7 Years of Endless and 7 Things I Love About Endless

We have just marked the 7th anniversary of Endless. The last 7 years have been some of the most difficult and the most joyous years of my life, both because of how much I care about this place. Endless is the professional love of my life. I’d like to tell you why I love it.

1: The world can change when we have reached our vision

I have rewritten this a dozen times. It’s not possible to convey how I feel about Endless in a few lines. Our vision of technology that truly enriches our minds is possible. Our vision of almost every child in the world having access to the best educational technology is possible. There are billions of lives yet to be affected by digital technology. They are waiting for it.

2: Global vision

I have had such meaningful encounters with people seemingly everywhere. On the floors of homes in remote Indian villages, dancing in the carnival parades of Rio and religious ceremonies of Indonesia alike, and toasting at dinner under a single dangling bulb with factory workers. Endless has allowed me to enter the intimacy of such varied worlds.

3: Creativity

I have been reflecting on what I value most recently. I love creating things. I get such joy from coming up with wacky ideas, working with a team to craft them, and then getting them to users. Endless is unbounded in its creative possibilities. It is my artistic canvas.

4: Technology is scary

I’m worried about the world. Technology is a big part of why I feel so worried. We need responsible stewards of our technology. We are doing what we can to play our role.

5: Scope of potential

The scope of Endless seems to grow. Seven years ago we saw we could bring technology to the more remote corners of the world. Then we discovered that we could use what we were building to bring digital fluency to kids in the most connected parts of the world. We have learned that we have a platform, and platforms enable visions that go beyond the platform.

6: Structure

This may seem a strange thing to list but it is important. Endless is radically decentralized. We are a network of organizations that share a common vision: the whole world empowered. This makes our reach an order of magnitude larger and, recently, my own life more centered. Endless has grown beyond itself. For the first time, its name starts to feel very appropriate.

7: My life's work

Endless is not a project for me. It is my life's work. I will be following this mission to wherever it may lead me, for decades ahead. There is something precious in knowing that.

Too important to number: My Team

Someone told me that when he entered Endless he felt like he was entering the Avengers. Every person had a superpower. And most amazingly these “superheroes” were all filled with heart and humility. To all of you who have made Endless real and beautiful, thank you.

Here’s to another 7 years and to many more beyond.

Happy Birthday Endless!

With love,

Matt

Our Emerging Markets Strategy

Our Emerging Markets Strategy: We have a product people buy as well as global distribution. But we haven't solved marketing. We believe that success in the US will drive global awareness. This would scale our mission of digital empowerment.

In my most recent post I talked about what Endless is. We have spent years building the most powerful educational tool for kids in emerging markets in the form of a computer operating system filled with content and tools, because a computer is the most powerful digital tool available. Spend a little time reading the post if you’re not sure what we do.

The question that I now want to answer for you is this: why is our success of Endless in the United States so vital to getting technology into the most rural regions of the world?

Generally speaking, there are three things that a company must do to be successful: Build the right product, construct a viable distribution channel and generate sufficient demand. Here’s how we rank Endless on these three dimensions:

1) Build the “right” product

We began by spending years in the homes of users in a dozen countries. We had a lot of flawed assumptions when we began this process. But by listening closely to communities and employing local experts to tell us what we didn’t know we came to understand what people really needed. We then spent years building the features they asked for.

By having access to a computer powered by our Endless operating system, children from poorly-resourced regions can unlock an entire world of content, games, and skill-creating tools. They can have it all without the need for costly internet. When we present Endless to a group of parents and teachers, we will often see half of the room sign up to buy Endless. Within an hour they have decided to spend a month’s salary for our product. They see hope.

We see moments like this story all the time:

When we show the product first-hand, people who have computers often ask us to replace Windows with a fresh Endless OS. They prefer Endless because of the educational features.

But what motivates me most is when we see our operating system in the hands of a 13-year-old girl in rural Philippines and children similar to her all around the world. Seeing their eyes light up I’m reminded of the quote, “all the statistics in the world can’t measure the warmth of a smile.”

We feel confident in the product we have.

2) Construct a viable distribution channel

I used to dream about the day we would walk into a store and see a computer running Endless OS. I have now seen that countless times. Endless is in 75 countries, with partners who have shipped millions of computers running Endless OS. That still blows my mind!

Distribution of that scale into global rural communities is hard, but we have achieved that. We are also working with ministries of education, solar companies and distributors who sell Endless hand-to-hand. Endless OS can also be also be downloaded at www.endlessos.com.

We have open distribution channels at scale.

3) Generate sufficient demand

Our biggest challenge has been scaling awareness around the world. People simply haven’t heard about Endless. The few who have believe that it is for people who can’t afford better.

We have tried many strategies to solve this. We have sold to ministries of education and have had success, but these are slow and hard to scale. We have done hard hand-to-hand sales processes. But these also require butane we will never have to get to millions.

The best path to scale is having users asking for the product, and allowing others to sell it.

Our challenge for many years has been to generate demand at scale, affordably.

Our Global Marketing Strategy

When we took a step back, we realized that maybe it was time to let the old ways die. To put aside the yearning to sell hand-to-hand directly to our users. We observed others who have scaled globally and saw a common theme. Demand for these products in the United States tends to validate the product. Initial success in the US generates interest elsewhere.

I'm very proud of what we have built. In fact, we regularly have people in the United States use it and say that they want it for their kids. We realized that in focusing on building the best computer for kids in emerging markets we had built a computer for kids everywhere.

This led us to the conclusion that if we succeed in our vision of building the best computer for children everywhere, including the US, success here will radiate around the globe. When a parent in America wants Endless, a parent in Indonesia is likely to want the same thing.

