WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:09.520 Raph: Hey folks, and welcome to the latest episode of the small tech podcast. 00:00:09.540 --> 00:00:12.130 We have another amazing guest today. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.530 She has been a teacher for many years. 00:00:14.620 --> 00:00:19.250 She was also the head of product at Simbi and is a founder 00:00:19.250 --> 00:00:21.300 member of Parenthood Ventures. 00:00:21.695 --> 00:00:27.565 And is co founder and CEO of Questread, an engaging reading game that increases 00:00:27.565 --> 00:00:33.185 motivation and achievement for elementary aged children, which just got accepted, 00:00:33.334 --> 00:00:36.854 into Ocean Programs Accelerator Cohort 10. 00:00:36.905 --> 00:00:38.735 She is Janessa Ferrell. 00:00:38.815 --> 00:00:39.775 How are you, Janessa? 00:00:40.196 --> 00:00:41.636 Janessa: Hey Raph, I'm doing well. 00:00:41.636 --> 00:00:42.326 Thank you. 00:00:42.366 --> 00:00:43.176 It's great to be here. 00:00:43.550 --> 00:00:45.600 Raph: Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you. 00:00:45.630 --> 00:00:51.039 For context we both were at Simbi, so I did some work with Simbi a few years ago, 00:00:51.040 --> 00:00:58.289 as did Janessa, and that was a reading platform, and Simbi is no, no more, and 00:00:58.339 --> 00:01:04.139 Janessa has gone on to build another reading platform and so I'm curious to 00:01:04.149 --> 00:01:06.974 learn Like, how did you end up at Simbi? 00:01:06.994 --> 00:01:10.874 I feel like I might know a little bit about that, but not a whole lot. 00:01:10.874 --> 00:01:14.954 So what was your journey from educator, from teacher into this tech world? 00:01:15.245 --> 00:01:15.735 Janessa: Yeah. 00:01:15.902 --> 00:01:17.762 It was quite the experience actually. 00:01:17.792 --> 00:01:22.542 So I spent most of my career, about 15 years or so teaching elementary school 00:01:22.812 --> 00:01:27.172 in various classrooms as a reading teacher in Title I schools in Chicago. 00:01:27.297 --> 00:01:30.767 Especially on kids that didn't like reading and were 00:01:31.107 --> 00:01:32.457 not reading at grade level. 00:01:33.057 --> 00:01:37.777 And so when I was working with these kids, I would see all sorts of issues with them, 00:01:37.782 --> 00:01:42.007 and one of the worst issues that I saw was that they were unmotivated to read. 00:01:42.337 --> 00:01:45.192 And if you're not motivated to do something, you don't succeed in it. 00:01:45.192 --> 00:01:46.992 And the research backs is up every time. 00:01:47.392 --> 00:01:48.312 I would try everything. 00:01:48.342 --> 00:01:51.782 I would get them to record on their device and read books out 00:01:51.782 --> 00:01:53.212 loud and listen back to them. 00:01:53.582 --> 00:01:55.142 I would play little games. 00:01:55.142 --> 00:01:58.352 I would motivate them with rewards and do all these things in my classroom. 00:01:58.642 --> 00:02:00.722 And I saw that they really responded well to this. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:06.170 So what I decided then was, okay, I got to build an app that helps every child 00:02:06.180 --> 00:02:09.430 do this, because I can't possibly do this, even for all the kids in my class 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:13.540 and an app could really spread and scale what I was doing, what was working well. 00:02:14.530 --> 00:02:17.550 So I decided, okay, I'm going to go learn about learning technologies 00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:18.670 and get my graduate degree. 00:02:18.670 --> 00:02:22.120 And so I applied to University of Austin, got accepted and everything was great. 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:24.150 And I was like, all right, I'm going to go on this journey. 00:02:24.331 --> 00:02:28.750 And then the pandemic happened and that door closed for me for good because I 00:02:28.750 --> 00:02:30.750 was in Canada and couldn't go down there. 00:02:31.480 --> 00:02:35.610 And so I reached out to several companies that were doing the work that 00:02:35.650 --> 00:02:37.870 I wanted to learn how to do in tech. 00:02:38.440 --> 00:02:43.406 And I volunteered to work with them on the job to do an unpaid internship. 00:02:43.406 --> 00:02:46.150 intership And so Simbi was one of those folks. 00:02:46.160 --> 00:02:48.120 So I talked to the founders of Simbi. 00:02:48.455 --> 00:02:53.345 And offered to work with them and they accepted and I learned on the job. 00:02:53.345 --> 00:02:56.855 I started taking night classes and product management with product school. 00:02:57.225 --> 00:03:01.155 I worked with the technical team there and learned the skills I needed to learn. 00:03:01.575 --> 00:03:04.665 And then I grew into that role and eventually became head 00:03:04.665 --> 00:03:05.775 of product there at Simbi. 00:03:06.525 --> 00:03:09.175 And so that was like a moment where I learned, okay, if you're just 00:03:09.175 --> 00:03:12.955 really focused on what you want to learn and are willing to do what it 00:03:12.955 --> 00:03:14.925 takes, then reach out to it, then. 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:16.170 Then you can get there. 