00:39:38.260 --> 00:39:40.500 cause resonates with you. Please reach out. 632 00:39:41.540 --> 00:39:45.060 Irene thank you very much. It was a pleasure having you here. 633 00:39:45.410 --> 00:39:49.130 Congratulations again to you. Stumm German Startup Awards. Hope to have you 634 00:39:49.130 --> 00:39:52.690 back in a few years talking about your progress and success here. Thank you so 635 00:39:52.690 --> 00:39:53.170 much. Jan. 636 00:39:58.450 --> 00:40:01.970 That's all folks. Find more news streams, 637 00:40:02.210 --> 00:40:03.370 events and 638 00:40:03.370 --> 00:40:07.650 interviews@www.startuprad.IO. 639 00:40:08.050 --> 00:40:10.210 remember, sharing is caring. 640 00:40:10.860 --> 00:40:23.560 Sam.