I just realized that Apple Blossom is the test maangement software I've wanted to create for a long time -- just with a different name and market. The epiphany came to me while revising "What we are doing at Apple Blossom".
Not really, but a lot of the usability ideas are the same. It's task driven, but goal oriented. A lot of the usability ideas are the same. It explains who I'm so passionate about it and sure of the design. I've spent years thinking about it.
This could be a bad thing though. If I'm trying to force teachers to think like testers and it's not a universal design principle, it could be worse than bad.
But I think the concept can stretch across disciplines. I feel that thinking about solving the problem of organization and improvisation outside my day to day work discipline has given me clarity that I didn't have before .
Usability, and creating the least amount of work, but still being able track it is important. While the schedule is central to lesson planning, it's also important in software development. It does show that, in some case at least, completion is the goal, and timeline should be modified to suit it. Agile tends to push for "release something by this date."
The concept of the feature backlog transmogrified into curriculum goals is a very nice fit. But I need to be careful not to draw too many analogies and influence the flow of the system incorrectly.
(This post is based on a text-message conversation I had with my wife.)
Apple Blossom startup blog
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Apple Blossom Features
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Apple Blossom Features
View more presentations from AAron EvaNS.
Working on demo / feature description
I'm working on a demo to showcase the features of Apple Blossom in a slideshow that people can see when they go to the site.
I've decided to get this up before running the adwords campaign.
In other words, I'm going to do some more product development before doing customer development because marketing dollars are scare and I want to have more specific and accurate potential customer feedback.
I'm doing this because I'm gaining confidence in the idea, but I should probably be careful and not get too vested in it, in case it turns out that I'm wrong and it's not what people actually want.
I meant to start out with a series of mockup screenshots, but since I've only got one screen designed (the lesson planner weekly view) I thought I'd throw in some illustrative pictures as well. I'd like to have one more technical slide, but am not sure what that would be.
I posted the draft presentation on the company blog and just now uploaded it to slideshare.
(See previous post as well. It looks like slideshare created it's own.)
I was very pleased with it yesterday, but woke up this morning thinking two things.
1. It's not really a demo, more of a feature list.
2. While it's concise, I think I'd like a more personal and detailed description.
But I don't want to bore people. Here's what I came up with to describe what we are doing at Apple Blossom.
I also want to have a personal introduction describing who we are, by name, and introducing our family and goals.
When someone comes to the AppleBlossomLearning.com website, I want them to come to the conclusion that:
These are real people
with an interesting idea
That might help me
I've decided to get this up before running the adwords campaign.
In other words, I'm going to do some more product development before doing customer development because marketing dollars are scare and I want to have more specific and accurate potential customer feedback.
I'm doing this because I'm gaining confidence in the idea, but I should probably be careful and not get too vested in it, in case it turns out that I'm wrong and it's not what people actually want.
I meant to start out with a series of mockup screenshots, but since I've only got one screen designed (the lesson planner weekly view) I thought I'd throw in some illustrative pictures as well. I'd like to have one more technical slide, but am not sure what that would be.
I posted the draft presentation on the company blog and just now uploaded it to slideshare.
Apple Blossom Feature Presentation
View more presentations from AAron EvaNS.
(See previous post as well. It looks like slideshare created it's own.)
I was very pleased with it yesterday, but woke up this morning thinking two things.
1. It's not really a demo, more of a feature list.
2. While it's concise, I think I'd like a more personal and detailed description.
But I don't want to bore people. Here's what I came up with to describe what we are doing at Apple Blossom.
I also want to have a personal introduction describing who we are, by name, and introducing our family and goals.
When someone comes to the AppleBlossomLearning.com website, I want them to come to the conclusion that:
These are real people
with an interesting idea
That might help me
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
TODO List for
Apple Blossom pre-school and home school curriculum software.
Register Domain
1and1Set up DNS & hosting
LinodeEmail setup
Google AppsLogo design
Contest at 99designs
CraigslistHome page with email registrationBlog & Social Media
Wordpress
Blogger
Twitter
Facebook- Tracking
Google Analytics
Feedburner
Technorati - Market Research (IN PROGRESS)
Blogs- homeschoolclassifieds.com
- time4learning.net
- homeschoolingonashoestring.com
- besthomeschooling.org
- letteroftheweek.com
- School of Puerquenos (my wife's home preschooling blog)
- Eclectic Homeschoolers Online
- Confessions of a Homeschooler
- Latter-day homeschooling
- homeschoolblogger.com
Products
SEO
Big Players
Focused Players - Adwords Campaign
- Sample Curriculum
- Feature mockup (IN PROGRESS)
Lesson Plan
Student Progress
Sharing
Collaboration
Curriculum Marketplace - Outreach
bloggers
curriculum writers
home school & preschool organizations - Business Plan
- Development Plan
- Marketing Plan
- Content Creator / Writer
- Web App
Functionality (IN PROGRESS)
MVP scoping
UX
develop iteration 1
make it pretty - Mobile App
Android
IPhone - Beta program
- Go Live
- Feedback & analysis
- Plan iteration 2
Initial Feature List
Along with the Lesson Plan mockup, I created a feature list this morning (this was the part where Sammy wanted me to read to her)
Select from our pre-defined curriculums or create your own. We’re actively looking for curriculum authors to develop their curriculum and publish it on Apple Blossom. If you have an existing curriculum that’d you’d like to share (or sell) we can help you convert it to a format for Apple Blossom users to integrate it into their plans.
Whether it’s a coloring page, a times table worksheet, or an article on the geography of Brazil, materials make the lesson. Share your materials with others and find the right materials to supplement your lessons.
Using your curriculum and materials, you can build daily, weekly, and long term lesson plans. List your subjects, define topics to cover each day, add materials and planning notes, and rearrange your lesson schedule.
You can track your children’s progress completing the curriculum, indicating mastery and scoring grades if you want. Lessons don’t always go as planned, but with Apple Blossom you can keep track of which areas of the curriculum are covered on a given day. You can them go back and cover areas you missed or review topics that could use improved mastery.
You can choose to share your curriculum and materials with others. If you’re a co-teacher (or not homeschooling) you can share children’s progress with their parents.
You can collaborate on curriculum development with others. Use the power of the internet to work together defining curriculums, developing lesson plans, creating learning materials, and reviewing and customizing existing curriculums.
There is a lot of great material out there, but not all of it is free. Apple Blossom plans to offer a secure marketplace for curriculums and materials from learning professionals. If you develop your own curriculum and materials you can license it to others through our marketplace.
This list of features originally posted on the company blog.
