This episode is a bit different. It's a live, unscripted working
session with a founder, and I've only done one other earlier this
year.
Niels Hoven (@NielsHoven) is the founder and CEO
of Mentava, a company building software to
support fast learners. Eager kids are dramatically underserved by
today's education system, and Niels created Mentava to allow
students to achieve their potential. Prior to Mentava, Niels
worked at Cloudflare, ClassDojo, and Pocket Gems, where he ran
the highest-grossing mobile game in the world in 2011. He has a
graduate degree in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley.
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Timestamps:
[00:00:00] Start.
[00:01:32] What Mentava is—and the toddlers reading before age
three.
[00:08:31] Game design, slot-machine motivation, and lowering the
hoop.
[00:11:54] Tim's red pen: rewriting the bio and positioning.
[00:16:59] The real problem: wasted early years, high-school
pressure.
[00:23:55] Learning at your own pace—and "what if you did
nothing?"
[00:29:32] Dog-fish, fish-dog: readiness, failed trials, and
follow-ups.
[00:35:06] The $500 price, school pilots, and videos-for-tuition
scholarships.
[00:41:39] Teach a kid to fish: selling relief, not nagging.
[00:47:49] Viral posts, the culture-war trap, and why
exaggeration is death.
[00:55:05] Put the ask on top: investor updates and what actually
converts.
[00:59:35] The thirty-year phonics war—and it's not with
teachers.
[01:01:10] A $1,000 coupon, zero takers: why the referral bribe
flopped.
[01:08:04] Lead with the love letters: testimonials, homepage,
and who's buying.
[01:20:03] "No scam charges $500 a month": pricing and who you're
not for.
[01:34:16] Uncrowded channels and workshopping like a standup.
[01:42:08] Don't let Amazon be your debutante ball: testing what
sells.
[01:46:42] Alpha School, the competitive map, and the eager
investor.
[01:48:39] Reaching the already-converted: be the painkiller,
TiE, surround sound.
[02:08:18] Niels's charge: advocate for your child,
unapologetically.
*
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