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:17.419 Raph: Amazing. 00:03:17.729 --> 00:03:22.123 That transition from, the classroom into the tech world. 00:03:22.183 --> 00:03:26.603 What was like, what was the most surprising or weird or yeah. 00:03:26.804 --> 00:03:28.774 Janessa: really funny to think back on it right now. 00:03:28.774 --> 00:03:30.534 I'm married to a software developer too. 00:03:30.534 --> 00:03:33.814 So he was working remotely for a company at the same time. 00:03:33.814 --> 00:03:37.724 And so I'd be like at my desk and I'd be like asking all these random 00:03:37.724 --> 00:03:39.894 acronyms I'm like, what's a KPI? 00:03:39.894 --> 00:03:40.894 What are they talking about? 00:03:41.254 --> 00:03:43.284 Or like even learning how to use Slack, right? 00:03:43.354 --> 00:03:44.694 And I was like, how does this work? 00:03:44.694 --> 00:03:48.504 It's, there's a lot of tech language that isn't common to people outside 00:03:48.504 --> 00:03:52.784 of tech, and I had to learn that all very quickly and looking back now it's 00:03:52.784 --> 00:03:56.494 really funny to think about the things that I just didn't even know how to do. 00:03:57.153 --> 00:03:58.683 Raph: Yeah, that's funny. 00:03:58.683 --> 00:04:04.003 Like I, so I've been watching a show we just started a couple of days ago, 00:04:04.013 --> 00:04:05.603 I think called Abbott Elementary. 00:04:05.603 --> 00:04:06.423 Is that, have you 00:04:06.474 --> 00:04:08.884 Janessa: Oh yeah, I haven't seen it yet, but I've heard it's good. 00:04:09.213 --> 00:04:09.793 Raph: Yeah. 00:04:09.843 --> 00:04:13.093 And it's just really funny to me sometimes to think about like the things that, 00:04:13.103 --> 00:04:15.938 you know, As a kid, you go through school, but you don't really know 00:04:15.938 --> 00:04:16.918 what the teachers are going through. 00:04:18.014 --> 00:04:18.314 Janessa: Yeah, 00:04:18.798 --> 00:04:21.878 Raph: And yeah, there's just like such a difference in like these different 00:04:21.878 --> 00:04:26.228 worlds that we all inhabit and I guess move through as we move on in our 00:04:26.228 --> 00:04:28.768 careers or change careers or whatever. 00:04:28.818 --> 00:04:33.458 I feel like Slack and AWS and KPIs are so natural to me. 00:04:34.094 --> 00:04:37.464 Janessa: What's funny too, is that what I learned is that having a range 00:04:37.464 --> 00:04:39.524 of skills like is really important. 00:04:39.954 --> 00:04:43.874 So the things that I was learning as a teacher actually came in handy. 00:04:43.874 --> 00:04:46.984 So I led a R& D team, and there was people from a lot 00:04:46.984 --> 00:04:47.994 of different backgrounds. 00:04:47.994 --> 00:04:52.404 And it was really interesting to see like, I ran like a weekend with that 00:04:52.404 --> 00:04:55.061 team in Vancouver a couple years ago. 00:04:55.167 --> 00:04:55.577 And. 00:04:55.967 --> 00:04:59.467 I found myself leading them through these activities that were really similar to the 00:04:59.467 --> 00:05:02.787 things that I would have been doing in my classroom, actually, and trying to promote 00:05:02.787 --> 00:05:07.327 engagement and communication and all these things were very well aligned, actually. 00:05:07.402 --> 00:05:11.642 Raph: Actually literally my next question is is there anything that like any skills 00:05:11.642 --> 00:05:15.552 that you learned as a teacher that have helped you navigate the tech world? 00:05:16.062 --> 00:05:16.922 So yeah. 00:05:16.978 --> 00:05:18.928 Janessa: The other one is really pitching, it's pitching and 00:05:19.238 --> 00:05:20.178 teaching are so much alike. 00:05:20.178 --> 00:05:23.518 I'm preparing actually this morning for a pitch competition next week that I'm 00:05:23.518 --> 00:05:28.608 doing here in Atlanta and I was thinking like, oh, this is the same way, right? 00:05:28.608 --> 00:05:29.978 I have to use expression. 00:05:29.978 --> 00:05:32.023 I have to Get their attention. 00:05:32.023 --> 00:05:34.503 I have to hook them into what I'm talking about. 00:05:34.503 --> 00:05:37.133 And there's a lot of overlap, actually. 00:05:37.233 --> 00:05:38.793 More teachers should become entrepreneurs. 00:05:39.162 --> 00:05:39.572 Raph: Yep. 00:05:39.742 --> 00:05:40.072 Yep. 00:05:40.652 --> 00:05:42.562 A little side note here. 00:05:42.592 --> 00:05:46.082 I was going to ask you questions about PEI, but you're in Atlanta now. 00:05:46.148 --> 00:05:48.797 Okay. 00:05:48.853 --> 00:05:51.343 Janessa: We started the business in PEI. 00:05:51.343 --> 00:05:53.263 So Prince Edward Island for those who don't know. 00:05:53.563 --> 00:05:56.673 And then my husband's originally from Chicago. 00:05:57.253 --> 00:06:00.083 And we wanted to spend some time in the States as well. 00:06:00.143 --> 00:06:04.933 So we came down to Atlanta a few months ago to launch the app. 00:06:04.933 --> 00:06:07.573 So it was the same time as we launched the app on the app store. 00:06:07.873 --> 00:06:11.903 And we knew that we wanted to reach a larger market and to build some really 00:06:11.993 --> 00:06:16.653 great partnerships with folks and validate some different business strategies. 