Building Non-Addictive Apps for Kids | Melissa Cash, Pok Pok

The Peel with Turner Novak

Get Attio, the next generation of CRM: https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel Warp: Don’t let payroll and compliance hold your startup back: visit https://joinwarp.com/peel to get started and receive a $1,000 gift card when you first run payroll. Melissa Cash is the Co-founder and CEO of Pok Pok, a montessori-inspired collection of digital toys that spark creativity and learning through open-ended play. Prior to Pok Pok, Melissa spent a decade working in marketing and design roles, helping Snowman drive 9-digits of downloads across its game portfolio and designing physical products at Disney. Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (05:46) Creating a Montessori inspired game (12:18) Why it's impossible to avoid screen time (15:35) Designing a non-addictive product (17:38) Monetizing a non-addictive game (21:47) How to price a subscription game (24:18) Using new features to drive retention (26:04) Marketing a kids game to parents (30:59) Why Pok Pok waited to launch Android (34:12) How getting pickpocketed in Germany led to a job designing products at Disney (39:23) How great products can define a childhood (43:21) Lessons from having a great idea while working at Disney (46:03) First coming up with the idea for Pok Pok (49:00) Advice for starting your first company (50:10) Fundraising tactics from Pre-Seed to Series A (54:08) How to build your network from zero (57:08) Getting the most out of Slack groups (59:07) Melissa’s hack for in-person events (01:01:33) Tactics for meeting people at events (01:03:39) Winning multiple Apple design awards (01:07:07) How to get press for your startup (01:13:17) Prioritizing getting women on Pok Pok’s cap table (01:18:38) Strategies for staying creative (01:21:58) Melissa’s influencer marketing hacks (01:24:24) Lessons from failed influencer campaigns (01:28:19) Growing 5x YoY, adding STEM content (01:30:28) What surprised her about starting a company Referenced: Try Pok Pok for 50% off an annual subscription with code POKPOK50: https://apple.co/3XAGSwT Snowman Studios: https://www.builtbysnowman.com/ Hampton Private Founder Group: https://joinhampton.com/ VC Backed Mom’s: https://www.vcbackedmoms.com/ The Peel Podcast episode with Eric Newcomer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXH_peQWtnc More on Pok Pok’s Series A: https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/18/now-a-series-a-startup-kids-app-and-digital-toy-pok-pok-is-coming-to-android/