Skilly-do

Parents are children’s most important playmates and teachers. But in the US, 97% have one and 63% have two working parents. Searching across apps and devices, they struggle finding two things crucial for play: time and trusted resources. 

Skilly-do maximizes parent’s time and children’s early learning through play. Grounded in 47 years early childhood expertise, Skilly-do’s resources have been proven in the real world with thousands of teachers and children. 

Skilly-do is also a family-friendly, employee benefit. We’re expanding our partnerships with employers and non-profits, matching every paid member with a family in need for free.

We’re building intelligence that learns from parents, providing more of what they need for their child’s total development. Skilly-do’s platform unites trusted resources making the world’s best ECD ideas within parent’s reach. 

Across diverse contexts, Skilly-do  empowers families to play, learn and get ready for school together.

Preschool care is unaffordable or unavailable across economies like the US and Africa. Working families and caregivers are responsible for our future generation’s early learning. 

53% of US preschoolers don’t attend preschool regularly. In Africa and Skilly-do’s North Carolinian community, this increases to ~80%. In NC, 1.04M children under 5 don’t attend preschool.

Across economies, preschool families are working families. Finding time for playful learning is difficult. Worldwide, ~340M children under 6 live in households with two working parents. In NC, 61% have two working parents. Speaking with local parents, 45% say their biggest struggle is finding time to play. 

“Preschool” resources and technologies are overwhelming and unreliable. A US Google search for “preschool ideas” has 206M results and Google Play has 252 “preschool” applications. 

Proven ECD resources are often inaccessible. They are restricted by market, technology, and then to caregivers who can afford or know how to find them. 

As a result, parents struggle to identify simple, proven, relevant ECD resources. 25% local parents say they struggle finding ideas that aren’t “too involved for the average person,” 15% are “concerned about their trustworthiness” and are “unsure if they will help my child get ready for school.”

North Carolina’s population emphasizes the US urban-rural divide. NC counties are 64% rural, 238% more rural than US' average. NC’s rural poverty rate is 27% greater than the US overall.

67% of NC’s working families have children under 6. Children under 5 are 5%/229K of New Hanover County's (NHC) population, with 30%/70K living in poverty. From Google Ad data, we know that 89% of people searching skilly-do.io are women, 35% having "50% or lower" household income.          

Like emerging economies, NC also has urban-rural technology constraints. 6% of the US lacks broadband access, compared to 22% NC overall. In rural areas like our NHC community, this doubles to 46%.   

As a family-friendly, employee benefit, Skilly-do reaches parent-employees across NC’s economy; from emerging high-tech employers to traditional industries like agricultural processing. Partnering with EDC non-profits like the YWCA, we match every paid member with a family in need for free. 

We are committed to understanding local families’ needs, defining Agile KPI, improving website, communications and ECD content through:

• First-person parent interviews 

• Parent play and technology usage surveys 

• Family workshops with employer and non-profit partners

• Partner leadership feedback via ongoing communication, monthly meetings and event retrospectives

• Customer engagement analytics

Based on 47 years early childhood expertise, the skilly-do.io beta is available across devices as a web-based subscription service offering preschool parents an expanding, holistic toolkit of 120+ creative activities, 120+ educational articles and 70+ curated guides. Skilly-do empowers play with proven, simple, low-cost ideas designed for families with children 2 to 4 years and older-- in 15 minutes or less. Our mission is providing families simple ways to discover and invest in their children’s early learning and creativity through play.

Activities are based on Skilly-do’s CEdO’s Duke University early childhood course and curriculum, Creative Activities for Young Children, with 400K+ copies sold worldwide since 1974. All are designed with ordinary materials and supported by photo-illustrations or videos. Curated alongside activities are educational articles, series and guides. These help parents connect with how their child grows and develops. Based on a developmental taxonomy, resources are discoverable by categories like age, type, skills, and learning area. 

308 newsletter subscribers receive Skilly-do resources each week, customized by age and activity type per monthly analytics. As experts in ECD content, Skilly-do’s trusted resources will grow, first by collaborating with our 16 NC early educators and then expanding to include ECD content partnerships.