00:06:16.933 --> 00:06:19.963 And so we needed to be at a larger city area to do that. 00:06:19.973 --> 00:06:23.723 So we moved down to Atlanta here for a while and we're. 00:06:24.113 --> 00:06:27.543 Yeah we're networking and learning a lot about how to sell 00:06:27.543 --> 00:06:29.503 the app here in the States too. 00:06:29.937 --> 00:06:30.597 Raph: Interesting. 00:06:30.617 --> 00:06:33.867 So actually one of the questions that I was going to ask you had to 00:06:33.877 --> 00:06:37.677 do with like remote work and working virtually digitally and all of that. 00:06:37.677 --> 00:06:40.877 But I guess if you really want to connect with people, it is practical 00:06:40.907 --> 00:06:45.377 to have like literal physical people nearby that you can connect with. 00:06:45.933 --> 00:06:46.213 Janessa: Yes. 00:06:47.007 --> 00:06:47.517 Raph: yeah. 00:06:47.683 --> 00:06:49.063 Janessa: And I didn't realize how important that was 00:06:49.073 --> 00:06:50.093 until I came here, actually. 00:06:50.293 --> 00:06:50.483 I 00:06:50.483 --> 00:06:54.393 had been working remotely, the only tech experience I had was all remote. 00:06:54.853 --> 00:06:58.713 And so I was always trying to network with folks through a screen. 00:06:59.583 --> 00:07:04.023 And now it's just like the level up that I can go for networking 00:07:04.023 --> 00:07:05.833 is huge when you go to in person. 00:07:05.853 --> 00:07:07.453 Because you go to events in person. 00:07:07.453 --> 00:07:09.093 It's people are more likable in person. 00:07:09.093 --> 00:07:10.353 I think, you're hanging out 00:07:10.353 --> 00:07:10.703 with them. 00:07:10.773 --> 00:07:14.273 You're having a drink, you're talking, and then they say, Oh, do you know 00:07:14.273 --> 00:07:18.403 this person over here, let me connect you to them, or let's grab coffee next 00:07:18.403 --> 00:07:23.203 week, or let's see how this could work, and it becomes more tangible, I think. 00:07:23.343 --> 00:07:25.923 And I didn't realize how much business happened in person. 00:07:26.453 --> 00:07:29.913 Until I had the opportunity to work on business in person. 00:07:30.292 --> 00:07:31.902 Raph: Yep, that makes a lot of sense. 00:07:31.932 --> 00:07:38.072 I find networking very draining, but I find that, and so I have a tendency 00:07:38.072 --> 00:07:42.402 to just try and stick to digital things, and then I find that whenever 00:07:42.402 --> 00:07:45.682 I go to in person things there's so much comes out of it, and I'm like, 00:07:45.682 --> 00:07:49.252 oh, I guess it's worth the effort it's worth the emotional effort. 00:07:50.393 --> 00:07:50.613 Janessa: Yeah. 00:07:50.613 --> 00:07:51.703 We're all so different, right? 00:07:51.713 --> 00:07:52.903 I find it energizing. 00:07:52.903 --> 00:07:53.803 It inspires me. 00:07:53.803 --> 00:07:57.133 And I'm like, Oh, look at these people doing great things and I can do this too. 00:07:57.133 --> 00:08:01.113 And they can support what I'm doing and we have this like synergy 00:08:01.113 --> 00:08:04.323 and yeah, we're all different. 00:08:04.567 --> 00:08:05.857 Raph: Yup, that's so funny. 00:08:06.317 --> 00:08:10.717 Yeah I'm kinda curious if you want to just talk about Questread and how things 00:08:10.717 --> 00:08:15.007 have been going you started this about a year and a half ago, is that right? 00:08:15.607 --> 00:08:18.807 Yeah, technically we started February 2023 00:08:19.207 --> 00:08:20.937 Okay, yeah, awesome. 00:08:21.307 --> 00:08:21.457 How, 00:08:21.457 --> 00:08:24.917 What's the journey been like what steps did you go through to get to where 00:08:24.967 --> 00:08:26.507 you are now and where are you now? 00:08:26.607 --> 00:08:27.077 Janessa: Yeah. 00:08:27.287 --> 00:08:32.897 So we started originally with the former CTO of Simbi and myself. 00:08:32.997 --> 00:08:36.874 So we had worked together before and had a great working relationship. 00:08:36.874 --> 00:08:40.454 And so we were both passionate about solving the problem of child illiteracy 00:08:40.454 --> 00:08:43.244 and wanted to do so with an engaging game. 00:08:43.654 --> 00:08:47.004 And so from the start, we were well aligned, had already worked together well. 00:08:47.074 --> 00:08:48.354 So we hit the ground running. 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:52.159 And started doing customer discovery with families. 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:55.709 We wanted to sell an app directly to families because there is a gap, 00:08:55.709 --> 00:08:57.479 and still is a gap in that market. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:00.989 Parents are exhausted and overwhelmed, and at the same time 00:09:00.989 --> 00:09:03.549 their kids are failing at reading. 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:07.479 In the states here, 70 percent of 4th graders can't read a grade level. 00:09:08.019 --> 00:09:12.399 so I talked to parents so many times who are feeling guilty about 00:09:12.429 --> 00:09:15.669 their child's reading struggles and they don't know how to handle it. 00:09:15.993 --> 00:09:16.523 Raph: Yeah. 00:09:16.869 --> 00:09:19.469 Janessa: And so that was really the motivator we had and still is the 00:09:19.469 --> 00:09:24.389 passion that lights us because as like starting a business from scratch is 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:27.589 a whole different ballgame than going into one that's already existing. 