{"id":124478,"date":"2021-10-19T18:09:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T18:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=h1oxzv00"},"modified":"2021-10-19T18:09:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T18:09:36","slug":"developer-spotlight-caribu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2021\/10\/19\/developer-spotlight-caribu\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer Spotlight: Caribu"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/div>\n

According to Caribu<\/em> cofounder Maxeme Tuchman, her app was inspired by one powerful image: a photo of a soldier reading to his child online while awkwardly holding up a picture book to the camera.<\/p>\n

So she set out to make it easy for children to read \u2014 and learn \u2014 with parents, grandparents, and friends from afar. With Caribu<\/em>, a 2020 App Store Trend of the Year winner, kids can turn the pages of a Thomas the Tank Engine<\/em> book, invite aunts and uncles to help with a math worksheet, or play a word game with cousins \u2014 all while interacting face-to-face over video.<\/p>\n

We caught up with Tuchman to talk about how Caribu<\/em> has thrived without venture capital investment and why every founder should build a diverse team from day one.<\/p>\n

\"*Caribu*<\/p>\n

*Caribu* keeps a video chat window in view as kids and family members connect over puzzles, games, and stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

How did your background lead to creating a learning app like Caribu<\/em>?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. It has been ingrained in me that the only thing you can take with you in the middle of the night when you\u2019re fleeing your home is what\u2019s in your head. To me, education is the biggest lever for change.<\/p>\n

What was the biggest challenge you faced when launching Caribu<\/em>?<\/strong>
\nFundraising. Fewer than 2 percent of all VC dollars go to women and people of color. That\u2019s an industry problem. We had a lot of people say, \u201cIf you don\u2019t move to Silicon Valley, we\u2019re not going to fund you.\u201d But we\u2019ve run through walls \u2014 we\u2019ve figured it out through grants, angels, and corporate investment.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been essential to your success?<\/strong>
\nThe ability to see a problem and believe I could solve it. Throughout my career, I\u2019ve constantly been pushed to go into new environments, learn new languages \u2014 the government uses a different language than MBAs, for example. That\u2019s been the greatest gift. I\u2019m excited to wake up every morning and think, \u201cI don\u2019t know what is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?<\/strong>
\nBuild a diverse team from the beginning. It\u2019s the best business decision you will make. Don\u2019t have a bunch of dudes making an app that may be used by 94 percent women. Don\u2019t build a team that\u2019s 95 percent men or white people and then think, \u201cOh, we should diversify.\u201d Have your team reflect the people you serve. We have customers in 200-plus countries and territories. You have to have that empathy.<\/p>\n

How did you arrive at the name Caribu<\/em>?<\/strong> Alvaro noticed many kids\u2019 apps had animal-based names, so he looked at migratory animals and learned about the caribou \u2014 the Canadian reindeer. We spell it in Spanish because he\u2019s from Spain and I\u2019m Cuban. Also, it was easier to get the Twitter handle!<\/p>\n

\n

Download Caribu: Playtime Is Calling from the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Learn more about the App Store Small Business Program<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Caribu cofounder Maxeme Tuchman, her app was inspired by one powerful image: a photo of a soldier reading to his child online while awkwardly holding up a picture book to the camera. So she set out to make it easy for children to read \u2014 and learn \u2014 with parents, grandparents, and friends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}