#kanocomputer

The story begins

“We started with the Raspberry Pi and Kano last Xmas. Like many parents, I was looking for a tool to make my two 8-year-old daughters, Emilia and Viktoria, familiar with the basics of computing and coding. Both have tablets (iPad and Android) and they use them intuitively for playing, watching their favourite shows and doing some Wikipedia research for school.  

However, I did not like the “black box” character of these machines. So, I started to get interested in the Pi and its DIY personality. When I found out about Kano, I knew: this is what I need for my little ones to get a look behind the scene!

So they got their Pi (B+) and Kano for Xmas and it was amazing to see what a difference it makes to assemble your own computer compared to switching on a black box! We built our own LEGO case for the Pi, including a support for the PiCamera. Emilia fell in love with Sonic Pi, but still is too shy to publish her music on Kano World. Viktoria is very much into Terminal Quest: I guess she will end up as a coding detective!

Camera-ready

Since it is important to me that they understand how computers can be a tool to discover their surroundings, we started with two camera projects: we made a short stop motion movie of a pirate ship crew and a two week time lapse movie of nesting birds (which unfortunately failed because no birds wanted to move into our new nesting box; we hope for next spring!).

Transforming the Lunchbox

Next was a portable Pi (our first Pi 2), which we decided should be housed in a lunchbox, so the Lunchbox Pi was born, beautifully decorated by Emilia and Viktoria with Kano stickers (thanks Ricardo for shipping them out to us!). The Lunchbox Pi now serves as web radio which the girls use for listening to their favorite podcasts.

School CAN be fun

During the entire school year projects and papers about all sorts of things - from white cats to the rain forest - were a big issue in class. It was only last weekend that Emilia decided that she wants to do her next presentation (about the Tasmanian Devil!) with her Kano and with LibreOffice.

So, step by step, Kano is becoming their computer and a tool for a lot of things from making music with code to creative school projects.”

Thanks, Carlo! You’re awesome.

In November 2012, Saul, Alex and I set the goal of a computer anyone can make, anywhere, inspired by the challenge from the 6-year old Micah. It was an idea a lot of people thought was irrelevant in an era where computing devices are in abundance and screens are everywhere, but we’ve decided to pursue this goal as we believed the world needs a new type of computer company - one that will empower the rising billion, the next generation of creators.

The past 30 months have been a roller-coaster. Everything moved fast, with a thrill that required us to persevere, be ready for the unknown and execute fiercely. In between my flights from Tel-Aviv to London, with Alex completing his masters in Cambridge, many hours and weekends of guidance and mentorship from Saul, and with the help of a talented Swedish designer name Tommy, we’ve made, sold and shipped 200 units of the Alpha version, straight from 8 Parkhill Road in London.

Over Ramen soup and after extensive search, in June 2013 we’ve recruited our first employee, Alejandro, who grew into the Head of Software role, helping us build the tech team which was instrumental in delivering the Kano OS. But before Kano OS came to life, we’ve launched the Kano Computer Kit on Kickstarter in what became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all times, with an incredible teamwork, in-and-out of the building, reaching the hearts and minds of nearly 14,000 people from 86 countries.

And then, 18 months after shipping the Alpha version, in October 2014, we’ve shipped. Our first production ever recorded the number 18,000 - a massive first production of a first product we’ve ever released on large scale, by a team that have built their first ever product - we earned a WOW. It was the teamwork, the precision and the commitment that led us to achieve our 2014 objective: WE SHIP, IT WORKS, WOW.

Yes, we had a good start, and all of you should be proud of your exceptional execution and true commitment. Today though, I am thinking much more about Kano’s future. Over the next 10 years computing will be more personal than it ever was. We live in an era of accessibility where technology is everywhere, connectivity is almost ubiquitous and billions are eager to be relevant in the ever changing workforce landscape of the 21st century.

We, as Team Kano, can help. By building a new type of computer company, we help people to make a computer, learn to code and create the future - for themselves, their families and their communities - all over the world. Micah, Kelvin and Caine showed us how powerful their dreams can be, but now we have the beginning of a Kano Generation with little Ms. Innes, Scarlett & Holly, and empowering young African innovators in Kenya  

Today marks the beginning of a new era for Kano. Together with launching the New Kano kit, we are also announcing a new round of funding - $15 million. What made this financing round so special is how we worked together, as a team, to accomplish something incredible. We’ve all played part regardless of what we’ve done on a day-to-day basis, because that’s the power of a team. We help each other, we support one another, and we keep the commitment to our mission. That is why we’ve been successful in bringing on board spectacular investors, and that’s what will help us build a meaningful global business.  