Choose a curriculum
Select from our pre-defined curriculums or create your own. We’re actively looking for curriculum authors to develop their curriculum and publish it on Apple Blossom. If you have an existing curriculum that’d you’d like to share (or sell) we can help you convert it to a format for Apple Blossom users to integrate it into their plans.
Gather learning materials
Whether it’s a coloring page, a times table worksheet, or an article on the geography of Brazil, materials make the lesson. Share your materials with others and find the right materials to supplement your lessons.
Develop lesson plans
Using your curriculum and materials, you can build daily, weekly, and long term lesson plans. List your subjects, define topics to cover each day, add materials and planning notes, and rearrange your lesson schedule.
Track student progress
You can track your children’s progress completing the curriculum, indicating mastery and scoring grades if you want. Lessons don’t always go as planned, but with Apple Blossom you can keep track of which areas of the curriculum are covered on a given day. You can them go back and cover areas you missed or review topics that could use improved mastery.
Share with others
You can choose to share your curriculum and materials with others. If you’re a co-teacher (or not homeschooling) you can share children’s progress with their parents.
Collaborate
You can collaborate on curriculum development with others. Use the power of the internet to work together defining curriculums, developing lesson plans, creating learning materials, and reviewing and customizing existing curriculums.
Marketplace
There is a lot of great material out there, but not all of it is free. Apple Blossom plans to offer a secure marketplace for curriculums and materials from learning professionals. If you develop your own curriculum and materials you can license it to others through our marketplace.
This list of features originally posted on the company blog.
Working on mockups
This morning I got up early and scrounged around for some paper and a sharpie. I had some ideas about the Apple Blossom layout I'd been thinking of. See this earlier post on the company blog about a weekly lesson plan.
The lesson planner is just one screen, but it's fairly easy one to understand. It's also likely to be the most used and complex feature.
Shortly after I got started, my son woke up. "Mommy, Daddy...I'm ready to get up" called Harmon. (This is right about 6:00am). He came out and joined me on the couch and mom put on "Mighty Machines" for him. "I want a snack" he says, and mom handled that as well.
Before long his little sister was up too. She crawled on the couch next to me.
"A...A" she said. (All letters are "A" to Sammy.) I was entering big letters on the mockup.
"I want to watch Monster Trucks" said Harmon.
Eventually I moved to the table, but Sammy kept bringing me books and wanting to sit on my lap. I'd read her a page or two before she'd climb down to go get another book.
"Come play cars with me" called Harmon.
Finally, I got done and played cars and we watched monster trucks on Daddy's little computer. I skipped breakfast, but Kelsey got me a croissant and apple to go.
Here's the initial mockup. Thanks to Balsamiq Mockups!
And thanks to Sammy, Harmon, and Kelsey for being so understanding and patient with daddy.
The lesson planner is just one screen, but it's fairly easy one to understand. It's also likely to be the most used and complex feature.
Shortly after I got started, my son woke up. "Mommy, Daddy...I'm ready to get up" called Harmon. (This is right about 6:00am). He came out and joined me on the couch and mom put on "Mighty Machines" for him. "I want a snack" he says, and mom handled that as well.
Before long his little sister was up too. She crawled on the couch next to me.
"A...A" she said. (All letters are "A" to Sammy.) I was entering big letters on the mockup.
"I want to watch Monster Trucks" said Harmon.
Eventually I moved to the table, but Sammy kept bringing me books and wanting to sit on my lap. I'd read her a page or two before she'd climb down to go get another book.
"Come play cars with me" called Harmon.
Finally, I got done and played cars and we watched monster trucks on Daddy's little computer. I skipped breakfast, but Kelsey got me a croissant and apple to go.
Here's the initial mockup. Thanks to Balsamiq Mockups!
And thanks to Sammy, Harmon, and Kelsey for being so understanding and patient with daddy.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Fonts
nicetry design:
Apple Blossom - Gabriola font
Learning Made Easy - KodchiangUPC
Home & Preschool Curriculum Software - Pristina font
Apple Blossom - Gabriola font
Learning Made Easy - KodchiangUPC
Home & Preschool Curriculum Software - Pristina font
Home School Blogs
This is the next area I need to research. I want to identify home school blogs as resources but also home school bloggers as informed people for potential market research and design feedback.
I think home school bloggers will probably be the most important resource for me.
I think home school bloggers will probably be the most important resource for me.
Home school curriculum search results
The ads are all for home school curriculum programs or related (tutoring, private schools, etc.)
But the first search result is http://www.homeschool-curriculum.org/ which looks like a free resource for helping people find a curriculum including Curriculum reviews http://www.homeschool-curriculum.org/homeschool-curriculum-reviews.html
This could be a valuable resource.
There are several individual curriculums or programs (like calvert school) and another resource which looks to be more commercial http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/ but it has reviews and forums. It's ad supported but might also be geared towards selling certain products
There is also a heavy christian presence on the lower part of the front page search results (no shock since many home schoolers are christian.)
Another resource I found through "home school kindergarten curriculum" is
http://www.besthomeschooling.org/articles/lillian_jones_ps_kdgtn.html
http://www.homeschoolsupercenter.com/new_site/home.php is another commercial resource selling a variety of curriculums
But the first search result is http://www.homeschool-curriculum.org/ which looks like a free resource for helping people find a curriculum including Curriculum reviews http://www.homeschool-curriculum.org/homeschool-curriculum-reviews.html
This could be a valuable resource.
There are several individual curriculums or programs (like calvert school) and another resource which looks to be more commercial http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/ but it has reviews and forums. It's ad supported but might also be geared towards selling certain products
There is also a heavy christian presence on the lower part of the front page search results (no shock since many home schoolers are christian.)
Another resource I found through "home school kindergarten curriculum" is
http://www.besthomeschooling.org/articles/lillian_jones_ps_kdgtn.html
http://www.homeschoolsupercenter.com/new_site/home.php is another commercial resource selling a variety of curriculums
Learning Made Easy search results
It looks like the phrase "Learning Made Easy" is a good one in that Google doesn't know much about it. There is 1 top ad (for Amazon) and 1 side ad (for Target) that aren't relevant at all.
There seems to be some correlation in search results with learning foreign anguages & musical instruments, but not anything significant or related to preschool curriculum.
There seems to be some correlation in search results with learning foreign anguages & musical instruments, but not anything significant or related to preschool curriculum.
Google Search: Preschool Curriculum Software
A quick Google search on "preschool curriculum software" turned up the following results;
-----
Top Ads:
Child Care Mgt Software
Powerful, Easy to use Child Care Software from Procare. Free Demo
procaresoftware.com►
Software for Child Care - Professional, Complete & Affordable
Free Demo, $195-$795, Save 50%-75%
www.childcaresage.com
Child Services Software - Client Management Software
Billing, Reports, Affordable,Secure
www.athenasoftware
Right Ads:
Religious Preschool
Religious school in Deltona.
