Kevin Donahue is one of the co-founders of Epic.
Epic is a subscription based reading and learning platform designed for North American kids ages 12 and under. The platform was founded in 2013 and launched in 2014. It offers subscribers with access to digital content including ebooks, read-to-me books, audio books, and videos. The platform provides both fiction and non-fiction tiles, covering various themes and subjects such as language arts, social studies, music, art, and science. Boos are available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and French. Bilingual options are available. The gamification features of the platform motivate kids to read consistently. The educator version of the platform also allows teachers to create classes, assign books to each student, and track student reading progress.
Kevin Donahue started his career with DIC Entertainment and has written and developed series programming for many TV channels, including Disney, Fox, Cartoon Networks, PBS, and others. When he worked as a producer with Disney/ABC Television’s Multimedia Group, he managed ABC’s first online community for children. After that, he specialized in business development and content creation for a variety of technology and media companies. Prior to co-founding Epic, Kevin worked at Google in Strategic Partnerships. He was also a member of the original team for YouTube, serving as part of YouTube’s senior management team.
I chose Epic because it is a reading platform that I use frequently with my students and they get so excited every time they can read on Epic. It is inspiring to see on Epic’s website that the platform was born out of a single question – How do we make books more accessible to kids? This question leads to a wonderful platform that fosters reading and provides students with flexible access to countless digital content, which is quite amazing. And from Kevin Donahue’s bio, it is not difficult to see why the platform is doing so well since he has so much experience in marketing and creating digital content for young children, as well as gamifying the reading experience. It just shows me that a successful venture requires ideas and skills/connections to materialize the ideas.
I think that Kevin Donahue represents a strong role-model for would-be entrepreneurs because of that range of experiences he has had and the expertise he has developed in a variety of fields. I was initially drawn to this founder post because, like many, I have also used this platform quite a bit with students. What I love about the platform, beyond the ease at which teacher can differentiate content for their learners, is their business model. While I am not sure to what extent the company is profitable, I have a huge levels of respect for the platform for remaining 100% free for students and teachers to use during school hours. Donahue’s provided short bio also gives insight into his journey towards Epic and helps me imagine what direct contributes he may have made as a co-founder.
Kevin has an impressive resume with experience from some high-profile companies. I think his breadth of experience in the primarily youth focused market really contributes to his success as the founder of Epic. Kevin’s understands the youth technology/media market and was able to create a product to serve them and motivate them through gamification aspects while pushing his philosophy of making reading more accessible. I think what makes Donahue a successful entrepreneur are those three things together – experience, idea and a mission on improving the reading experience for youth.