As a playful learning platform and mobile app, Skilly-do aims to unite trusted, international ECD resources to reach parents wherever they are. We’re building intelligence that learns from parents, to provide more of what they want and need for their child’s total development. Simple, playful, encouraging and light-weight interactions, like contextual questions, will provide an individualized experience, grow data, and improve offerings over time.

As a family-friendly employee benefit, Skilly-do’s one-to-one paid to non-profit social impact model embraces both working parents as well as families in need. Supporting diverse customers and contexts from the get-go, Skilly-do will scale to share the world’s best ECD resources across devices and countries, while expanding technologies alongside for- and non-profit partnerships.

Long-term, integrating assessment models with diverse customer usage, Skilly-do data will inform ECD best-practices and technologies at local and global scale. Ultimately, Skilly-do will safely provide longitudinal data that empowers communities to more responsively and equitably resource preschool education, across classes and circumstances.

One-for-One, Employee Benefit Business Model

Engaged families are critical to employers’ and communities’ success. 56% of US employees say striking a work-family balance is difficult. 90% are millennials, with 83% willing to leave jobs for better family benefits. As an employee benefit, Skilly-do meets employers’ immediate need to provide reliable preschool resources for working families.

Every paid, employee membership matches a free membership for families in need through non-profit ECD partners, like the YWCA. Expanding our partnerships, Skilly-do is scaling to high- and low-resourced families. Customer data drives Skilly-do’s development, creating a foundation for a more equitable product. 

Trusted ECD Platform 

Skilly-do unites trusted ECD content and apps into a single platform, accessible across high- and low-end devices. Skilly-do frees ECD resources from siloed, singular markets leveraging scalable media and network technologies. Resources are licensed and distributed, reaching more relevant communities. 

Integrating assessment technologies, Skilly-do gathers big data alongside longitudinal studies, revealing the most effective school-readiness strategies. Doing so, we’ll discover innovative ways to invest in playing with our world’s preschoolers.

Playful, Holistic Intelligence

Studies show that mobile usage causes mother-child communications to decrease 29%. Skilly-do leverages AI/ML, behavioral design, and parent’s interactions to support their child’s total development. Skilly-do is “the place” to destress and have fun. AI is encouraging, simple, and playful. Unique, developmental “nudges” include contextual inputs like location, connectivity, and time’s passing. 

Skilly-do asks that parents put their devices down to make quality playtime-- the best way to support their child’s early learning!

One-for-One, Employee Benefit Business Model

Through our employer and non-profit partnerships, Skilly-do’s technology scales across economies to high- and low-tech resourced communities. Grounded in customer data, Skilly-do’s Agile software development organically creates a more extensible product. 

Customer usage across contexts allows Skilly-do technologies to be responsive and identify innovation to reach across circumstances and countries. 

Trusted ECD Platform 

Skilly-do leverages scalable, media platform and network technologies with global, content licensing models. Skilly-do licenses trusted resources from worldwide EDC partners, so parents can easily access relevant content across the entire platform library. 

Trusted ECD content and tech creators distribute their resources across countries’ storefronts, increasing revenue streams and social impact.

Integrating longitudinal assessment technologies with big data analysis, insights will continually improve Skilly-do’s as well as partner offerings. Long-term, Skilly-do data can be safely leveraged, informing ECD policy and investment decisions for partner non-profits, employers, and governments.

Playful, Holistic Intelligence

AI and Machine Learning are core to Skilly-do’s technology stack, enabling individual-user and platform-wide insights. 

ML/AI allows powerful, adaptive, behavioral user experience for parent-customers, supporting their preschooler’s unique, total development through playful learning in real life. Simple, fun, light-weight interactions will grow data over time. 

Understanding platform usage through AI-generated data insights provides Skilly-do a unique and valuable view into learning practices. This data drives future platform iterations, resources and partner assessment technologies.

Our mission is providing families simple ways to discover and invest in their children’s early learning and creativity through play.  