An education with spirit.
trinitychristian-fl.com
Hosted Education Software
Google Apps Education Edition
offers powerful tools for schools.
www.google.com/a/edu
Educational Technology
Hands-on learning for any classroom
with apps from the App Store.
www.apple.com/education
Children's Software
The Best Children's Software
$7.99 and up
www.schoolzone.com
Preschool Program
Adopt a comprehensive preschool
program for 3 and 4 year olds.
www.successforall.org
Curriculum Software
No Cost Curriculum Review
Onsite No Obligation
www.clihome.com
Child Education
At Bright Horizons Children Develop
Discover & Connect. Learn More!
www.brighthorizons.com
Tadpoles Pro Childcare
Childcare software to improve
communication with parents
www.frogsquared.com
---
What's promising is that google apps is one of the advertisers (meaning they're not getting enough ads to fill the space without padding their own. But, I don't know if that's what I'd search for if I were going to buy Apple Blossom. It's for people who don't want (or know) about software for curriculum.
The three top ads are all for professional child care client management software. Daycare CRM & billing software, if you will. Nothing like Apple Blossom.
Most of side ads are not for curriculum either. I get a christian preschool in Florida, a preschool franchise (Bright Horizons), more Daycare management software, generic Education software, and a not-for-profit
clihome leads to a form to talk to a "curriculum consultant" (read "salesman"). The only thing relevant seems to be "Curriculum Mapper" software -- whatever that is.
tadpole appears to be geared toward child care pickup with some activity reporting.
---
The top 3 search results are all for abchomepreschool which is much closer to the mark. They sell curriculums on CD, and might be a good potential curriculum provider partner.
The next 2 are for a government report
Below the fold are a couple of curriculum resources , one free (http://www.free-preschool.info/preschool_curriculum.html_ and one commercial (http://www.learningthings.com/articles/), a software program with things like spelling and flashcards (http://www.stickybear.com/)
IPC (International Preschool Curriculum) which looks interesting, and includes IPC Home School "A comprehensive preschool home study that includes all resources, teaching guides and lesson plans for ages 3 to 5."http://www.internationalpreschoolcurriculum.com/ipc-home-study/
This may be the closest thing on the market to what I envision for Apple Blossom
---
All this could be good news or bad. Either there's not a market, or it could be harder to locate. If I could craft the right message and there is a demand, an adwords campaign might have very useful information.
The trick is knowing if my campaign & message is inadequate, or if there isn't the demand.
-----
Top Ads:
Child Care Mgt Software
Powerful, Easy to use Child Care Software from Procare. Free Demo
procaresoftware.com►
Software for Child Care - Professional, Complete & Affordable
Free Demo, $195-$795, Save 50%-75%
www.childcaresage.com
Child Services Software - Client Management Software
Billing, Reports, Affordable,Secure
www.athenasoftware
Right Ads:
Religious Preschool
Religious school in Deltona.
An education with spirit.
trinitychristian-fl.com
Hosted Education Software
Google Apps Education Edition
offers powerful tools for schools.
www.google.com/a/edu
Educational Technology
Hands-on learning for any classroom
with apps from the App Store.
www.apple.com/education
Children's Software
The Best Children's Software
$7.99 and up
www.schoolzone.com
Preschool Program
Adopt a comprehensive preschool
program for 3 and 4 year olds.
www.successforall.org
Curriculum Software
No Cost Curriculum Review
Onsite No Obligation
www.clihome.com
Child Education
At Bright Horizons Children Develop
Discover & Connect. Learn More!
www.brighthorizons.com
Tadpoles Pro Childcare
Childcare software to improve
communication with parents
www.frogsquared.com
---
What's promising is that google apps is one of the advertisers (meaning they're not getting enough ads to fill the space without padding their own. But, I don't know if that's what I'd search for if I were going to buy Apple Blossom. It's for people who don't want (or know) about software for curriculum.
The three top ads are all for professional child care client management software. Daycare CRM & billing software, if you will. Nothing like Apple Blossom.
Most of side ads are not for curriculum either. I get a christian preschool in Florida, a preschool franchise (Bright Horizons), more Daycare management software, generic Education software, and a not-for-profit
clihome leads to a form to talk to a "curriculum consultant" (read "salesman"). The only thing relevant seems to be "Curriculum Mapper" software -- whatever that is.
tadpole appears to be geared toward child care pickup with some activity reporting.
---
The top 3 search results are all for abchomepreschool which is much closer to the mark. They sell curriculums on CD, and might be a good potential curriculum provider partner.
The next 2 are for a government report
Below the fold are a couple of curriculum resources , one free (http://www.free-preschool.info/preschool_curriculum.html_ and one commercial (http://www.learningthings.com/articles/), a software program with things like spelling and flashcards (http://www.stickybear.com/)
IPC (International Preschool Curriculum) which looks interesting, and includes IPC Home School "A comprehensive preschool home study that includes all resources, teaching guides and lesson plans for ages 3 to 5."http://www.internationalpreschoolcurriculum.com/ipc-home-study/
This may be the closest thing on the market to what I envision for Apple Blossom
---
All this could be good news or bad. Either there's not a market, or it could be harder to locate. If I could craft the right message and there is a demand, an adwords campaign might have very useful information.
The trick is knowing if my campaign & message is inadequate, or if there isn't the demand.
A brief lull
I'm exhausted after the last few days of coding and design work and taking a breather while getting the legal work taken care of for the graphic design. There's a bit of confusion over file formats and versions of the graphic, but no big deal.
I also need to read up on Google Analytics and running an adwords campaign. That will probably take me till the weekend. I'll replace the temporary graphics (cut and pasted sample PNGs) with high res ones created from the designer's EPS files.
I can't decide whether I should get a "tour" and some mock ups before running the adwords campaign or not. The problem is being able to "sell" the idea and not get invalid results from the adwords.
If I use "preschool curriculum software" and everyone who clicks on it wants something completely different from what I'm describing, I haven't learned anything.
I also need to read up on Google Analytics and running an adwords campaign. That will probably take me till the weekend. I'll replace the temporary graphics (cut and pasted sample PNGs) with high res ones created from the designer's EPS files.
I can't decide whether I should get a "tour" and some mock ups before running the adwords campaign or not. The problem is being able to "sell" the idea and not get invalid results from the adwords.