00:09:28.069 --> 00:09:32.829 So what we did is we started with a, we're, we still have a very lean team. 00:09:32.829 --> 00:09:38.489 And so our goal is to be as productive and efficient as possible using innovations. 00:09:38.699 --> 00:09:46.479 We leverage AI hugely to automate our processes, to help us really in every 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:51.119 area of both the app and the work that we do on a daily basis, which 00:09:51.119 --> 00:09:53.829 allows us to continue to be a small team. 00:09:54.214 --> 00:09:56.794 That actually functions as a much larger one. 00:09:58.704 --> 00:10:04.194 Yeah, so I guess so what we are now we've, the first year was a lot of, like 00:10:04.194 --> 00:10:06.724 I said, customer discovery interviews. 00:10:06.724 --> 00:10:10.514 We did a pilot, we built out the first version of the iOS app 00:10:10.854 --> 00:10:13.954 and it was released on the app store last month. 00:10:14.744 --> 00:10:18.054 And so we have, right now we have our first paying subscribers. 00:10:18.454 --> 00:10:20.489 We have our first happy users and we are really excited. 00:10:20.499 --> 00:10:23.869 We're really focused on increasing the amount of time that those kids 00:10:23.869 --> 00:10:28.569 spend reading and getting as close to those folks as possible to learn 00:10:28.579 --> 00:10:32.129 more about how we can improve the product, how we can make it better. 00:10:32.579 --> 00:10:36.379 And at the same time, we're exploring a lot of different opportunities for 00:10:36.409 --> 00:10:40.289 businesses and organizations that want to support and partner with us. 00:10:40.289 --> 00:10:44.939 So that's really exciting to me because it expands our reach and the 00:10:44.949 --> 00:10:46.509 impact that we can have with the app. 00:10:47.083 --> 00:10:47.633 Raph: amazing. 00:10:47.643 --> 00:10:48.673 Yeah that's awesome. 00:10:48.683 --> 00:10:50.113 I, so I did try the app. 00:10:50.933 --> 00:10:52.293 I I don't know if you saw my 00:10:52.293 --> 00:10:52.773 Janessa: I did. 00:10:52.773 --> 00:10:53.463 I track everybody. 00:10:53.463 --> 00:10:53.543 Like 00:10:53.903 --> 00:10:55.383 I said, I know who everybody is, 00:10:55.413 --> 00:10:55.823 Raph: yeah. 00:10:55.943 --> 00:10:58.383 But yeah, I didn't realize it was it was that recent. 00:10:58.384 --> 00:10:58.853 That's amazing. 00:10:58.920 --> 00:11:03.870 So as someone who is quite deep into the actual tech and writing code 00:11:03.870 --> 00:11:07.440 and that sort of thing, I feel like it's so easy for people like me and 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:12.370 Pablo to like just want to stick to the code and just and just build. 00:11:12.700 --> 00:11:13.140 But. 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:17.130 With your role in customer discovery and building partnerships and all of 00:11:17.140 --> 00:11:21.350 that sort of stuff I'm curious, like, how do you manage that workflow, that 00:11:21.350 --> 00:11:27.200 relationship between Pablo who's just building and writing code and managing 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:31.200 infrastructure and that sort of thing and the information that you're finding, 00:11:31.210 --> 00:11:35.800 like that you're getting from parents and children and partners, like how do you 00:11:36.010 --> 00:11:39.430 coalesce all of those things and bring them together into a coherent product? 00:11:40.846 --> 00:11:43.626 Janessa: I think one of the things that I've really learned a lot about 00:11:43.626 --> 00:11:46.966 and have put into practice is treating everything like an experiment. 00:11:47.486 --> 00:11:50.456 And that's helped me remove my bias for the situation. 00:11:50.486 --> 00:11:53.446 I'm a mother of three and I'm highly engaged with my children. 00:11:53.726 --> 00:11:57.436 I'm a reading specialist, so I come from a very different perspective 00:11:57.446 --> 00:11:59.266 than most of my customers. 00:11:59.666 --> 00:12:03.716 And so I have to, Think carefully about what they're actually telling me rather 00:12:03.716 --> 00:12:05.086 than what I want them to tell me. 00:12:05.086 --> 00:12:09.696 And so documenting everything has been a really key thing for me. 00:12:10.206 --> 00:12:13.896 I'm documenting I track every conversation, even, I'm in the 00:12:13.896 --> 00:12:16.286 corner store with some other mother and I talk to them and they're 00:12:16.286 --> 00:12:17.346 like, Oh, you were doing a reading? 00:12:17.366 --> 00:12:18.936 It comes up all the time in my life. 00:12:19.316 --> 00:12:22.966 So I track all these conversations like, oh, they were using this app. 00:12:23.016 --> 00:12:24.626 Oh, they noticed this problem. 00:12:25.176 --> 00:12:27.056 And I make it seem like really natural for them. 00:12:27.056 --> 00:12:31.286 I hope it's not a weird interview thing, but I write it all down and 00:12:31.286 --> 00:12:32.906 then I see it, look for trends. 00:12:33.056 --> 00:12:34.926 And then we use that to inform our decision. 