Waldraud Introduces - Toymail by Gauri and Audry
Toymail was founded in 2012 with a mission to keep families connected without putting kids behind another screen. Screentime is a contstant struggle for parents with children spending 8 hours a day in front of laptops, tablets, and tvs. So many devices for kids isolate them behind a screen. Toymail wanted to create opportunities for kids to play with the people they love even when they can't be together.
Toymail - Gauri and Audry, the two founders
Waldraud - What is the purpose of Toymail and the Mailmen?
Gauri - Our little devices Mailmen do just one thing, and that is to let you communicate with someone who actually matters to you. We could have housed our technology in any form factor, but we were always firm in the belief that it should be a toy. We want kids to play. We want them playing with with physical objects. When we were little, we our half dressed Barbies hitched rides from My LIttle Pony so as not to miss the pie eating contests going on at the county fairs we held in our front yards. That kind of experiential, open ended play is what makes kids' brains such incredible machinery. Our toys make that play even richer. While Toymail starts with messaging, what we have built is as intelligent as the Cloud. There literally is no limit to what it can say. Soon these toys will enable you to read your kid their favorite bedtime story, take them on a virtual scavenger hunt, teach them a foreign language, or sing them songs. Our technology animates toys in ways that we once imagined our own toys coming to life.
Waldraud - Who are you?
Gauri - Toymail was founded by MIT graduate Gauri Nanda (me), and my best friend, Audry Hill, a mother of three. At the age of 25, Nanda brought to market the alarm clock that runs away called Clocky®, as featured on the cover of Inc magazine. Gauri and Audry worked together for over 10 years on Clocky and a family of run away alarm clocks (Ticky, Tocky, and now Pop Clocky), selling millions worldwide.
Toymail - Mailmen lineup
Waldraud - What do you love most about your job?
Gauri - What I love most about my job is that I get to dream up a vision and see it to fruition. The creative process is a journey that can take many fascinating twists and turns. What I love most about my job is that I get to dream up a vision and see it to fruition. The creative process is a journey that can take many fascinating twists and turns.
Lorenz Isler
Author