We’ve found working parents struggle finding two crucial things for play: time and trusted resources. 45% struggle finding time, 25% say ideas are unrealistic, 15% aren’t sure if ideas help their child’s school readiness. 

Grounded in 47 years expertise and a developmental taxonomy, Skilly-do’s ECD resources are proven in the real world. Weekly ideas are fun, simple, using ordinary materials-- in 15 minutes or less. All are discoverable by age, type, and skill. 

Members visit skilly-do.io an average 2 times/month, 12 minutes/session. As an adaptive, intelligent mobile app, Skilly-do learns to meet parents where they are, giving them more of what’s needed for their child’s total development. Instead of 206 million Google search results, Skilly-do is parents’ personal destination for play. 

Studies show that mobile usage causes mother-child communications to decrease 29%. An alternative to disengaging entertainment, Skilly-do encourages parents to connect with their children through playful learning.

As an employee benefit matched by local ECD non-profits, Skilly-do reaches across economies. Preschool care is constrained everywhere and Skilly-do meets families’ immediate need for reliable, early learning resources.

Proven ECD resources are restricted by cost, market, and technology. As a networked platform, Skilly-do adapts to low- and high-technologies bringing the best ECD ideas within reach.  

Longterm, assessment technologies demonstrate how Skilly-do supports preschoolers’ total development through families’ playful learning, enabling more successful transitions to primary school and beyond.

Current

Skilly-do.io serves approximately 700 users per month with 20% returning users. In the last quarter, 89% of returning users are in the US. 

We’re building partnerships with local employer-customers such as insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan Agency (MMA) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) Wilmington. 

Employees number 5K and 3K respectively with an estimated 10%/800 preschool parents. Scaling with these 2 employers, (17 UNC organizations = 34K employees, MMA nationwide employees = 70K) results in 10K customers. When matched with families through non-profits, like the YWCA, this doubles to 20K.

Year One 

With an MVP app empowering additional employer and non-profit partners, we will first scale across NC. In NC 80% of children under 5 don’t attend preschool. We estimate 103K NC caregivers are potential Skilly-do customers. 

To scale the US, we are targeting markets with similar economic challenges and nationwide employer-partners. Including 9 states in Southeast, South Central and East Central US (GA, SC, TN, FL, LA, Al, MO, TX, MS) ~620K preschool parents are potential Skilly-do customers. 

Large-scale employee benefits brokerage partners, like MMA’s 110M US customers, expands our reach to 11M parent-customers, matched by an additional 11M non-profit members. 

5 years 

After scaling in the US, Google Ad tests show strong potential in English-speaking markets like Africa, with 80% returning users in Cape Town. Per UNICEF data, there are 249M children under 5 years in 20 English-speaking countries. Assuming an average of 10% are preschool parents, the global English-speaking market provides an additional 25M customers.

Year 1

• Secure funding for MVP platform and application with baseline intelligence and behavioral UX. 

• Build out Skilly-do’s AI and platform foundation. Skilly-do resources are translated and made available via mobile app, reaching families across high- and low-end technology contexts. 

• Partner with an assessment team and technologies enabling longitudinal studies of Skilly-do’s efficacy in preparing preschoolers for school success. 

• Establish expert board for strategic guidance, partner, talent and funder vetting. 

• Expand partnerships to scale across Southeast, South Central and East Central US.

• Identify and on-board additional 1-2 trusted ECD resource partner to platform.

Years 2-5 

• Grow Skilly-do strategy, platform and team to enable scale and profitability across US and strategic countries.

• Based on customer data, vet additional trusted ECD resource partners. Trusted ECD apps and technologies licensed, onboarded and distributed via Skilly-do’s platform.  

• Establish technology, content and data strategies to reach a global population. 

• Data analysis identifies need for new ECD resources; created by Skilly-do and ECD experts across the US and the world. 

• Partnering with ECD experts globally, Skilly-do grows into a trusted destination for preschool playful learning.

• Continually leverage big data and assessment technologies to innovate and improve product development. 