00:12:34.956 --> 00:12:37.386 And actually, following the data is important too. 00:12:38.006 --> 00:12:41.156 So we might feel really strongly that this like feature is great, 00:12:41.186 --> 00:12:42.456 but then we track the clicks on it. 00:12:42.456 --> 00:12:44.476 And we're like, that doesn't lead to engagement. 00:12:44.546 --> 00:12:48.836 Our north star is, time the kids are spending reading and that didn't do that. 00:12:49.336 --> 00:12:50.866 I, there's so many ideas. 00:12:50.866 --> 00:12:52.756 Everyone has a cool idea and 00:12:52.756 --> 00:12:53.686 I have lots of ideas. 00:12:53.686 --> 00:12:54.616 Pablo has lots of ideas. 00:12:54.616 --> 00:12:56.086 All our users have ideas, 00:12:56.386 --> 00:13:00.166 but if it doesn't hit that North Star and actually move us forward and we 00:13:00.316 --> 00:13:03.186 can't justify it, then it's gotta go. 00:13:03.236 --> 00:13:06.001 We're just very focused on what we're trying to do. 00:13:06.375 --> 00:13:06.805 Raph: Awesome. 00:13:06.865 --> 00:13:11.025 How do you, how, what's your process to test the validity of a 00:13:11.075 --> 00:13:15.395 an idea before you actually go and spend, time and effort building it? 00:13:16.421 --> 00:13:16.861 Janessa: Yeah. 00:13:17.091 --> 00:13:19.001 We do a lot of that testing right away. 00:13:19.001 --> 00:13:22.221 And thankfully, like I said, I have three children of my own and 00:13:22.241 --> 00:13:24.131 they are surrounded by other kids. 00:13:24.131 --> 00:13:26.061 So I spend a lot of time with kids. 00:13:26.211 --> 00:13:29.951 So for the last couple of years, I have spent, put a lot of things in front 00:13:29.951 --> 00:13:33.711 of a lot of kids, even things like we're choosing our mascot right now. 00:13:34.211 --> 00:13:35.761 And so we're running ideas by them. 00:13:35.811 --> 00:13:37.621 We don't want it to be too kiddish. 00:13:37.621 --> 00:13:40.091 And so we're like, we throw it in front of a fifth grade boy. 00:13:40.111 --> 00:13:41.031 What do you think of this? 00:13:41.381 --> 00:13:44.131 And if he likes it, then probably all the kids younger 00:13:44.131 --> 00:13:45.151 than him are going to like it. 00:13:45.671 --> 00:13:48.941 And so we're, we put things in front of people before 00:13:48.991 --> 00:13:50.611 probably most people ever would. 00:13:50.661 --> 00:13:55.621 I don't trust it myself until, my sixth grade son says it's cool 00:13:55.910 --> 00:13:56.240 Raph: yep. 00:13:56.651 --> 00:13:56.751 Janessa: or 00:13:56.751 --> 00:13:58.841 whatever words he's using at the time. 00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:00.620 Raph: Awesome. 00:14:00.740 --> 00:14:01.140 Nice. 00:14:01.590 --> 00:14:06.840 You brought up AI earlier and yeah, AI very much in the zeitgeist. 00:14:06.880 --> 00:14:09.520 How, like, how specifically do you use it? 00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:09.920 Yeah. 00:14:10.030 --> 00:14:11.670 Any tools or yeah. 00:14:11.670 --> 00:14:12.660 What's your workflow with it? 00:14:12.891 --> 00:14:13.381 Janessa: Yeah. 00:14:13.391 --> 00:14:16.731 So one of my favorite ones right now is something called Blaze AI. 00:14:16.941 --> 00:14:18.341 I don't know if you've heard of that. 00:14:18.341 --> 00:14:21.731 But it's really helpful for me in writing content. 00:14:21.761 --> 00:14:24.941 Like all the emails that you have to write to users, for instance, 00:14:25.231 --> 00:14:26.481 that are constantly coming to them. 00:14:26.811 --> 00:14:29.701 What I like about it is it trains it on my voice. 00:14:29.711 --> 00:14:33.181 So I feed it my writing and my style of talking. 00:14:33.501 --> 00:14:36.721 And then I feed it the knowledge I want to offer it. 00:14:37.011 --> 00:14:39.951 And you can feed it like websites or documents, whatever you like. 00:14:40.371 --> 00:14:44.731 And it turns that all together to write content that you want. 00:14:44.841 --> 00:14:49.431 So I could create my email funnel campaigns with that tool. 00:14:49.981 --> 00:14:53.381 So that's something I use just personally for my own marketing and for writing. 00:14:53.431 --> 00:14:54.241 I love writing, 00:14:54.831 --> 00:14:59.581 but it can be very time consuming when you have to write 20 emails 00:14:59.581 --> 00:15:01.431 for one email flow campaign. 00:15:01.845 --> 00:15:05.995 Raph: I yes I'm going through that right now and I'm just like, this is 00:15:06.075 --> 00:15:09.705 so much and I, yeah it's exhausting. 00:15:09.755 --> 00:15:10.635 I also enjoy it. 00:15:10.725 --> 00:15:14.255 I like writing, but yeah, it's nice when you can at least get like a 00:15:14.275 --> 00:15:17.735 template off the ground, like something to get you started or to like, 00:15:18.146 --> 00:15:18.606 Janessa: Yeah. 00:15:19.096 --> 00:15:23.756 And that just as a test too, what I do is I send my husband that email I wrote 00:15:24.106 --> 00:15:24.486 and I asked him 00:15:24.816 --> 00:15:27.186 if it was sent from me or from Blaze. 00:15:27.716 --> 00:15:31.166 And if you can't, if you can't tell, then I'm, I know it's good. 00:15:31.410 --> 00:15:32.550 Raph: That is 00:15:32.550 --> 00:15:33.780 really, yep. 00:15:33.810 --> 00:15:34.620 I love that. 00:15:36.310 --> 00:15:36.910 Nice. 00:15:36.996 --> 00:15:38.026 Janessa: your voice, right? 