How It Started How It Started When I began my master’s degree in Management Information Systems, I originally planned to build a parental dashboard, a visualization tool that would help parents easily monitor their children’s digital activities. I envisioned something simple yet insightful, allowing parents to track screen time, activities, and overall digital behavior. However, as months passed, the ideas I came up with felt incomplete. None of the scenarios seemed genuinely useful or inspiring enough to motivate further development. Everything changed during an ordinary bus ride. Sitting across from me was a mother holding her phone, with her young child, perhaps three or four years old, crying desperately to get hold of it. The mother repeatedly told him, “There's nothing in there for you." Seeing this interaction sparked a question that lingered in my mind long after the ride ended: What if there were genuinely beneficial games that children could play, completely free of ads, and carefully reviewed by educational experts? Even better, what if parents could receive meaningful, real-time feedback on their child’s progress? After all, before age six, children usually don't have teachers or external experts who regularly provide developmental feedback to parents. That realization became the cornerstone of njoyKidz. It transformed my somewhat vague idea about dashboards into a clear and purposeful vision: creating games that were not only engaging and fun for kids but also valuable and reassuring for parents. Finding the Mission Finding the Mission I began by designing a simple prototype of the dashboard and paired it with a basic demo game to fulfill my thesis requirements. Though I was happy with the initial results, I knew the quality wasn't at the level needed to make this a meaningful product for families. Realizing I needed help, I brought together our very first informal "team": a young game developer and a game artist both volunteers who were still university students at the time. For several months, none of us received compensation, motivated purely by the vision of building something genuinely valuable. We spent countless evenings refining our ideas, iterating designs, and improving gameplay based on early feedback from parents. The hard work paid off when we received our initial seed investment. This funding marked a significant turning point, allowing us to rent our first real office, upgrade our tools and hardware, and bring in talented professionals full time. It transformed our small, passionate side project into a legitimate startup ready to scale. Though many parents naturally worry about the impact of screen time, research consistently demonstrates the potential for positive effects when children engage with well designed digital content. Recent meta analyses have highlighted that carefully crafted games can significantly enhance cognitive, social, and emotional development, especially puzzle and memory games that foster skills like spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, and concentration. Early tests of our own prototypes echoed these findings, with parents enthusiastically sharing observations about their children’s improved confidence, increased attention spans, and stronger pattern recognition abilities. From the start, our priority was clear: pedagogical quality, rigorous user testing, and an ethical business model focused on subscription rather than manipulative monetization tactics. We were committed to earning and maintaining the trust of every parent who let their child engage with our creations. Starting Small, Dreaming Big Starting Small, Dreaming Big One of our earliest successful projects was Painter Kid, an engaging painting app that allowed children to draw, color, and decorate virtual rooms without any intrusive advertisements. Local families in our community gave overwhelmingly positive feedback, which encouraged us to continue iterating and improving. Through word-of-mouth alone, Painter Kid achieved nearly half a million organic installs within the first year—a clear indication of njoyKidz’s potential beyond the scope of an academic thesis. By mid-2022, we had released six games and established a loyal user base. However, scaling required additional resources and capital. It was clear that securing funding was the next critical step. Building the Right Team Building the Right Team As a first-time founder, fundraising taught me invaluable lessons about storytelling, investor expectations, and strategic vision. After months of pitches, meetings, and refining our message, in August 2022, we successfully closed a $525,000 seed round led by important VCs such as WePlay Ventures from Istanbul and Domino VC from Amsterdam. This round allowed us to hire experienced professionals and expand our team significantly. One memorable piece of advice from an experienced founder stuck with me deeply: “If you hire talented people, get out of their way.” Trusting my team became one of the most critical lessons. Empowering our team members allowed creativity to flourish and elevated the quality of our products. As our team expanded, we published over 30 games, carefully grouped into bundles targeting specific developmental skills such as attention, logic, social interaction, and memory. Our journey culminated in njoyWorld, our most ambitious project. It was an immersive city-building adventure game designed to teach children math, language, and logical thinking in a playful, interactive environment. Parents could watch their child's progress unfold in real-time, providing valuable insights into their growth. Lessons I Will Always Remember Lessons I Will Always Remember Even though there are many ups and downs along the journey, several lessons stood out clearly to me: Trust your team: Empowerment and autonomy create environments where the best ideas can flourish. Trust your team: Stay true to your mission: Integrity is far more valuable in the long run than chasing short-term gains. Stay true to your mission Know your investors: Strategic, focused fundraising efforts save critical resources and align everyone’s expectations from the start. Know your investors Listen closely to users: Real, measurable progress from your audience means far more than vanity metrics or superficial success indicators. Listen closely to users: Learning Fundraising and Facing Reality Learning Fundraising and Facing Reality Despite strong user engagement, a supportive investor network, and robust product offerings, running a gaming studio proved highly capital intensive. Shifts in the global market and rising operational costs in 2023 put significant pressure on our small startup. By mid-2024, we were forced to make the difficult decision to wind down operations. Even though njoyKidz ultimately ceased operating, the experience remains one of pride and accomplishment. We reached nearly a million families globally, proving that ethical, high quality edutainment was not only feasible but could resonate deeply with families seeking meaningful digital experiences. I genuinely hope that sharing my story encourages other aspiring entrepreneurs to build with purpose, integrity, and empathy. Regardless of whether a startup ultimately succeeds or winds down, the personal and professional growth from the journey itself is invaluable and rewarding.

This writer has a vested interest be it monetary, business, or otherwise, with 1 or more of the products or companies mentioned within.

The is an opinion piece based on the author’s POV and does not necessarily reflect the views of HackerNoon.

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From Thesis to Edutainment Platform: My Journey Building Startup as a Solo Founder

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