• Safely leverage data for long-term, innovation opportunities and community-based ECD strategies with employer, non-profit and civic partners.

Year 1

Board Members & Funding

• Establishing an expert board who are committed to guiding and strengthening Skilly-do’s social impact, global strategy, providing introductions to relevant partners, talent and/or funding sources to meet goals. 

Platform Building

• Android and iPhone application to 1) support employer and non-profit customer technology usage and 2) scale across Southeast, South Central and East Central US.

• Technology, translation, design, partner-support and product staff to build out Skilly-do’s platform foundation and ECD resources.  

Assessment

• Establishing trusted, ECD assessment partnership(s) to integrate technologies in Skilly-do’s AI/ML platform.  

Vetted Content

• Supporting expansion, successful vetting, licensing and distribution of 1-2 trusted ECD resource partners via Skilly-do platform.

Employer & Non-profit Partnerships

• Expanding partnerships to enable scale across US’ high- and low-resourced families.

Year 2-5

Board Members & Funding

• Ongoing Mentorship informing international expansion’s ECD impact, technology and revenue strategy.

Platform Building & Assessment

To support US and international scale:

• Staffing for platform, product, marketing and ECD resource expansion

• Local partners and teams “on the ground” informing development, execution and community support.

• Expertise supporting new-to-Skilly-do ECD populations, e.g. marginalized or displaced communities. 

Vetted Content

Data analysis and ECD experts to identify strategic product development for:

• Proven, international resources 

• Innovation opportunities

Cross Cultural Technology, Data & Policy, Employer & Non-profit Partners

• Cultural and policy/legal expertise supporting on-boarding and management for country, ECD resource, and partnership expansion.

Year 1

Board Members & Funding 

Board mentorship enables : 

• Additional US employer-partners and/or funding supporting strategic scale. 

• US non-profit partnerships matching anticipated employer scale and 1-2 trusted ECD content providers.

• Technology, translation, design, partner-support and product team growth.

Platform Building & Assessment

• Team executes MVP platform and iOS/Android application including holistic intelligence, assessment technology, content translation, behavioral design and data, security and privacy policies (GDPR). 

• Big/distributed data analytics design established.

• Additional ECD resources created, 1-2 content providers support scale.

• Grow team towards global platform execution. 

Employer & Non-Profit Partners

• New partners achieve scale across Southeast, South Central, East Central US, then nationwide.

Year 2-5

Board Members & Funding

Ongoing board mentorship enables: 

• ECD impact strategy for international expansion.
  

• Per profitability, series A funding for US and series B/C for international scale.

• Strategic global ECD content, employer, non-profit and technical partnerships.

Platform Building & Assessment

• Execute global assessment strategy, supporting new populations, e.g. marginalized communities. 

• Team expansion supporting platform, product, marketing and ECD resource expansion for global scale.

• Establish countries’ translation, storefront, customer and technical/support teams.

Vetted Content

• Skilly-do supports international content and apps. 

• Big data drives innovative ECD resources via Skilly-do, international content production and/or syndication. 

• Build teams for resource vetting, submission and publication.

Cross Cultural Technology, Data & Policy, Employer & Non-profit Partners

Local/regional teams enable global:

• High- and low-resourced customer and technical expansion.

• Partner onboarding, management, and feedback cycles.

• Groundwork for innovation opportunities and community-based ECD strategies with employer, non-profit and civic partners.

NA

• Full-time staff - 2 - Claire Holroyd, Mary Holroyd

• Contract Technical and Design Staff - 5 to 6

• Technical Advisor - 1 - Phil Tapia

• Mentor - 1 - Diane Durance, Director, UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Mary Mayesky Holroyd, Ph.D. - Chief Educational Officer/Co-founder - Mary, an early childhood expert in creativity through play, has 47 years of educational experience. Her textbook, Creative Activities for Young Children, is in its 11th edition. At Duke University, she was an Education Professor and Student Teaching Supervisor. As a single parent, Mary designed and was principal of the Southeast’s’ first elementary, extended-day program. Mary served as NC’s State Day Care Program Director, on the NC State Day Care Commission and Wake County School Board.  

