Fingerprint Play

Nancy MacIntyre

Fingerprint Play creates mobile learning applications for touch-screen devices for four- to seven-year-olds. They describe themselves as “the first mobile learning and play network for kids and their grown-ups” (Fingerprint). The “My Big Kid Life” applications allow kids to explore the skills associated with popular grown-up professions [fire fighter, veterinarian, and fairy princess (?)], while learning math and logic skills, or increasing their reading comprehension.

According to Tech Crunch, Fingerprint Play applications will “enable social sharing and communication between kids and adults, gameplay snapshots for parents…as well as a virtual reward system that encourages kids and parents to stay engaged.”  They will launch in October 2011.

 ABOUT  THE TEAM

 The co-founder and CEO Nancy MacIntyre has an impressive resume as a marketing VP for LeapFrog, LucasArts and Hasbro. In her time at those companies she oversaw the launch of 100-plus games generating over $2B in revenue. It appears that Finger Print Play is her first venture (Fingerprint).

However, other members of the management team have experience as entrepreneurs and in start-ups. The CTO and VP of Learning Product Management both have start-up experience, and everyone else boasts resumes laden with games and learning product experience (Fingerprint). They also have a board of advisors that includes a number of executives and entrepreneurs from entertainment, technology and gaming. The expertise in the group covers a number of areas, but their resumes portray a group of over-achievers.

 REFLECTIONS

 After reading through others’ posts, this venture seems more commercialized than many of the others. With a leadership team who have worked experience at the Fox network, Electronic Arts, Atari and Sega, the products will likely be high production value tools that embed learning in a video game environment. I can imagine there would be a huge market for this. I often see small children playing on their parents’ iPhones and iPads, and educational games would likely be a hit with this market.

REFERENCES

Empsom, R. (2011, September 8). Fingerpring Grabs $1.4 million, taps veteran team to create mobile learning network for kids. Tech Crunch. Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/08/fingerprint-grabs-1-4-million-taps-veteran-team-to-create-mobile-learning-network-for-kids/

Fingerprint Play. (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.fingerprintplay.com/

Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp