How did your startup/business journey begin?
I’ve always had fun playing with emerging technologies, and have worked for about 20 years with brands and agencies across Sydney and Perth.
I started sketching out my own lean canvas plans when I saw an opportunity to marry a few of my passions. Technology became part of the Kindergarten curriculum and new augmented reality (AR) developer kits were released at the same time new phone releases became AR friendly.
The greatest driver was not to get tablets into the hands of children but to make sure those little hands pick up a pen and develop essential fine motor skills before they pick up a Tablet.
What are you working on at the moment?
Almost 85% of our brain development is complete by age 5. A NASA study found 98% of 4-5 year olds score at a level of ‘creative genius’, compared to 2% of adults.
My passion is to optimise this small window of opportunity to activate children’s brains. We’re using technology to help develop essential fine motor skills through augmented handwriting.
What do you love about being a part of the Spacecubed community?
Diversity. The people, what they are working on, where they come from, their perspective, their approach. It’s also a great space, not only handy for meetings but it plays a great backdrop for product shots (the reality in augmented reality shots).
Can you share with us one of your favourite success stories?
We’ve been testing the edtech market for almost a year with a paid app and an Australian focus. In December, we switched the app to free. Not only did the app downloads jump from 600 to 16k but the top countries included ‘non English as a first language’ countries Russia, Japan, Poland, Brazil and Turkey.
That said, our greatest success stories are daily stories of happy children, especially those with learning challenges, when they are inspired to practise handwriting with our app.
What do you hope to achieve in 2020?
Edtech is predicted to grow to a $252bn global market in 2020. Narrator AR would like to be the first choice of technology for early childhood educators around the world. Beyond increasing our range of support materials this year, we hope to build relationships and a better understanding of the edtech landscape and influencers in the US, Asia, Europe and Australia.
If you’d like to learn more about Katrina and her work at Narrator AR, head to their website here. Alternatively, if you’d like to join a diverse and passionate community that supports and encourages business growth, reach out to info@spacecubed.com today to get started.