Claire Holroyd - CEO/Co-founder - Claire has 20 years’ experience as a Product Manager/Producer for global, networked platforms and gaming, music, and video services with startups and multinationals like Qualcomm and Square Enix. She served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow with Obama’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. With the PlayStation Network, Claire supported 52 countries collaborating with international development teams. She gained IP development expertise with Creative Artists Agency’s Motion-Picture/Literary division. Claire earned BA Public Policy from Duke University and MFA Photography from The School of Visual Arts. 

Phil Tapia - Technical Advisor - Phil has 20 years experience as a full-stack architect, startup founder, and engineering lead. Tapia Productions’ team of technologists has deep expertise in consumer-facing UX, Scrum/Agile development and AI for industries such as music, financial services, biotechnology, public transit, including Microsoft/Stanford Medicine and MRFlight. Phil and Claire have collaborated for 14 years. He now advises and executes Skilly-do’s technical strategy for 2019 platform/app launch.

Skilly-do currently has 4 groups of partners:

• Employer-Partners - Wilmington, NC-based organizations for Fall 2019 adoption as voluntary, family-friendly benefit:

  • Marsh & McLennan Agency Southeastern Division
    

  • N2 Publications
    

  • University of North Carolina Wilmington 
    

• Non-profit, ECD partners -  

  • New Hanover County Smart Start - Parents as Teachers program pilot
    

  • YWCA Lower Cape Fear ECD programs - Serving families in Brunswick, Bladen, Columbus and New Hanover counties

• Skilly-do Creative Early Educators - 16 licensed, NC-based ECD practitioners towards developing and vetting additional ECD resources

• University of North Carolina Wilmington's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Business mentoring and support services 
  

Skilly-do is a family-friendly, voluntary employee benefit, like vision care, priced on a sliding scale per an organization’s size. Memberships are offered per yearly or monthly basis. 

Positioned as an employee benefit, Skilly-do’s customer base extends beyond employee-parents, to caregivers like grandparents or stay-at-home parents. Skilly-do is also available to individuals online, for $6.99/month. When Skilly-do is offered as an intelligent mobile app, we anticipate increasing pricing competitively, ~50%/, $12.99/month. 

For example, 2 employer-partners, insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan Agency (MMA) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) Wilmington, employees number 5K and 3K respectively. 10% estimated preschool parents results in current price-point ($41.88/yr) revenues of $33.5K. 

Scaling state-wide to 17 UNC organizations increases revenues to $142K (34K employees / 3.4K parents @ $41.88/yr). Scaling nationwide to 70K MMA preschool parents results in $293K (7K parents @ $41.88/yr). With a competitive price increase of 50%/$77.88/yr, two employers scale to $810K revenue.

Skilly-do matches every paid member with local non-profit partners at zero cost. Scaling with just 2 large, NC organizations, Skilly-do will match 83K lower-resourced preschool families with non-profit partners like Smart Start and the YWCA. 

Expanding Skilly-do employer to non-profit one-to-one model, we anticipate a substantial increase in overall target market awareness, participating parent’s knowledge of the value early learning through play, as well as participation in and support of their communities’ non-profit partners’ services.

Revenue is generated from employer-partners. Skilly-do is offered as a voluntary employee benefit, priced on a sliding scale of 10-50% per total employee population. With an MVP app, we’re expanding partnerships and expect revenue to substantially increase in Q3/Q4 2019.

As we grow into a networked, internationally available ECD platform, we expect additional revenue streams from: 

• Competitive price increase for intelligent application, e.g. US +50%/$12.99.

• Large-scale, multinational employers and country expansion. For example, partners like benefits brokerage MMA, expand Skilly-do to their 110M US customers. Multiplying this at a median, or 500 employees at +50% employer-membership price ($93.48/year) expands to 11M parent-customers and $10.3B revenue. 

• Licensing and distributing trusted ECD resources to the platform will create an economy of scale, providing additional revenue for Skilly-do and external ECD resource producers. Revenue model will be determined by global media licensing standards.