If I use "preschool curriculum software" and everyone who clicks on it wants something completely different from what I'm describing, I haven't learned anything.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Basic site is up
A very basic site is up at AppleBlossomLearning.com
It includes a home page with a lower resolution graphic taken from the logo contest (I don't have the SVG/EPS/PSDs from the designer yet), a link to the "official" wordpress blog, a page where you can vote on your favorite design (of the two purchased -- total cost $730, purchasing the second winner from 99designs.com was only $330 and the original was $400. Still way over budget), and a working very basic registration system (A simple PHP script.)
The wordpress blog has the logo, as well as another version of the logo poll. I actually created it with polldaddy via a wordpress plugin. There was some futzing around to get it to display acceptably on both wordpress and the custom page, but I think I've got it good enough.
I could have created my own poll, but this was easier.
I did create my own registartion script, and it took only about 1 hours work.
With google analytics added, I'm practically ready to do my adwords marketing research. I'm going to give it a bit more time to get the high resolution logos up, learn a bit about using google analytics (vs just registering & then pasting a script in the page header), and create a bit more content on both the blog and the site.
But all in all, it's shaping up. I wouldn't be embarrassed if someone stumbled across it now.
It includes a home page with a lower resolution graphic taken from the logo contest (I don't have the SVG/EPS/PSDs from the designer yet), a link to the "official" wordpress blog, a page where you can vote on your favorite design (of the two purchased -- total cost $730, purchasing the second winner from 99designs.com was only $330 and the original was $400. Still way over budget), and a working very basic registration system (A simple PHP script.)
The wordpress blog has the logo, as well as another version of the logo poll. I actually created it with polldaddy via a wordpress plugin. There was some futzing around to get it to display acceptably on both wordpress and the custom page, but I think I've got it good enough.
I could have created my own poll, but this was easier.
I did create my own registartion script, and it took only about 1 hours work.
With google analytics added, I'm practically ready to do my adwords marketing research. I'm going to give it a bit more time to get the high resolution logos up, learn a bit about using google analytics (vs just registering & then pasting a script in the page header), and create a bit more content on both the blog and the site.
But all in all, it's shaping up. I wouldn't be embarrassed if someone stumbled across it now.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Two Logo Winners
The logo design contest is over. I chose two winning designs because I couldn't decide which I liked better.
I create a poll asking people to vote for their favorite logo. Kelsey spread the word on Facebook and with her friends to help decide.
It looks like the consensus among them (by a 5-1) is that the logo with the white background is better. Reasons given were that the green one was too feminine ("looks like a spa") and the font was more difficult to read.
In favor of the "white" logo:
"The text is much more readable on this and I like the art better."
"I like this... Easy to read, red font draws my eye, looks very school-ish."
"I love how clear the font is and that there isn't too much going on."
Contra the "green" logo:
"The apple/flower art is not my favorite. I like the shape - seems good to use for lots of purposes. The white subtitle on the background is a little hard to read."
"I like this apple and apple blossom, but the rest resembles a banner ad and I don't like the white font."
"The text is not the easiest to read with these colors."
"Looks more like a logo for a spa or boutique."
I still liked the green one enough to pay the designer. I'll go with the white one for now, but keep the other one for future potential use.
In particular, I think the green one lends itself well to a common site design, and some work can be done to improve the font issues.
The white logo is up on the home page and the "official" apple blossom blog. I don't know if I'll move the blog onto a local wordpress install (or use wordpress for the whole site), but this is the simplest thing to do to start.
I create a poll asking people to vote for their favorite logo. Kelsey spread the word on Facebook and with her friends to help decide.
It looks like the consensus among them (by a 5-1) is that the logo with the white background is better. Reasons given were that the green one was too feminine ("looks like a spa") and the font was more difficult to read.
In favor of the "white" logo:
"The text is much more readable on this and I like the art better."
"I like this... Easy to read, red font draws my eye, looks very school-ish."
"I love how clear the font is and that there isn't too much going on."
Contra the "green" logo:
"The apple/flower art is not my favorite. I like the shape - seems good to use for lots of purposes. The white subtitle on the background is a little hard to read."
"I like this apple and apple blossom, but the rest resembles a banner ad and I don't like the white font."
"The text is not the easiest to read with these colors."
"Looks more like a logo for a spa or boutique."
I still liked the green one enough to pay the designer. I'll go with the white one for now, but keep the other one for future potential use.
In particular, I think the green one lends itself well to a common site design, and some work can be done to improve the font issues.
The white logo is up on the home page and the "official" apple blossom blog. I don't know if I'll move the blog onto a local wordpress install (or use wordpress for the whole site), but this is the simplest thing to do to start.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Creating a logo for Apple Blossom
After coming up with the name "Apple Blossom" and a slogan "Learning made easy" I posted a logo contest on 99design.com. In the design brief, I gave a description of the product, my thoughts on the brand identity, attached a couple of photos of apple blossoms I found on the internet, as well as the following sketch in Microsoft Paint:
Yeah, I know, stop laughing.
Here's a slightly improved version I drew the next day and captured with my $20 phone's camera.
Really, I don't know what you think is so funny.
That's why I hired someone else to come up with a logo. I'm actually quite pleased with the results, which I should be able to show you in a couple days.
Looking back, I wish I had let the designers come up with their own concepts, because even though I encouraged them to do so, almost every design took directly from this concept. I'm only thankful that they were able to see past my (will you please stop laughing!) and allow their creativity and skill to come up with something useful.
Actually, there are two designs that I really like, and if you'd be so kind, please go look at what real designers have been able to come up with based on my modest (that's enough!) such that I have two designs that I feel are excellent, and I need to choose one of them.
Help me decide by voting for the Apple Blossom logo you prefer.
Yeah, I know, stop laughing.
Here's a slightly improved version I drew the next day and captured with my $20 phone's camera.
Really, I don't know what you think is so funny.
That's why I hired someone else to come up with a logo. I'm actually quite pleased with the results, which I should be able to show you in a couple days.
Looking back, I wish I had let the designers come up with their own concepts, because even though I encouraged them to do so, almost every design took directly from this concept. I'm only thankful that they were able to see past my (will you please stop laughing!) and allow their creativity and skill to come up with something useful.
Actually, there are two designs that I really like, and if you'd be so kind, please go look at what real designers have been able to come up with based on my modest (that's enough!) such that I have two designs that I feel are excellent, and I need to choose one of them.
Help me decide by voting for the Apple Blossom logo you prefer.