00:15:38.076 --> 00:15:42.426 It's still you and our brand right now, our brand is very much like my voice. 00:15:42.950 --> 00:15:44.040 And until that changes, 00:15:44.670 --> 00:15:44.940 I want 00:15:45.004 --> 00:15:49.184 Raph: I actually, out of curiosity, like what's your, how what's been your 00:15:49.184 --> 00:15:53.774 thinking about like building the brand, like building yeah yeah, the brand 00:15:53.774 --> 00:15:55.594 the voice the imagery, all of that. 00:15:55.634 --> 00:15:57.114 How's that come about? 00:15:57.435 --> 00:15:57.925 Janessa: Yeah. 00:15:57.935 --> 00:16:00.955 So it's really come just from what we've learned from customer discovery. 00:16:01.005 --> 00:16:05.645 So as I talk to parents and I understand what motivates them and what they're 00:16:05.785 --> 00:16:07.375 saying, the themes come across. 00:16:07.605 --> 00:16:11.245 So when I did the initial pilot, for instance, I had every parent who 00:16:11.245 --> 00:16:14.315 signed up, which was over a hundred families, book 15 minute phone calls 00:16:14.325 --> 00:16:16.055 with me or one on one meetings. 00:16:16.575 --> 00:16:19.235 And I recorded them all and I documented them carefully. 00:16:19.235 --> 00:16:20.775 And then the themes were very obvious. 00:16:21.055 --> 00:16:27.135 they felt frustrated they felt guilty there was trigger event usually from the 00:16:27.135 --> 00:16:30.295 teacher, that said you know my child isn't reading at grade level and then they were 00:16:30.295 --> 00:16:35.039 like what do I do now they are helpless and so that language, understanding who 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:37.861 they are who they are and what they want helps me craft the words I use to talk 00:16:37.861 --> 00:16:43.810 to them so I'm not going to talk to that person the same way that I would to 00:16:43.810 --> 00:16:48.080 someone, for instance, like me, who is , just a very different perspective on it. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:50.150 They already, they feel terrible about what's going on. 00:16:50.150 --> 00:16:51.230 They feel overwhelmed. 00:16:51.260 --> 00:16:52.960 They don't want another thing to do. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:57.215 They want someone to support what they're doing and that they can be 00:16:57.215 --> 00:17:02.465 successful in this and help their kid in a really easy way that they can afford. 00:17:02.865 --> 00:17:07.265 And so that narrowing down who they are has helped us think about 00:17:07.265 --> 00:17:08.895 how to talk to them very clearly. 00:17:09.274 --> 00:17:09.874 Raph: Yeah. 00:17:10.014 --> 00:17:10.634 That's awesome. 00:17:10.944 --> 00:17:13.874 Um, oh another thing I wanted to talk to you about. 00:17:13.974 --> 00:17:14.884 The accelerator. 00:17:14.934 --> 00:17:16.254 You got into an accelerator. 00:17:16.355 --> 00:17:16.655 Janessa: Yeah, 00:17:16.754 --> 00:17:17.494 Raph: how's that? 00:17:17.554 --> 00:17:19.914 What's what led you into an accelerator? 00:17:19.944 --> 00:17:21.384 What, when does it start? 00:17:21.424 --> 00:17:22.494 Are you excited? 00:17:22.504 --> 00:17:26.124 Is it A little, yeah, I feel like accelerators to me feel both 00:17:26.144 --> 00:17:28.914 exciting and also okay, this is like a, it's going to be an intense, 00:17:28.914 --> 00:17:32.204 like three months or whatever or however long this accelerator is. 00:17:32.415 --> 00:17:32.955 Janessa: yeah. 00:17:33.545 --> 00:17:36.095 it is about three months, which I think many of them are. 00:17:36.355 --> 00:17:41.145 I'm really excited about it and I think it will, and we ended up choosing to 00:17:41.145 --> 00:17:45.250 do this because I We're at a really pivotal point right now where we have 00:17:45.280 --> 00:17:48.950 the product, we have our first users, and we need to validate our go to market 00:17:48.950 --> 00:17:53.330 strategy and build out the network and solidify some key partnerships. 00:17:53.450 --> 00:17:58.517 And we met with the folks at Ocean and felt very well aligned with them. 00:17:58.557 --> 00:18:03.132 They're very focused on impact And on, social change. 00:18:03.152 --> 00:18:05.972 And that's the kind of people we want to be in business with. 00:18:06.302 --> 00:18:10.922 There's a lot of folks who are their main bottom line is, their return on 00:18:10.942 --> 00:18:16.007 investment and we could become who they want us to be for sure, but we didn't 00:18:16.007 --> 00:18:19.307 build this to make someone else rich. 00:18:19.467 --> 00:18:22.697 We built this to have an impact, to actually make a 00:18:22.697 --> 00:18:24.307 dent in the reading crisis. 00:18:24.867 --> 00:18:26.227 And so that's what drives us. 00:18:26.267 --> 00:18:28.947 And so those are the people that we care about getting to know more. 00:18:29.407 --> 00:18:34.072 And we believe that when you do do make an impact and you have real results. 00:18:34.072 --> 00:18:38.492 You are effective and make a change that the funding and the finances 00:18:38.492 --> 00:18:43.562 will follow that but from the get go, we don't want to be in business 00:18:43.562 --> 00:18:45.282 with folks that are not well aligned. 00:18:45.622 --> 00:18:47.062 And so we met with Ocean folks. 