
A man, a mop, a year, and an app - robfitz
http://thestartuptoolkit.com/blog/2011/12/a-man-a-mop-a-year-and-an-app-joseph-hill-on-aeir-talk/
======
bdunn
Disclaimer: I own the development company that built Aeir Talk for equity.

If there's anyone who can be labeled a "hustler", it's Joe Hill.

First, he had to sell us on the idea - we get a _ton_ of people who want us to
take equity stakes in lieu of cash, and we almost always turn them away. But
not Joe. He had tapped the few investors in our area (Hampton Roads, Virginia)
and came up short. Our area is pretty conservative, and investing usually is
restricted to real estate and other safe bets. But we heard him out and
realized that even though he had no business background, no history of
successful exits, or any other factors that mitigate risk, he had passion and
an amazing story (along with board positions in a few autism societies).

He partnered with EVMS, a local medical school, along with a few speech
pathologists with one goal: to bring Apple-like simplicity to medical
products. He took the graveyard shift at a local Marriott, and managed to
support his wife and two special-needs children WHILE working out of our
office during the day.

He launched his app last month at Start Norfolk, a regional startup weekend we
put together. If you really want to be inspired, check out the launch video:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2WLc1LszZ0&list=UUdXCw6_...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2WLc1LszZ0&list=UUdXCw6_wPeDrjjwhdj25img&index=5&feature=plcp)

~~~
acangiano
> He took the graveyard shift at a local Marriott, and managed to support his
> wife and two special-needs children WHILE working out of our office during
> the day.

He is undoubtedly a hustler, but above all he sounds like a great man.

~~~
kposehn
Agreed.

------
bio_logic
Disclaimer: I am the founder of Aeir Talk. Thanks to all who have read the
article so far. It's a great joy to see Aeir Talk be so well received and see
that it helping a lot of people. Feel free to reach out if you want more
information, also the app is at aeirtalk.com if you want to see it. Thanks
again everyone.

~~~
ropman76
At what age/level did the therapists find this helpful? My son is currently in
autism therapy I have noticed therapists using polaroids so I can see where
this would be useful.

~~~
jhill7
To be honest any age group can use this. You can make the flash card's as hard
or as easy as you want. One of our customers purchased the app for her 14 year
old child. You can read her son's reaction here:
[http://hamptonroads.com/2011/12/chesapeake-father-creates-
ap...](http://hamptonroads.com/2011/12/chesapeake-father-creates-app-navigate-
autism)

We are brand new but the feedback I am getting from therapists working in the
age group 18 months - 10 years and in the moderate to severe category of
Autism. Older children with higher ranges of Autism are still using the app.
Rather than words however, they are using it for social interaction (learning
visual and emotional cues) through the flash cards.

------
aculver
Pleasant surprise waking up to see this as the top story on HN. I work with We
Are Titans (the company that developed Aeir Talk in exchange for equity) and
did most of the technical development (along with @nickmjones) on what became
the final product. Feel free to ask or reach out if you've got any questions
about that side of things.

------
andygcook
This actually seems like a much bigger market than just autistic children. I
would imagine that many parents that have iPad-crazed kids would would gladly
give their kids an app to learn new words instead of Angry Birds. A child
would probably be more interested and learn faster if it was Mom's voice
talking instead of a robot.

Another interesting case that comes to mind is how Clay Christiansen, author
of Innovator's Dilemma, used Rosetta Stone to practice speaking again after
having a stroke.

I would imagine too that you could scale pretty quickly by allowing users to
create Flashcard sets, and then other users can buy the flash card sets and
rate them. This could turn into a crowdsourced Rosetta Stone pretty quickly.

~~~
bdunn
The iPad 2's onboard camera and microphone make it perfect for personalized
flashcards. Aeir Talk, while built for special-needs kids, could be used as a
flashcard app for any child.

My 3 year old uses it and loves it. Instead of simple clip art of a cat and a
robotic reading of the word, we're able to take a picture of our cat Tobi
accompanied with mom's voice.

------
robfitz
Regarding the site slowness: A while back, I changed the blog from a subdomain
to a directory and didn't update the caching. It was caching pages at the
wrong URL and thus being entirely useless.

It's fixed now -- sorry for the annoyance to anyone who got held up.

------
fehrbehr
As an cofounder of a startup and an aunt of a autistic nephew, I am inspired.
Thanks for a great way to start may day smiling and motivated.

------
rada
This is invaluable for anyone trying to raise a bilingual child. Big, big
thanks to the developers!

------
datashaman
Bump! This is awesome!

------
timb0ss
Am I the only one to have read/noticed: "My background is in bible theology. I
went to school to be basically a history teacher." and instantly tensed up??

~~~
oz
Are you worried that he would try to teach things like young-earth creationism
etc?

~~~
timb0ss
Afaik bible theology and history are two completely separate circles on the
venn diagram, one completely based on evidence the other completely on the
lack of evidence and entirely on faith/beleif? How did this get so far off
topic?

~~~
woogley
You started an off-topic thread. This is the second thread I've read on HN
this morning that is judgmental of others religious convictions. Why even
focus on it?

~~~
timb0ss
OP was quoting the article, about as on topic as you can get! I am never
judgemental of others religious convictions, people are obviously entitled to
believe what they want, however I would expect someone with a background in
mathematics to teach mathematics, someone with a background in history to
teach history, someone with a background in science to teach science and
someone with a background in bible theology to teach R.E. (religious
education)! I cant help but wince every time I hear a story about a deeply
religious person becoming a teacher to teach biology or history! Especially in
america where some already dispute the "theory" of evolution and refuse to
teach it in schools!

~~~
k-mcgrady
Just because somebody believes in religion does not mean that they do not
believe in science. And because someone believes that God created everything
does not mean they do not believe in evolution. It is perfectly fine to
believe in both.

~~~
zecho
Fitzgerald: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to
function."

Hitchens: “Some people say it’s a sign of intelligence to be able to keep two
contradictory ideas in your head at the same time, and it can be a sign of
intelligence. It can also be a sign of stupidity, or of unwillingness to make
up the mind.”

Take your pick.