10 steps jumpstart a business idea
I'll go ahead and take a stab at the 10 steps here:
1. Come up with an idea
I described my idea in a previous post, but it's still evolving. Don't get wed (or welded) to one idea too much. You don't know enough about your customers yet to know what they want. Don't presume. Put your idea out there and listen. This whole 10 step program is designed to listen. If it doesn't seem viable after the first month, you don't necessarily have to scrap it and go back to the drawing board. If you're still interested but no one else is after a month, pivot. Try a new angle or approach. Scale back your idea, or narrow your market. You can always expand once you gain traction.
You don't want to be thinking about pricing points and long term strategy at this point. It's ok to dream, but not to set anything in stone. I like the idea of one month part time. It's short enough to allow you to focus, but long enough to let you find out if it was just a passing fancy or really something you'd be interested in pursuing.
2. Decide upon with a name & register a domain
This is fairly straightforward, but can be tricky, especially with finding a domain name. At this stage don't worry too much though, you can always change it. And don't worry about getting a .com. A .biz or .info should work well enough and might be better than an extra long .com (like appleblossomlearning.com) for things like business cards and tweets. But be aware if you think, I'll buy a good domain later that you might end up having to spend from $10,000-$1 million to get it.
Have fun with it, but be aware that your name is your first branding decision. Don't stress too much, but it's an important one. Luckily, it's an easy one to change at this stage.
3. Set up hosting and configure DNS to point your domain so you can see www.yourdomain.com
Shared hosting can be had for under $10/month, but I'd make sure you don't get locked into a year contract (or more.) After a month or two of market research, you'll want to start developing your app. I wouldn't set my sites on heavy load, but you'll want to be able to host a webpage, a blog, as well as at least a development & production (beta) version of your app. You might also want to do credit card processing, have a database, email, and business apps, all though these usually be purchased as third party services.
If you have an existing server laying around (like I happen to, this is ideal, because it allows you to grow without worrying) although I'll be setting up a new environment for production.
4. Set up email so you can send and receive for you@yourdomain.com
You're not looking to send spam, but you are looking to communicate with people as your business. Set up yourname@yourdomain.com as well as a couple other aliases like info@yourdomain.com. It goes a long way towards showing you're real, and helps for setting up other accounts without having to use your personal email.
Google apps is great for this, but you might want to use a paid email service if you plan on having several users, sending newsletters, etc. Of course there's also a paid google apps that does this too.
5. Create a logo
I used 99designs, but if you find a local designer you feel confident with use them. 99 designs is great for coming up with a concept if you can't picture one yourself, but it's also great for finding someone with more artistic skill than you to turn your napkin sketch into a real graphic design. I've done both and been pleased with the results for each.
A nice logo is the first real investment in your brand (A domain costs less than $10), and it cements your name, and becomes the face of your company. It's not necessary to have the perfect logo up front, but you want to look professional.
6. Write some good copy describing your idea to potential users
This is the hardest thing for me. Probably because I'm so wordy. And I hate bad marketing copy. I think the best strategy here is to be straightforward, honest, and personal. But if you're a terrible writer, finding a copy writer might be a good idea. Just don't be satisfied with putting something up that you don't like the sound of (read it aloud to someone else) because you paid for it or because you think that's what everyone else puts up.
The important thing is to stand out, but don't get too weird to scare people off (please let me know if I'm doing that.)
I have a web page for my consulting business that is a horribly eggregious violator of everything I just said. I was thinking about hiring a copy writer for One Shore (that's my consulting business) when I came up with the Apple Blossom idea.
7. Put up a basic site that looks polished, describes your product clearly, and allows people to register
This is putting everything together that you've been working on so far, the domain, the hosting, the logo, and the copy. The ability to receive feedback is important, and it shouldn't just be an email link or contact form (although you can have one of those too.) It should be a call to action right in the middle of your landing page. it's your "buy now" button at this point, and the real test of your idea as a business.
If you can't get people to give you their email address, you'll have an even harder time getting them to give you their credit card number.
8. Do some market research, ask friends and family for feedback, and find out your competition.
Homework time. Maybe you should have done this further, before putting out $350 for a logo, $400 for a basic web design, and $50 for a domain, hosting, email, etc.
But don't let it dissuade you. If you still feel good about your idea, tell them all to take a hike, put your money where your mouth is and walk away knowing for sure that your sister in law was right that it was a dumb idea that no one was interested; that your co-worker was right that there are 100 other businesses just like it with big pockets, better graphic designs, and a big head start; or that your best friend was right and it wasn't something you'd want to stick with.
But, if you find out that everyone thinks it's a dumb idea, there's too much competition, or no one will pay for it, consider thinking of another idea, or at least refining this one.
9. Run a limited Google Adwords campaign to test the viability of your product.
Your ads shouldn't be deceptive or vague. You're not trying to get traffic here, you're trying to determine the viability of your product. You're essentially using advertising dollars to take a poll of potential customers.
You're measuring hits but even more importantly, registrations. You don't have to contact people who register, and you probably shouldn't at this point. What you're trying to do is gauge who is interested enough in your idea that they're willing to part with their email address. If they're not willing to give you their email address, they're not likely to give you their credit card number either.
10. Create a social media presence.
Blog about your idea, and about your product. But don't make your blog look like a brochure with daily updates. Describe feature ideas, or your plans (like me.) You want to build content that can be searched and direct people to your site, but you don't want content for keywords sake, you want it to be interesting and something people will want to come back and read voluntarily.
Create a Twitter account, but don't start posting 140 character press releases. Instead, try to network. Find people who might know more about the subject than you and as questions.
Maybe set up a Facebook page. Personally, I'd hold off on Facebook until you can be sure to get at least 25 fans, but you might put a Facebook like button on your home page. Once you've got an idea and a several actual fans is the time to bring Facebook into the picture. And don't use friends and family for marketing. Nothing more than a "Hey mom, I have a new idea to _____. What do you think?"
1. Come up with an idea
I described my idea in a previous post, but it's still evolving. Don't get wed (or welded) to one idea too much. You don't know enough about your customers yet to know what they want. Don't presume. Put your idea out there and listen. This whole 10 step program is designed to listen. If it doesn't seem viable after the first month, you don't necessarily have to scrap it and go back to the drawing board. If you're still interested but no one else is after a month, pivot. Try a new angle or approach. Scale back your idea, or narrow your market. You can always expand once you gain traction.
You don't want to be thinking about pricing points and long term strategy at this point. It's ok to dream, but not to set anything in stone. I like the idea of one month part time. It's short enough to allow you to focus, but long enough to let you find out if it was just a passing fancy or really something you'd be interested in pursuing.