So what does this all mean for our current efforts in the US? Why should parents and kids here want what Endless is building? More to come in the coming posts. The short answer is that you’d be surprised to learn how similar kids everywhere are!

Our Key To A Child's Potential

The Point: In order for all children to enjoy equal opportunities, they must first have the same access to information and the necessary tools.

Over the past many years I have lived, breathed and fought for our mission:

There are more than a billion kids who live beyond the reach of quality education. In many of the rural and under-resourced countries where Endless works, children do not even have pencil and paper, let alone anything that resembles a contemporary tool of a modern education or workplace. Without intervention, these kids will not be able to take advantage of all the world has to offer them. This is where Endless comes in.

In order for all children to enjoy equal opportunities, they must first have the same access to information and the necessary tools. Endless has been fighting hard to provide this. By creating an operating system that is powerful without the Internet and promoting coding education through games, Endless has built a platform that drives students to want to educate themselves. We continue building tools to enable youth to create their technology and not simply consume it.

A child’s dream becomes a reality when he or she gains access to these critical resources. Please watch this video of an 8-year-old boy, Jimmy, who taught himself to speak English when he gained the type of access we are describing. We want every child to be able to have this.

Despite the importance of a smartphone, computers with a full screen, keyboard and mouse are still a critical platform for education and livelihood. For these many years, Endless has continued to build the best PC possible for children in rural countries. We have created and produced a PC operating system, ecosystem and games platform that both entertains and educates… we have built something that people truly love.

Still, Endless is a long way from capturing this mission we have fought for. Why? And why is success in America vital to our success in the most rural regions of the world? The short answer is that a product that is successful in the United States tends to grow outward to the whole world. But we will dive into this in more depth in the coming post.

Endless Is Coming To America!!!

The Point: We are growing to America!!!

The vision of Endless is the whole world empowered. We have taken that to mean the spread of technology into the hands of youth everywhere in the world. Youth in the least privileged worlds, in that dusty town many hours between Udaipur and Jodhpur, India, need and deserve technology as much as kids anywhere here in America. Our goal has been to make technology accessible, with content and tools to build, shape and create their digital futures.

Years ago we started developing tools to teach kids to code, to give them the power to shape their technology instead of being shaped by it. Without that, our youth will never be in control of their destiny. They will cede control to large technology companies that design the software that directs their daily decisions, and the coming generation will not be prepared for a job market in which digital literacy is as relevant as any other form of literacy.

We realized recently that our vision of digital empowerment -- with the tools to create, and not just consume -- is as relevant to the most privileged families as it is the neediest. And we believe that this is as important in America as it is globally. These coming few posts will describe why we are so thrilled to be launching here in America. America needs this now. Digital empowerment is among the most important resources a kid can have to be ready for their future. This is the true completion of our vision of the whole world empowered.

Sign up below to keep following us.

Technology We Want Our Kids To Have

Can technology ever be good for youth? At Endless, we are hopeful for what the world’s youth will do with technology. But it won’t happen on its own. We must craft technology to build a great generation, a balance to those creating technology only to build great companies. The question is, what are those tools and who is building them?

True to how we see the world, we were founded with the premise that every kid, regardless of geography and income, should have access to the best educational technology. Our journey began with an initiative to enable kids globally to have the same tool that we send our kids to school with: a computer. The modern tool of education and business worldwide remains the PC, despite what evangelists of mobile want to claim. We need a large screen, mouse, and keyboard to create.

In my TED talk, you’ll meet Jimmy, a sparkling case study. In rural Guatemala, he learned English with Duolingo and changed his life.

The tech platforms we use have been built without understanding the consequences they would have.

The world has changed in the years since we launched Endless. Technology has evolved from a beacon of hope to a cause for concern. Let’s get real for a moment: Terrifying things have been spliced into YouTube kids videos. Screen time causes thinning of the prefrontal cortex? 145 million social security numbers have been hacked. Smartphone usage is linked to depression and suicide. The only way to solve these is to be honest about the problems. The tech platforms we use have been built without understanding the consequences they would have.

If you were to re-imagine technology with the sole intention of empowering youth, what would it look like? I'm in the unusual position of having been forced to think about that question. We built Endless OS to empower kids around the world. Designing it gave us the chance to re-imagine everything from the operating system to the internet. As Endless evolved, we found that many of the answers we built for kids globally were solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of parents in the USA. We had built a platform to deliver educational content to kids, safely. And we put creation, not consumption, at the center of everything that kids do.

We have put creation, not consumption, at the center of everything that kids do.

At the heart of what we do is a little word, “agency”. To have agency is to feel that our actions have impact. We learned from our users that having access is merely the doorway to an infinite realm of creativity. And we realized that coding is perhaps the greatest creative tool, unbounded in its possibilities. We live in a mobile world in which kids tap glass and it is called “education”. We want a world in which kids shape what’s behind the glass. Where they are the creators.

In the coming posts, I will talk about what we do, in the US and elsewhere, but this is bigger than that. This is a call to arms. In a world in which screen time, social media, and the web’s darker corners leave parents apprehensive of technology, we believe that technology is also the greatest tool of human potential. We must design intentionally, to improve lives, and we must democratize the skills involved so that everyone everywhere can participate in building the platform of their own future. Endless is just one case study. My hope is that some of you might read on and do something different - perhaps advocate a feature you know is right, push your product to people who need it, learn to code, choose a new career trajectory, advocate for less predatory business models, and demand more of the companies that build our technology. We need to build technology that will build a great generation.

If you want to join us on our journey, fill in your email in the form below. I won’t spam you. But I will do my best to inspire you.