00:18:47.162 --> 00:18:50.002 They were, they really cared about us as individuals. 00:18:50.442 --> 00:18:54.792 It's really a holistic program about the founders and supporting you, being a 00:18:54.822 --> 00:18:57.812 startup founder is a challenge for sure. 00:18:58.332 --> 00:19:00.162 I don't think I could have done this 20 years ago. 00:19:00.172 --> 00:19:05.282 This is the things that I've learned and become more resilient and got 00:19:05.282 --> 00:19:08.712 some grit, went through some hard times, helped me to get to the stage 00:19:08.712 --> 00:19:12.192 where I could do things like this, and where I saw the bigger picture. 00:19:12.872 --> 00:19:15.352 So anyways, that's a long answer to your question. 00:19:15.752 --> 00:19:16.552 Sometimes I ramble. 00:19:17.612 --> 00:19:19.592 But yeah, we're excited about doing this. 00:19:19.632 --> 00:19:25.652 It'll involve three different live in person times, ending with a demo day in 00:19:25.682 --> 00:19:30.592 September, where we'll get to showcase the things we've learned and we just think 00:19:30.592 --> 00:19:32.212 it's going to really push us forward. 00:19:32.691 --> 00:19:33.131 Raph: Amazing. 00:19:33.131 --> 00:19:33.861 Where's the demo day? 00:19:33.871 --> 00:19:35.361 It's, is that in Atlanta? 00:19:35.692 --> 00:19:37.632 Janessa: It's in Los Angeles, actually. 00:19:37.842 --> 00:19:40.272 Yeah, it's a distributed around the U. 00:19:40.272 --> 00:19:40.452 S. 00:19:40.972 --> 00:19:41.722 accelerator. 00:19:42.021 --> 00:19:42.991 Raph: Okay, cool. 00:19:43.141 --> 00:19:46.831 What actually the your process for deciding to go through an 00:19:46.831 --> 00:19:48.911 accelerator what was that like? 00:19:48.981 --> 00:19:49.361 Yeah. 00:19:49.922 --> 00:19:50.492 Janessa: Yeah. 00:19:50.552 --> 00:19:53.552 So, this is something that our team has struggled with because you'll 00:19:53.552 --> 00:19:58.612 have limited resources and you don't, it has to be somebody worthwhile. 00:19:58.612 --> 00:20:00.612 So we researched a lot of different accelerators. 00:20:01.072 --> 00:20:06.472 And you we had some early interviews with various different ones and you can tell 00:20:06.472 --> 00:20:11.392 pretty quickly whether or not they truly care about you as founders and the product 00:20:11.392 --> 00:20:13.462 you do, the mission you're on or not. 00:20:14.192 --> 00:20:15.412 And so that was our process. 00:20:15.412 --> 00:20:17.792 We learned and tried to see who was well aligned or not. 00:20:18.272 --> 00:20:22.112 A lot of times accelerators like look good on paper and it's just a PR stunt 00:20:22.712 --> 00:20:24.642 and we didn't, we don't have any time for that. 00:20:24.642 --> 00:20:25.072 Like 00:20:25.122 --> 00:20:26.202 we're a small team. 00:20:26.212 --> 00:20:26.662 We have. 00:20:26.732 --> 00:20:28.122 We have books to write. 00:20:28.122 --> 00:20:29.652 We have customers to get. 00:20:29.652 --> 00:20:31.152 We have relationships to build. 00:20:31.362 --> 00:20:32.462 We have things to do. 00:20:32.472 --> 00:20:34.352 We can't just spend all our time learning. 00:20:34.852 --> 00:20:36.432 And that's that's a whole other topic, but 00:20:37.322 --> 00:20:40.512 a lot of people want to teach you things that now aren't necessarily 00:20:40.512 --> 00:20:41.772 going to move you forward. 00:20:41.882 --> 00:20:44.162 We don't have patience for just PR relationships. 00:20:44.162 --> 00:20:48.072 We have to have an actual belief that they're going to move us forward. 00:20:48.516 --> 00:20:48.986 Raph: Yeah. 00:20:49.146 --> 00:20:52.446 I feel like the struggle and like finding like the accelerators, the 00:20:52.456 --> 00:20:56.086 funders, the people who will connect with you on the right level, I feel 00:20:56.086 --> 00:20:58.036 like is something that I feel intensely. 00:20:58.036 --> 00:21:02.046 My instinct about venture capital more broadly is that There's a lot 00:21:02.046 --> 00:21:05.406 of people out there who just want that 10x return, and that's just the 00:21:05.406 --> 00:21:07.366 only thing that they're there for. 00:21:07.446 --> 00:21:11.006 And I feel like we're in a system that kind of incentivizes that. 00:21:11.396 --> 00:21:13.366 So it makes sense that's why they're there. 00:21:13.426 --> 00:21:17.216 But with with I think your kind of mission and the kinds of projects 00:21:17.216 --> 00:21:18.836 that like we like to work on as well. 00:21:19.196 --> 00:21:23.136 It's really important that it's not just a return that people are looking for. 00:21:23.236 --> 00:21:23.606 Yeah. 00:21:23.972 --> 00:21:26.192 Janessa: It changes the game too when you're bootstrapping, right? 00:21:26.672 --> 00:21:29.992 We've got to be very creative about the ways we've gotten money into the business. 00:21:30.927 --> 00:21:33.097 So far, and that changes things. 