Ketka are creating interactive immersive audio storytelling to help kids develop their social and emotional skills and creativity. We sat down with Founder Isabelle Chatel de Brancion to learn more about her vision for the exciting new company.
Why did you start Ketka?
I have two kids and I’m a creative entrepreneur, so creativity is very important to me. As my kids started school, I saw gigantic gaps between kids and it struck me because we all live in the same streets and go to the same school, but kids join school and have amazingly different possibilities not because of their brain but because of the context in which they grow up. I find it extremely unfair so that’s what Ketka is working on.
Ketka is trying to close the educational gap — making sure kids coming from underprivileged backgrounds have the same opportunities as kids from other backgrounds. We’re focusing on developing social and emotional skills and creativity because they have been proven to have the greatest impact on adult life outcomes.
We’re focusing on developing social and emotional skills and creativity because they have been proven to have the greatest impact on adult life outcomes.
How does Ketka work?
Ketka is leveraging technology — so we’re using what people already use, phones and tablets — and we’re producing interactive audio-only stories. The idea is that kids can listen to a story alone or in a group and go through the story and make choices. They will choose to go one way or the other, like ‘create your own adventure’ stories, but all the choices have been created and crafted so there are educational and psychological frameworks embedded in them.
On the kids side it looks like a really fun game that they happen to be learning from at the same time, and on the parents and teachers side they get feedback on what kids have done through the story, so it’s a three way thing.
What’s the potential for Ketka? What’s the size of the market?
Our first product is for 4–8 year-olds. We’re starting with this quite narrow age group because research shows that’s where we can have the most impact.
For this age group, the technology market in the UK is worth £67 million. Our plan is to grow with kids over time and scale the product to different age groups. Being audio-only also means it can be easily translated into different languages so the potential for scalability is huge.
What makes Ketka different from other products on the market?
We’re at the border between educational apps, which are usually visual and screen based, and games and entertainment, which are not necessarily educational.
We believe Ketka has four differentiating features — it’s immersive and audio-only, it’s interactive, it uses educational and psychological frameworks, and it has a feedback loop for parents and teachers. The fact it’s audio also means you can do it as a group, as a family or in a school, so there’s also a social and collaborative element.
What does success look like for Ketka?
The north star would be that we conquer the world! No, what we’re really interested in is creating Ketka as a lifelong companion. The end goal is for Ketka to be your pocket guide to keeping your social and emotional skills, creativity and mental health in shape. Being audio-only also allows us to reach more easily into different socio-economic backgrounds which is really compelling for us.
The end goal is for Ketka to be your pocket guide to keeping your social and emotional skills, creativity and mental health in shape.
What has been the biggest challenge so far?
The biggest challenge has been finding a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The tech is obviously very important for us and finding someone who can take ownership of the tech has been the biggest challenge. Everything else has been great, we’re just looking for that CTO.
What have you found most surprising so far?
I’m an architect, that’s my background, and what really surprised me are the similarities between building a building and building a startup.
When we design a building we do loads of iteration, we try, then we build a little model, then we change and go from a small scale to a much bigger scale where you get into the detail. The agile way of building a startup is very similar to how we design and build buildings.
How has the Zinc programme differed to building Ketka on your own?
The Zinc experience has been very intense, very interesting and very inspiring. It has been a real blessing because I’ve come from a very different world to tech startups. Zinc has been a great way of creating a tech startup in a supportive environment where I can learn a lot from all the people surrounding me. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do that on my own.
Do you have any advice for future entrepreneurs?
You should do it! I think it’s great when you have an idea to be able to do it. I think one of the key things is to iterate and to speak to as many people as possible.
I think one of the key things is to iterate and to speak to as many people as possible.
I’ve found that a lot of people are worried about talking about their ideas because they think they might be stolen. I was doing that a little bit at the beginning, but at a point you realise it’s totally doing you a disservice. You learn so much more by talking to people and by sharing and being upfront. The chance of someone stealing your idea is small and then they would have to execute, so the benefit far outweighs the risk.
What’s next for Ketka?
We have a prototype and we are now doing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). In the B2C market we are going to do some testing in schools, and we’ll be adding more exciting stories to our website soon.
Go to www.ketka.co to listen to the prototype and subscribe to updates. You can get in touch with Ketka at isabelle@ketka.co