Skilly-do’s estimated total addressable, English-speaking market is $21B. Per UNICEF, there are 249M children under 5 years in 20 English-speaking countries. Assuming there are 10% preschool parents, this total market is 25M. Multiplying this at a median of Skilly-do’s current employer-membership price ($93.48/year) this market is $23B. If we reach this market via individual memberships ($155.88/yr) then revenue expands to $39B.

Our immediate funding need is to support 2019/2020 staffing and MVP platform and mobile app execution. Depending on revenue, for platform, content and country expansion, we will pursue Series A funding, and then series B/C funding for global scale.

Board Members & Funding

MIT Solve partners can help us connect with expert, social-impact board members, funding partners, and will be essential to informing the execution and expansion of Skilly-do’s vision. 

Assessment

Assessment partners like MIT’s Early Childhood Cognition Lab and Office of Open Learning will enable platform architecture assessment technologies and paradigms, creating consistent product evaluation and longitudinal studies.

Employer Partners

To quickly scale, Skilly-do needs global, employer-partners to offer Skilly-do as an employee benefit. Warm introductions via Solve and MIT networks will make this possible.

Non-Profit Partners 

To build a global network of ECD nonprofits to match employer partners, the reach of innovative ECD NGO’s like the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation, Akanksha Foundation, Gary Community Investments, LEGO foundation, Sany Foundation, and UNICEF can make this happen.

Cross-cultural Technology, Data & Policy

Testing Skilly-do in Cape Town, we learned we must partner with local and global experts to build a truly scalable platform across diverse cultural contexts. Leveraging MIT Solve partners’ unmatched expertise in ECD policy, technology and practices across economies will be key to Skilly-do’s long-term success.

Vetted Content

To scale ECD resources worldwide, we must identify and increase best-in-class ECD content and apps on the platform. Partners like the Omidyar Network’s Tinkergarten or Sesame Workshop will strengthen Skilly-do’s ECD global content strategy. Additionally, relevant MIT Solver ECD resources will scale new communities, e.g. resources for displaced, refugee populations could also be licensed for disaster-displaced families in NC.

• Vetting and onboarding of ECD resources and apps developed for international, marginalized, disaster and/or displaced communities.

• ECD content licensing and production to support international scale. For example, identifying and collaborating with new ECD partners that need specific resources and/or new content development.

Year 1

US Employer Partners - Increasing revenue and scale across Southeast, South Central, East Central US, then nationwide:

• AETNA, health Insurance brokerage 

• Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC banking organizations; e.g. Bank of America

• NC-based Amazon, Apple & Qualcomm locations 

• SAS, NC software company

• State-wide university systems; University of North Carolina 

US Non-profit partners - Matching scale for employer partners, enabling platform foundation to reach across economies:

• Head Start - National early childhood program

• NC PreK - Serving at risk 4 year olds in all 100 NC counties 

• NC Early Childhood Education Foundation & Family Forward NC - For family data and research

• Nationwide - Childcare centers with 25% subsidies for lower resourced families

• Smart Smart - NC Early childhood public/private partnership program 

• YWCA

Years 2-5

Platform Building - Technical innovation partners accelerate our mission for adaptive and distributed ECD data and technologies:

• Google Cloud AI Partners

• IBM Watson AI

• AWS AI

• Azure AI

Vetted Content - Trusted ECD resource partnerships supporting US and then global scale:

• Crayola 

• National Association for the Education of Young Children 

• KidsPass

Cross-cultural ECD Resources, Technology, Data & Policy - Supporting Skilly-do global scale "on the ground" with trusted ECD resources and technologies:

• MIT Solver teams and technologies

• Innovation Edge - South African social impact investor & ECD tech incubator 

• True North - Non-Profit supporting 32 ECD centres in Vrygrond Township, Cape Town
  

• WordsWork - Cape Town ECD resource non-profit

Early education is essential to our next generation’s achievements and developing the skills necessary to meet our world’s exigent challenges. Still, across classes in the US, preschool is increasingly inaccessible.