00:21:33.107 --> 00:21:36.847 Then you think about, I think about last summer when I rented my house out and 00:21:36.857 --> 00:21:40.967 we lived in a camper to raise money for that, or, the, how hard we worked for this 00:21:40.967 --> 00:21:45.517 grant to get this funds, and then you're like, am I going to dilute everything 00:21:45.517 --> 00:21:47.587 just to get quick money in right now? 00:21:48.257 --> 00:21:50.397 And then have them steer the ship. 00:21:51.087 --> 00:21:55.407 Like I didn't work this hard and come this far to give it to somebody right away. 00:21:55.856 --> 00:21:56.176 Raph: Yep. 00:21:56.672 --> 00:21:56.752 Janessa: I 00:21:56.752 --> 00:21:56.942 don't know. 00:21:56.942 --> 00:21:57.722 Maybe that's a 00:21:57.806 --> 00:21:59.816 Raph: I 00:22:00.002 --> 00:22:01.202 Janessa: about it, but and 00:22:01.266 --> 00:22:02.026 Raph: think it makes a lot of 00:22:02.322 --> 00:22:03.342 Janessa: you think it makes a lot of sense. 00:22:03.342 --> 00:22:03.592 Yeah. 00:22:03.592 --> 00:22:05.662 It's there's a lot of really good people out there too. 00:22:05.662 --> 00:22:08.872 And it's worth the time to find people that care about 00:22:08.872 --> 00:22:10.172 what you're doing and value it. 00:22:10.821 --> 00:22:11.151 Raph: Yeah. 00:22:11.211 --> 00:22:16.001 I was talking to someone recently who was talking about founder breakups. 00:22:16.041 --> 00:22:20.871 And, it sounded like it was financial things and it was related to misaligned 00:22:20.871 --> 00:22:23.764 funding and other, things of that nature. 00:22:23.804 --> 00:22:27.194 And I feel like it is so important that everyone actually 00:22:27.194 --> 00:22:28.314 care about what you're doing. 00:22:28.764 --> 00:22:32.754 If your goal is the mission, like there are some people who find like 00:22:32.754 --> 00:22:35.054 the goal is just to make a return. 00:22:35.444 --> 00:22:39.484 But for those who are who are mission driven, you have to find 00:22:39.484 --> 00:22:42.594 other people who are as well, otherwise it just doesn't work right. 00:22:43.535 --> 00:22:43.815 Janessa: Yeah. 00:22:43.855 --> 00:22:46.105 Really every company needs to have some kind of a mission 00:22:46.375 --> 00:22:47.945 or something that they're working towards. 00:22:47.945 --> 00:22:49.975 If you have a clarity in your focus, 00:22:50.445 --> 00:22:52.415 then you can have something for everyone to work towards. 00:22:52.455 --> 00:22:54.375 Otherwise, you What are you doing? 00:22:54.454 --> 00:22:54.514 Raph: Yeah. 00:22:54.514 --> 00:22:55.974 Yeah. 00:22:55.974 --> 00:22:56.314 Yep. 00:22:56.504 --> 00:22:56.784 Yep. 00:22:56.844 --> 00:22:57.634 I totally agree. 00:22:58.194 --> 00:22:58.554 Okay. 00:22:58.554 --> 00:23:02.804 So we are on the small tech podcast and yeah, I guess you, you already 00:23:02.804 --> 00:23:06.424 talked about Blaze, but do you have any other sort of small tech products 00:23:06.444 --> 00:23:07.854 that you can that you can talk about? 00:23:07.854 --> 00:23:10.314 Something that's made a positive impact on your life? 00:23:11.045 --> 00:23:13.275 Janessa: When we, like I said, we moved to Atlanta a couple months ago, 00:23:13.275 --> 00:23:16.325 and one of the things that people told us right away when we moved here, 00:23:16.325 --> 00:23:17.735 they said the traffic is terrible. 00:23:17.775 --> 00:23:19.775 They said, you have to download this app called Waze. 00:23:20.210 --> 00:23:20.490 And it 00:23:20.490 --> 00:23:22.790 will navigate you around all the things. 00:23:22.790 --> 00:23:26.640 And we had never really thought about navigating traffic or trying to avoid 00:23:26.970 --> 00:23:30.120 different things, but it's been such a game changer because it changes you in 00:23:30.120 --> 00:23:33.850 the moment to reroute you around the pileup that's in front of you or whatever. 00:23:34.050 --> 00:23:37.230 So that's been a good little app for us to use. 00:23:37.574 --> 00:23:37.894 Raph: Nice. 00:23:37.894 --> 00:23:38.074 Yeah. 00:23:38.074 --> 00:23:39.014 I use Waze as well. 00:23:40.474 --> 00:23:40.804 Yep. 00:23:41.164 --> 00:23:41.494 Cool. 00:23:41.514 --> 00:23:44.164 Janessa, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. 00:23:44.174 --> 00:23:45.444 This was amazing. 00:23:45.494 --> 00:23:48.754 I feel like I learned a lot from everything you had to say and 00:23:48.754 --> 00:23:49.824 yeah, I really appreciate it. 00:23:50.840 --> 00:23:51.410 Janessa: Raph. 00:23:51.710 --> 00:23:52.160 Take care. 00:23:52.504 --> 00:23:52.914 Raph: Awesome. 00:23:53.064 --> 00:23:53.464 See ya. 00:23:53.464 --> 00:23:53.854 Folks. 00:23:53.854 --> 00:23:57.964 That was my interview with the amazing Janessa Ferrell from quest read. 00:23:57.964 --> 00:24:01.184 You can go find them at questread.com. 00:24:01.204 --> 00:24:08.354 You can find us at smalltechpodcast.com and you can find EC at goec.io. 00:24:08.354 --> 00:24:11.264 We're a small team and we can use all the help we can get. 00:24:11.264 --> 00:24:15.194 So if you can like, and subscribe on YouTube or give us five stars 00:24:15.194 --> 00:24:18.284 in your favorite podcast app, that would be really helpful. 00:24:18.284 --> 00:24:20.204 And let us know if you want to hop on the podcast. 00:24:20.204 --> 00:24:22.634 If you want to talk to me about the products that you're 00:24:22.634 --> 00:24:24.254 building, that would be amazing. 00:24:24.314 --> 00:24:25.874 We all want to do something good in the world. 00:24:25.904 --> 00:24:28.544 So go out there and build something good folks. 00:24:28.544 --> 00:24:30.254 I'll see you in the next one. 00:24:30.824 --> 00:24:31.264 See ya.