When Matthew Growney let his three kids use his iPad, he came across some troubling scenarios.
“My daughter and son would type in ‘Super Mario Bros’ and a spoof would pop up with profanity,” Growney says. “It was a clip of guys yelling the F-word to Mario.”
So Growney created Fable, a tablet that looks and functions like an iPad. It doesn’t have browsing capabilities, so children won’t receive pop-up messages or inappropriate ads. Instead they’ll find a candy store of content, including stories, learning activities, and creative apps.
“I felt like this was a great opportunity to further develop safe and secure experiences for kids,” he says.
Growney watched his father run a successful corporation while he was growing up outside of Chicago, and it was always his dream to start his own company. After launching the investment firm Rudyard Partners in 2009, Growney moved to New York. Fable is the third product that his business, Isabella Products, has produced.
There were plenty of challenges when Growney was designing and building the prototype. One choice was how thin to make the product. Adults want a tablet that’s as thin as possible, but that’s not always the best choice for kids.
“In the Apple world, thin is in,” Growney says. “But it’s hard to have the yield without durability. We redesigned the devices’ guts to make sure we have built in a tiny bit of extra insulation and wall thickness, so when you drop the device, it isn’t going to break.”
Another problem was attracting investors who are used to funding the latest app. With little interest from domestic investors, he decided to look abroad.
“American VCs are very much out of touch with how hardware companies are built today,” Growney says. “They’re more likely to fund software and app companies, leaving the doorway open for strategics and international family offices to invest in U.S. hardware companies.”
Growney targets investors who understand that his idea isn’t just to build another Kindle or iPad, but to develop a new kind of educational device. His plan seems to be working, as the company is on track to reaching profitability in the next five to six months.
“We’re going to innovate and make affordable the way children learn and experience the digital and physical worlds,” Growney says.
Photo credit: Lauren Kallen & Fable