2. Decide upon with a name & register a domain
This is fairly straightforward, but can be tricky, especially with finding a domain name. At this stage don't worry too much though, you can always change it. And don't worry about getting a .com. A .biz or .info should work well enough and might be better than an extra long .com (like appleblossomlearning.com) for things like business cards and tweets. But be aware if you think, I'll buy a good domain later that you might end up having to spend from $10,000-$1 million to get it.
Have fun with it, but be aware that your name is your first branding decision. Don't stress too much, but it's an important one. Luckily, it's an easy one to change at this stage.
3. Set up hosting and configure DNS to point your domain so you can see www.yourdomain.com
Shared hosting can be had for under $10/month, but I'd make sure you don't get locked into a year contract (or more.) After a month or two of market research, you'll want to start developing your app. I wouldn't set my sites on heavy load, but you'll want to be able to host a webpage, a blog, as well as at least a development & production (beta) version of your app. You might also want to do credit card processing, have a database, email, and business apps, all though these usually be purchased as third party services.
If you have an existing server laying around (like I happen to, this is ideal, because it allows you to grow without worrying) although I'll be setting up a new environment for production.
4. Set up email so you can send and receive for you@yourdomain.com
You're not looking to send spam, but you are looking to communicate with people as your business. Set up yourname@yourdomain.com as well as a couple other aliases like info@yourdomain.com. It goes a long way towards showing you're real, and helps for setting up other accounts without having to use your personal email.
Google apps is great for this, but you might want to use a paid email service if you plan on having several users, sending newsletters, etc. Of course there's also a paid google apps that does this too.
5. Create a logo
I used 99designs, but if you find a local designer you feel confident with use them. 99 designs is great for coming up with a concept if you can't picture one yourself, but it's also great for finding someone with more artistic skill than you to turn your napkin sketch into a real graphic design. I've done both and been pleased with the results for each.
A nice logo is the first real investment in your brand (A domain costs less than $10), and it cements your name, and becomes the face of your company. It's not necessary to have the perfect logo up front, but you want to look professional.
6. Write some good copy describing your idea to potential users
This is the hardest thing for me. Probably because I'm so wordy. And I hate bad marketing copy. I think the best strategy here is to be straightforward, honest, and personal. But if you're a terrible writer, finding a copy writer might be a good idea. Just don't be satisfied with putting something up that you don't like the sound of (read it aloud to someone else) because you paid for it or because you think that's what everyone else puts up.
The important thing is to stand out, but don't get too weird to scare people off (please let me know if I'm doing that.)
I have a web page for my consulting business that is a horribly eggregious violator of everything I just said. I was thinking about hiring a copy writer for One Shore (that's my consulting business) when I came up with the Apple Blossom idea.
7. Put up a basic site that looks polished, describes your product clearly, and allows people to register
This is putting everything together that you've been working on so far, the domain, the hosting, the logo, and the copy. The ability to receive feedback is important, and it shouldn't just be an email link or contact form (although you can have one of those too.) It should be a call to action right in the middle of your landing page. it's your "buy now" button at this point, and the real test of your idea as a business.
If you can't get people to give you their email address, you'll have an even harder time getting them to give you their credit card number.
8. Do some market research, ask friends and family for feedback, and find out your competition.
Homework time. Maybe you should have done this further, before putting out $350 for a logo, $400 for a basic web design, and $50 for a domain, hosting, email, etc.
But don't let it dissuade you. If you still feel good about your idea, tell them all to take a hike, put your money where your mouth is and walk away knowing for sure that your sister in law was right that it was a dumb idea that no one was interested; that your co-worker was right that there are 100 other businesses just like it with big pockets, better graphic designs, and a big head start; or that your best friend was right and it wasn't something you'd want to stick with.
But, if you find out that everyone thinks it's a dumb idea, there's too much competition, or no one will pay for it, consider thinking of another idea, or at least refining this one.
9. Run a limited Google Adwords campaign to test the viability of your product.
Your ads shouldn't be deceptive or vague. You're not trying to get traffic here, you're trying to determine the viability of your product. You're essentially using advertising dollars to take a poll of potential customers.
You're measuring hits but even more importantly, registrations. You don't have to contact people who register, and you probably shouldn't at this point. What you're trying to do is gauge who is interested enough in your idea that they're willing to part with their email address. If they're not willing to give you their email address, they're not likely to give you their credit card number either.
10. Create a social media presence.
Blog about your idea, and about your product. But don't make your blog look like a brochure with daily updates. Describe feature ideas, or your plans (like me.) You want to build content that can be searched and direct people to your site, but you don't want content for keywords sake, you want it to be interesting and something people will want to come back and read voluntarily.
Create a Twitter account, but don't start posting 140 character press releases. Instead, try to network. Find people who might know more about the subject than you and as questions.
Maybe set up a Facebook page. Personally, I'd hold off on Facebook until you can be sure to get at least 25 fans, but you might put a Facebook like button on your home page. Once you've got an idea and a several actual fans is the time to bring Facebook into the picture. And don't use friends and family for marketing. Nothing more than a "Hey mom, I have a new idea to _____. What do you think?"
The Plan - 1 month and $1000 for a minimum viable product
I now had an idea: Curriculum software for home school teachers. (See my previous post.)
I'd undertaken a project like this before, just about a year ago with a product called Resumelink so I had a bit of an idea of what would be involved, and what the basic steps were.
The first thing I did was set myself a budget and timeline. I'd done something like this before, just about a year ago with a product called Resumelink so I had a bit of an idea of what would be involved. Once I decided on this, I could make decisions about the scope.
I decided to give it a month of spare time (1-2 hours a day) and up to $1000 dollars. Actually I thought I'd try $500 at first, but upped the amount fairly quickly when I got attached and decided to spend more on graphic design than was probably necessary. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The next thing I needed to do was come up with a plan. I'll describe what I've thought of here and then try to fit them into a short 10 step list in a future post. (I can't promise it will end up being exactly 10 steps, but I'll try to avoid making it 12 steps to avid confusion.)
My goal is to have a basic site up that looks polished and has a demo so that people can get a good idea of what's offered. It might only consist of a landing page with a logo and description, a few mockups, and a registration form for people who are interested.
Then I can spend a little advertising money and direct traffic with adwords and my own free marketing attempts to see if the idea has any traction.
I knew I needed a name and I knew finding a suitable domain name would be important, particularly because this was going to be an online product. My first thought was "Apple Tree" -- because you give your teacher an apple if you like her, and tree because apples grow on trees. My second idea was "Apple Blossom" because the fruit comes out of the blossom, and because I thought that an apple blossom might provide a more compelling image, as well as be a less crowded search results area. I spent a few nights juggling the two in my mind before deciding on blossom.
I tried various combinations for a domain name before settling on "appleblossomlearning.com", one of my first choices.
