Why DoInk is Co-sponsoring EdCamp Boston at the "Startup Level"
DoInk www.doink.com is a small Boston company that develops creative learning apps (drawing and animation tools) primarily used in Education. Our company consists of two people. Our software developer (and co-founder) is a PhD from MIT with an expertise in Computer Graphics and Math. His background is extremely useful in creating imaging intensive algorithms like those that make up DoInk's vector drawing and animation tools. DoInk's other co-founder does customer support and marketing. DoInk's small size is not unusual for an app company. This is because the business model for app companies dictates that companies stay "lean". Apple takes a significant portion of every app sale so little money is left for marketing. This presents a marketing challenge for app companies to stand out amongst the 400,000+ other apps in iTunes. As a result, app companies like DoInk have to rely on word of mouth for sales and in the education market, this means building app awareness one teacher at a time. At DoInk, we have seen there is no set pattern for who our school evangelists are. Sometimes it is a Science teacher who discovers DoInk and introduces us as a school wide creation app in other subject areas like Math and English. Other times it is an ICT person or an art teacher.
So this brings us to the question of why DoInk, a "lean" company, is co-sponsoring EdCamp Boston at the "startup level"? We are doing it because EdCamp gives us the rare opportunity to hear first hand, teachers talk about their challenges in the classroom. It's an amazing opportunity to listen to a passionate group of educators share views on favorite apps, software tools, trends in education, etc. This input is vital to our understanding of the market, what makes a good creative learning app and how we can improve DoInk. Thanks to Dan Callahan for inviting us. We appreciate the opportunity and are glad that we can give back at a startup level. We look forward to EdCamp Boston!











