PHilipp Hartmann has passed through a number of stations in his career: He was Product Manager at Fintech Raisin, invested in Auxmoney for Index Ventures, for example, built up the presentation tool Pitch with model founder Christian Reber and has now founded his very own company: Totoli.
Almost exactly two years ago, Hartmann officially registered his start-up. Now his product is on the market: “We call it a digital playground for children,” explains the 39-year-old in an interview with “Gründerszene”.
“When I was little, I watched films and series on television that were previously selected by a program director. Today, this decision is dumped on the parents,” said the Berliner about his motives. As the father of two young daughters, he was dissatisfied with the previous offer.
There are a large number of clips on the video portals that are not always curated and run in an endless loop, sometimes with advertising. “I knew I wanted to rethink screen time. What the path will look like was still unclear.”
Former Pitch COO Hartmann, Adham El Muntasser, who was previously Head of M&A at Zalando, and Steinunn Arnardottir, former developer at music software manufacturer Native Instruments, have launched Totoli, an app that combines entertainment and education target.
Totoli aims to help parents with screen time
The app’s main screen looks like a world map with various characters and items on it. The children intuitively click through the world, can watch short video clips, play educational games or, in the future, also listen to audio formats.
Parents decide in advance how long Totoli can be used. The flight of a rocket signals how much time is left. Once she has landed, a short film will run, which the children have chosen themselves, including Maya the Bee, Sesame Street or Fireman Sam. After that, the app goes into sleep mode and is no longer available without the parent’s password.
Hartmann is certain that Totoli can make a positive contribution to the problem of screen time. This type of countdown worked well in the tests and rarely led to complaints. Theoretically, the children could then open other apps on their own.
“Developing something for children is a different challenge,” says the founder. Unlike an adult, you can’t tell a two-year-old to imagine the buttons and next steps as follows. After all, toddlers’ imaginations are still developing.
“That means we had to build quite a lot in order to be able to test it first. And in the tests, we primarily observed and analyzed user behavior.”
Kneel-Team does not rule out additional hardware
According to Hartmann, the three-person team completed several versions and overthrew them again. “Initially I left the option open to produce hardware. We even had a prototype, which was an ergonomic case for tablets.”
However, because there are enough devices on the market and an app is not only more sustainable, but also achieves a greater reach, Hartmann and his team have agreed on a software product. “But that doesn’t rule out the possibility that we won’t develop hardware again in the future.”
In addition to Philipp Hartmann (right), Adham El Muntasser (left) and Steinunn Arnardottir (middle) are part of the founding team
Those: Totoli
In the end, it took two years to get Totoli ready for the market. Above all, it was due to the research and the tests. While app developers are constantly developing software for adults after the launch and adapting it to feedback, the demands on a children’s app are much higher, says Hartmann.
“Parents don’t want to put their children in front of a half-finished app.” In addition, the licenses were granted later by the film producers than originally assumed.
These investors funded Totoli
The investors knew what they were getting into, but still put the pressure on, says the Totoli founder. When it became known that the former investor and pitch COO wanted to set up a new start-up, business angels and VCs put “a good single-digit million amount” into the project.
Among them were Blueyard Capital from Berlin and entrepreneurs such as Eyeem founder Florian Meissner, ex-Zalando boss Rubin Ritter, Alexander Ljung from Soundcloud and former Sat.1 managing director Kaspar Pfluger.
With the capital, the tech company stayed afloat for two years. Now a subscription model should bring in money. The app, including all content, costs parents just under five euros a month.
The founders hope that the product can be marketed by word of mouth. After all, other parents are trusted more than internet advertising or influencers.
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