Leading the round is Jim Breyer, one of the world’s leading investors who has invested and helped grow iconic companies like Dell, Facebook and Etsy, among others. This is what Jim Breyer has to say:

“Kano is enabling and empowering the next generation of innovators with a truly delightful educational product that makes basic computing skills accessible for all. The global opportunity for Kano, and the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of young people around the world, is enormous. I am proud to support Kano at this exciting time in the company’s development”. The process of locking down Jim started with an introduction by Jonathan Klein who was also instrumental in helping us close Jim with the back-stage guidance of Saul and others.    

Also participating are Collaborative Fund and Jim O'Neill, a British economist who coined the term “BRIC”. But that’s not all.

With a tribute to our crowdfunding heritage, we are also raising up to $500,000 from our community through Quire, the equity crowdfunding platform from NYC. We will use the Quire platform to engage with our community and investors by previewing new features, soliciting feedback, and sharing updates. We also set aside a “Golden Share” amounting to 1% of the company’s undiluted equity for Kano Academy, our not-for-profit initiative for supporting making and creativity worldwide.

The spectacular work you’ve all been doing has led us to where we are, and we salute you. Together with the new funding, Kano is now better positioned to extend the product platform; scale the business in the US, UK, and enter new markets; build out the Kano brand and Academy; and continue to grow our multinational team. Real accessibility of technology to the majority of the world is still out of reach, and this is exactly our opportunity - to make “making” with technology accessible to anyone, anywhere, and making that experience fun like Lego.

Together, we have accomplished a lot in less than 30 months - that’s a very a short time. Yet with all respect to our past, which we should definitely remember and learn from, what matters the most is what happens from now. What matters the most is what we do next. The journey of building a new type of computer company is long, but as you’ve seen so far, it’s pretty damn exciting. Thank you for being part of this journey, and here’s to the next 30 months, and beyond.

Bedtime is a pretty busy time in our house, just like everyone else’s. With the Kano, Lila and I have managed to carve out some special time, even if it’s just 30 minutes to play Minecraft together, or create stuff with code.  

Generally Lila is playing and I’m watching what she’s doing and helping her when she has questions or needs a hand. We treat the Kano as her computer. Homework comes first but sometimes we might use Chrome on the Kano to research stuff on Wikipedia before we start playing. We’ve given Kano a permanent home on the TV stand so we don’t need to waste precious time setting it up every night; we can just jump on and start playing immediately.  

Lila has grown up with computers, iPads and iPhones, and like all kids these days she just naturally knows how to use them. We saw Kano as a more constructive type of screen time, and also a way for Lila to understand more about computers and coding from an early age so she doesn’t see it as difficult or complex. Lila took to the Kano, and to coding, really naturally. Now she just takes it in her stride.  

There’s this perception that coding is complex but actually for Lila it's a very natural interaction, she swaps between playing with Minecraft to changing something in Make Minecraft with code, and back. There’s nothing extraordinary about that to her, she’s come to expect that she has control over computers and that it’s easy and natural to change things.

Actually, what’s really amusing is watching her grandparents as she’s coding. To them computers are complex and foreign, and they can’t quite believe that their seven year old granddaughter is telling a computer to change the shape and colour of a balloon and that it’s happening in front of their eyes.

Lila loves Lego and building things, and with Kano it’s just another way of making stuff but this time it’s with code blocks instead of Lego bricks.  At the minute she’s busy building herself a palace in Minecraft. She found Minecraft a little difficult to begin with but she was so proud of herself when she worked it out, and now she’s a natural.  

As a father of two young girls I’m passionate about showing my daughters that they can do anything they put their mind to. Often with products aimed at kids there’s a real emphasis on pink or blue, and that’s something that I hate with a passion. This may be my perception as a dad, but I think girls are far more patronised by toy makers than boys are. If Lila gets a Lego Friends toy then I’ll buy her a Lego City set to balance things out. I recently gave her an Action Man with a working parachute for her to chuck out of windows.  

I love that Kano is completely gender neutral (I only recently twigged that was why it’s orange), and that it’s showing Lila that she can make stuff and control computers with code.