Our Startup Adventure

 

By Michelle Glorieux, Founder and CEO, TA-DA! Language Productions

Former students of our CEO sound recording for the first TA-DA! interactive, talking dictionary

Having lived and taught languages in three continents, I have regularly been approached by parents coming to class with handheld recorders asking me to read materials, and books, or even sing songs so their kids could have a way to hear more native speakers at home.

When my own son was born, this affair took on a new and much more personal form: He needed three languages to communicate with our closest family and friends, but I did not speak two of those languages natively. 

Meanwhile, when I lived in Europe over the last decade, a growing, international campaign was spreading the fear of screens like a virus. Most community buildings had posters splashed on walls with images of children’s brains on screens - and it was horrifying:

“Pas d’écrans avant 3 ans.” (“No screens before age 3.”)

But this is the age that is the ideal time to learn languages, and as a non-native speaking mom, I didn’t have other options…so now what? 

In 2014 and ‘15, I was excited to discover a new sound technology in Europe being utilized in books to delight children with simple sounds and beautiful music. Harnessing this innovation - and improving it exponentially to bring language and culture to children - began invading my thoughts day and night. By 2017 my husband and I had packed up our things and moved to the San Francisco Bay area to make this dream a reality. TA-DA! was born.

Flash forward to the present and in a truly magical, serendipitous way, we have now become a fabulous, international group of souls who are passionate, driven and committed to working around the clock to bring languages, music and culture to not only our own families, but to families around the globe. We each offer unique linguistic and/or cultural backgrounds that we weave into the TA-DA! tapestry with pride, sharing hopes, dreams, fears - and the belief and passion for this first-of-its-kind endeavor.

While we’re working every spare minute (as moms, dads and spouses with other full-time jobs) - our drive to keep improving and innovating has simultaneously taught us lessons in patience.

Hand-made prototypes with the new and improved (durable) hardback cover

We received our first prototypes in May of this year, just days prior to the launch of our company at the San Francisco Zoo. We built (and are building) exciting partnerships with language schools, language research labs, non-profit and for profit companies; we have had fruitful conversations with teachers, parents, and linguists; we have done oodles of research on language acquisition and music education – all to ensure solid products that are as effective as they are delightful - and great enough for our discerning (let’s be honest, perfectionistic) team.

While we cannot wait to share our first book with the world, we also strive to be “Apple” perfect, though that isn’t always the start-up norm. During our workshop tours this summer in Silicon Valley and Europe, we realized our first book’s board book cover wasn’t durable enough for something we want to cherish a lifetime, so we changed our cover material. This required us to have to wait several more months for a new prototype. We just simply couldn’t settle for second best.

The next wrench in our perfect delivery date had to do with the sound quality in our books we had already doubled in perfection from the best sound book product on the market. Our team’s sound genius realized he could further improve it. So this past October we took off for Hong Kong and Mainland China to meet with partners and in a nutshell, we made it happen. We were also able to increase the sensory sensitivity (that is, it’s now easier for little hands to push the books’ sensory points). 

As we continue to work around the clock, we know the wait has been long and we are extremely grateful for your support and patience. We want to ensure you that the books are worth waiting for - and we feel confident that you will be impressed with their crisp, clear sound and the entirely new reading experience they create. What’s more, books two and three in our Language Adventures Series, as well as our very first “Children’s Talking Dictionary - the First 720 Words in and Around a Home” will also be available during the next year. Be on the lookout for communication from us highlighting the coming together of these last items - and final delivery dates in 2020.

Time simply flies with all we are working with great determination to achieve. 

We are very proud of what we have been able to do - and very excited for you to have our first-of-their-kind products in your hands. 

Stick with us; it’s going to be magical!

THANK YOU/ GRACIAS/ MERCI/ DANKE/ 谢谢

 
 
 
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