Kelsey got her first taste of my indecisive over-thinking at this stage, though she was reasonable tolerant and helped check domain availability. She was to see more of it soon, and I'm sure she hasn't seen the last. We've had a few tense moments, but I think we're communicating better now. She's more tolerant, and I'm less obnoxious (I hope.)
Next I set up hosting and DNS. I registered through 1and1.com because I already have an account there. I don't have much to say about registrars except don't use GoDaddy or Network Solutions. GoDaddy because the interface sucks and why pay more at NS.
I already have several virtual servers set up at Linode.com, which also has free DNS service, so that's easy. If I hadn't, I'd probably choose something cheap like dreamhost or somewhere that can handle Wordpress and a custom database. I would only get month to month, because I'd expect to quickly outgrow shared hosting. I have an SMTP server, but you could also use Google Apps for email, or go with a relatively cheap email service. This would be a good idea if your going to use it for marketing. I can't recommend any because I don't have any experience, but I've heard good things about mailchimp.
As far as technical requirements, I'll go with PHP or Ruby on Rails, possible a mix. Pro But I'm not going to worry about technical decisions at this point.
So the next thing was to get a logo. I'd used 99designs before and was really happy with the result for Resumelink, so I did it again, as well as posting on Craigslist locally. I quickly discovered that you need to do one or the other, because the people who respond to Craigslist won't enter a contest. I think my need for multiple design ideas trumps the feelings of any individual designer, so I went with them, but 99designs takes a pretty hefty percentage off the top (30% I think.) If you're confident you can find a designer who can realize your idea and will work for reasonable rates (under $500), go with them.
I thought I could get a reasonable design for $300 but I see that competition for designers is higher on 99designs than it was a year ago so I upped it to $400 to get above the minimum ($295.) It's difficult to find, but they still do offer custom pricing. I'm one day away from picking a winner, and will probably award two winners because I like both designs and the designers have done such good work, though it really blows my budget out of the water. Kelsey's a bit upset about that.
Next I'll set up Google adwords (and maybe overture or whatever yahoo/bing is calling it these days for comparison) with a $100 budget targeting a few keywords with 2 different ads. I'll do it again with another $100 and revised keywords & ads if I don't get good results. I still need to do some research on how best to do this. Look for a post in a week or two with my results.
I'm also going to do some research on the competition, potential complementary service providers, and do some informal polling of friends and family. Kelsey will be a really good resource for this since she already knows a lot more than me about the subject, and she has a lot of friends who are moms.
She's already pressured some of her friends to give feedback on the designs, for which I'm grateful, but I don't want to try to make her abuse her friendships, so I don't want to try market to them or solicit too hard.
Kelsey is my ace in the hole here since what I really needed with Resumelink was someone who is passionate and knowledgeable in the field of HR/Recruiting/Resume writing. I wanted to find someone who could blog and do social networking & marketing, but didn't know how to find someone with that expertise who would work part time for maybe $2000/month.
Even without that, Resumelink is doing good enough now that I need to invest more in development because there is a backlog of resumes that need processed and it's been a largely manual process so far.
It was a difficult decision, but I've decided to put my time and money into Apple Blossom over Resumelink right now. After the month, I'll re-evaluate and decide how to balance my resources.
On top of all that, I need to blog, to flesh out my idea, and to try to get out the word about Apple Blossom. I'm not going to take time to look for funding or pitch like I did with Resumelink. I think I did that a bit too early last time, even though it got me invited to Madrona Venture Capital, where I didn't get to pitch, but I did talk to a couple of the partners as well as other entrepreneurs.
With Resumelink I also submitted to Founders Coop and practiced my pitch at Seattle Tech Speakers. I might try to get funding with Apple Blossom, but I'll wait until I've got a bit more of a product and some data on user interest this time.
It's a more complex product and I have a lot to learn about marketing, so I think that's wiser, although I feel with Resumelink it helped me dip my foot in the water of the local startup scene.
I'd undertaken a project like this before, just about a year ago with a product called Resumelink so I had a bit of an idea of what would be involved, and what the basic steps were.
The first thing I did was set myself a budget and timeline. I'd done something like this before, just about a year ago with a product called Resumelink so I had a bit of an idea of what would be involved. Once I decided on this, I could make decisions about the scope.
I decided to give it a month of spare time (1-2 hours a day) and up to $1000 dollars. Actually I thought I'd try $500 at first, but upped the amount fairly quickly when I got attached and decided to spend more on graphic design than was probably necessary. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The next thing I needed to do was come up with a plan. I'll describe what I've thought of here and then try to fit them into a short 10 step list in a future post. (I can't promise it will end up being exactly 10 steps, but I'll try to avoid making it 12 steps to avid confusion.)
My goal is to have a basic site up that looks polished and has a demo so that people can get a good idea of what's offered. It might only consist of a landing page with a logo and description, a few mockups, and a registration form for people who are interested.
Then I can spend a little advertising money and direct traffic with adwords and my own free marketing attempts to see if the idea has any traction.
I knew I needed a name and I knew finding a suitable domain name would be important, particularly because this was going to be an online product. My first thought was "Apple Tree" -- because you give your teacher an apple if you like her, and tree because apples grow on trees. My second idea was "Apple Blossom" because the fruit comes out of the blossom, and because I thought that an apple blossom might provide a more compelling image, as well as be a less crowded search results area. I spent a few nights juggling the two in my mind before deciding on blossom.
I tried various combinations for a domain name before settling on "appleblossomlearning.com", one of my first choices.
Kelsey got her first taste of my indecisive over-thinking at this stage, though she was reasonable tolerant and helped check domain availability. She was to see more of it soon, and I'm sure she hasn't seen the last. We've had a few tense moments, but I think we're communicating better now. She's more tolerant, and I'm less obnoxious (I hope.)
Next I set up hosting and DNS. I registered through 1and1.com because I already have an account there. I don't have much to say about registrars except don't use GoDaddy or Network Solutions. GoDaddy because the interface sucks and why pay more at NS.
I already have several virtual servers set up at Linode.com, which also has free DNS service, so that's easy. If I hadn't, I'd probably choose something cheap like dreamhost or somewhere that can handle Wordpress and a custom database. I would only get month to month, because I'd expect to quickly outgrow shared hosting. I have an SMTP server, but you could also use Google Apps for email, or go with a relatively cheap email service. This would be a good idea if your going to use it for marketing. I can't recommend any because I don't have any experience, but I've heard good things about mailchimp.
As far as technical requirements, I'll go with PHP or Ruby on Rails, possible a mix. Pro But I'm not going to worry about technical decisions at this point.