In our majority-rural state of North Carolina, the poverty rate is 27% greater than the US average and 80% of children under 5 don’t attend preschool. 97% of US preschoolers have one working parent and 63% have two. While we hope to invest in ECD programs, working parents bear the immediate responsibility for their children’s early education. 

With the AI Innovations Prize, Skilly-do aims to reach parents everywhere as a family-friendly, employee benefit for emerging and traditional industries. Then, every paid membership is matched with a family in need for free through non-profit partners. Diverse customer data drives development, creating a foundation for a more equitable and extensible product. 

Second, the AI Innovations Prize will enable us to build intelligence to learn from parents, providing more of what’s needed for their child’s total development. Skilly-do unites trusted ECD resources into a single platform, accessible across devices. Informed by data, international resources are licensed and distributed to new contexts. With Skilly-do, the world’s best ECD ideas are within parents reach.

Finally, Integrating assessment technologies is key to Skilly-do’s AI/ML foundation and long-term impact. Skilly-do brings big data together with longitudinal studies, revealing the most effective school-readiness strategies and innovation opportunities. Collaborating with nonprofit, employer, and government partners, Skilly-do can empower the entire economy’s access to ECD strategies’ proven benefits.

Skilly-do’s majority-female customer base reflects mobile phones’ ubiquitous usage by women across economies worldwide. From customer analytics, we know that 89% of those searching skilly-do.io are women, 50% with mobile phones. In 2019, across incomes ranging less than $30K to over $75K, 84% of American women own mobile phones. To improve and maximize Skilly-do’s reach to women-customers, the Innovation for Women Prize will first enable the execution of our MVP platform and mobile app.

More, preschool mothers are working mothers. Skilly-do reaches working mothers everywhere as a family-friendly, employee benefit for emerging and traditional industries. Then, every paid membership is matched for free with non-profit partners. The Innovation for Women Prize will enable intelligence to learn from this diversity women, becoming their personal destination for playful learning. 

The Skilly-do platform will also license trusted, international resources in collaboration with ECD professionals worldwide. In our ECD expert’s 47 years experience, this directly benefits women, as ~80% of ECD professionals are female. Skilly-do amplifies female-majority ECD professionals’ voices worldwide, while providing them with additional income via resource distribution.

Skilly-do’s platform is built to scale across regions and scenarios. Integrating assessment technologies is key to Skilly-do’s foundation to understand what types of ECD resources are successful and those that are not. Collaborating with nonprofit, employer, and civic partners, Skilly-do can help drive a roadmap to advance ECD innovation opportunities and the working women and families we serve.

Preschool resources are overwhelming and unreliable; a US Google search for “preschool ideas” has 206M results. Proven ECD resources are often siloed by market and technology. So, parents struggle identifying proven and relevant ECD ideas. 

Informed by a diverse customer base, Skilly-do unites trusted ECD resources into a single platform. Leveraging AI/ML, Skilly-do will scale to efficiently distribute international ECD technologies, making them accessible across high- and low-resourced contexts.

First, the AI Innovations Prize will empower Skilly-do’s foundational intelligence. Skilly-do supports personalized early learning, providing more of what parents need for their child’s unique and total development. AI/ML is expressed in a playful behavioral design, encouraging parents to connect in-real-life with their child through play customized to their strengths, interests, and skills. 

Second, assessment technologies are fundamental to Skilly-do’s AI-led foundation and lasting impact. ECD resources will be evaluated against learning outcomes, something often missing from today’s ECD offerings. Gathering big data alongside longitudinal studies, Skilly-do can reveal the most effective school-readiness strategies.

Skilly-do is committed to full compliance with GDPR regulations, including absolute privacy and protection for all customer data. As development team that has learned from historic data hacks and breeches, we’re committed to sourcing, maintaining and using data ethically and responsibly.

Security teams and technologies are integral into Agile Development processes and platform features. All captured data is fully disclosed and transparent to customers, allowing control of specific data collection. Then, Skilly-do will share data only with trusted partners and explicit customer permission.