So the next thing was to get a logo. I'd used 99designs before and was really happy with the result for Resumelink, so I did it again, as well as posting on Craigslist locally. I quickly discovered that you need to do one or the other, because the people who respond to Craigslist won't enter a contest. I think my need for multiple design ideas trumps the feelings of any individual designer, so I went with them, but 99designs takes a pretty hefty percentage off the top (30% I think.) If you're confident you can find a designer who can realize your idea and will work for reasonable rates (under $500), go with them.
I thought I could get a reasonable design for $300 but I see that competition for designers is higher on 99designs than it was a year ago so I upped it to $400 to get above the minimum ($295.) It's difficult to find, but they still do offer custom pricing. I'm one day away from picking a winner, and will probably award two winners because I like both designs and the designers have done such good work, though it really blows my budget out of the water. Kelsey's a bit upset about that.
Next I'll set up Google adwords (and maybe overture or whatever yahoo/bing is calling it these days for comparison) with a $100 budget targeting a few keywords with 2 different ads. I'll do it again with another $100 and revised keywords & ads if I don't get good results. I still need to do some research on how best to do this. Look for a post in a week or two with my results.
I'm also going to do some research on the competition, potential complementary service providers, and do some informal polling of friends and family. Kelsey will be a really good resource for this since she already knows a lot more than me about the subject, and she has a lot of friends who are moms.
She's already pressured some of her friends to give feedback on the designs, for which I'm grateful, but I don't want to try to make her abuse her friendships, so I don't want to try market to them or solicit too hard.
Kelsey is my ace in the hole here since what I really needed with Resumelink was someone who is passionate and knowledgeable in the field of HR/Recruiting/Resume writing. I wanted to find someone who could blog and do social networking & marketing, but didn't know how to find someone with that expertise who would work part time for maybe $2000/month.
Even without that, Resumelink is doing good enough now that I need to invest more in development because there is a backlog of resumes that need processed and it's been a largely manual process so far.
It was a difficult decision, but I've decided to put my time and money into Apple Blossom over Resumelink right now. After the month, I'll re-evaluate and decide how to balance my resources.
On top of all that, I need to blog, to flesh out my idea, and to try to get out the word about Apple Blossom. I'm not going to take time to look for funding or pitch like I did with Resumelink. I think I did that a bit too early last time, even though it got me invited to Madrona Venture Capital, where I didn't get to pitch, but I did talk to a couple of the partners as well as other entrepreneurs.
With Resumelink I also submitted to Founders Coop and practiced my pitch at Seattle Tech Speakers. I might try to get funding with Apple Blossom, but I'll wait until I've got a bit more of a product and some data on user interest this time.
It's a more complex product and I have a lot to learn about marketing, so I think that's wiser, although I feel with Resumelink it helped me dip my foot in the water of the local startup scene.
The Idea - Software for Preschool and Home School Curriculums (curricula)
About a week ago, I lay awake at night thinking about what to do. I was looking for an easy startup idea, something that I could spend about $1000 and a month's spare time on to see if I could come up with a "minimum viable product" and find out if the idea develops any traction.
My wife (Kelsey) had just started doing preschool at home for my two small children. They love it. Harmon is 2 1/2 years old and Sammy (Samantha Jane, aka "Jambo") is just 1. Kelsey did some research and found an online curriculum that goes through the alphabet one letter a week and has coloring, songs, and various activities. It's pretty cool. She's added some of her own ideas and it's a great success.
We're also thinking about homeschooling. Since we plan on traveling (between the USA and Ecuador, and eventually sailing around the world), having a curriculum that we can adapt to our lifestyle is a must. Kelsey's all for home school, but I'm a bit more traditional, and well...pedantic -- in complete contrast to my attitude as a student.
I started thinking that if you were building a curriculum for yourself and it was more free-form and less rigid than a typical school, you might want to have an easy way to check off what you'd done. It might also be nice to have a source for people to find, compare notes on, and collaboratively develop curricula (curriculums?)
So that was my idea. I'd build a website that would hopefully develop into a resource for finding preschool curriculum information (based on my wife's research and experience) and create a simple checklist program that would allow you to keep track of what you've covered. Admittedly, the checklist is probably overkill for pre-kindergarteners, but if I had a working system by the time my son was in first grade it might be of use to us, if no one else. I figured it would be easy enough to adapt the checklist to use grades if we wanted to do that.
I also have a friend who develops software for public school teachers to work with home schoolers. I don't know the details of it, but it helped me thinking there might be a business value to the idea.
So now I had an idea. The next step was to create a plan and see if it was worth developing.
My wife (Kelsey) had just started doing preschool at home for my two small children. They love it. Harmon is 2 1/2 years old and Sammy (Samantha Jane, aka "Jambo") is just 1. Kelsey did some research and found an online curriculum that goes through the alphabet one letter a week and has coloring, songs, and various activities. It's pretty cool. She's added some of her own ideas and it's a great success.
We're also thinking about homeschooling. Since we plan on traveling (between the USA and Ecuador, and eventually sailing around the world), having a curriculum that we can adapt to our lifestyle is a must. Kelsey's all for home school, but I'm a bit more traditional, and well...pedantic -- in complete contrast to my attitude as a student.
I started thinking that if you were building a curriculum for yourself and it was more free-form and less rigid than a typical school, you might want to have an easy way to check off what you'd done. It might also be nice to have a source for people to find, compare notes on, and collaboratively develop curricula (curriculums?)
So that was my idea. I'd build a website that would hopefully develop into a resource for finding preschool curriculum information (based on my wife's research and experience) and create a simple checklist program that would allow you to keep track of what you've covered. Admittedly, the checklist is probably overkill for pre-kindergarteners, but if I had a working system by the time my son was in first grade it might be of use to us, if no one else. I figured it would be easy enough to adapt the checklist to use grades if we wanted to do that.
I also have a friend who develops software for public school teachers to work with home schoolers. I don't know the details of it, but it helped me thinking there might be a business value to the idea.
So now I had an idea. The next step was to create a plan and see if it was worth developing.
Birth of a Startup Blog
Apple Blossom Learning is a new software business creating curriculum software for home school and preschool.
This blog will document the creation of the business and the steps I take to achieve the goal, as well as the hurdles, failures, and lessons learned.
I'll be doing another blog describing Apple Blossom from an user's perspective. This one will be more of interest to people looking to read about the birth and growth of a startup.
This blog will document the creation of the business and the steps I take to achieve the goal, as well as the hurdles, failures, and lessons learned.
I'll be doing another blog describing Apple Blossom from an user's perspective. This one will be more of interest to people looking to read about the birth and growth of a startup.
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