Today, we’re launching a new blog series called “Where are They Now” in which we track down some of your favorite Biz Kids from years gone by, and hear what’s been going on in their businesses and lives! Today, we’re catching up with Anshul of Elementeo.
But first, take a look back at Anshul’s Biz Kid$ debut from 2009.
What have you been up to since we last heard from you?
We launched the second version of the Elementeo game (www.elementeo.com). We added a whole bunch of new cards including Gallium Gorilla, Vanadium Viking, Ruthenium Rockstar, and Newton’s 3 Laws. I also thought it would be cool to add blank Do-It-Yourself cards so students could create element characters and personalities of their own. School wise, I graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory and am now entering my junior year at Stanford University. I am majoring in mathematics.
Is Elementeo still running?
Definitely! It’s always nice to hear kids tell us about their favorite Elementeo cards – we even had a young girl make a Ununquadium Unicorn on our iPhone app. Just a few months back, I got a chance to do a How to Build Your Game workshop with elementary and middle schoolers. It was great teaching Elementeo and walking them through the journey of prototyping and drawing to manufacturing a full board game. The energy and imagination young students bring is great. They just have to get out and start making something new!
What challenges have you faced in your business since we last spoke?
I think marketing has been a challenge. We rely primarily on word of mouth. But games like Elementeo are meant to be played with others, so if someone new plays Elementeo the hope is it inspires them to learn more about chemistry and perhaps check out Elementeo themselves.
Any exciting successes you want to share?
Launching an iPhone app at TEDx San Jose was an incredible experience. We even worked with an animator to get Sodium Dragon to breathe fire which was cool (you can see it in the second half of the talk. In the Elementeo world, Sodium Dragon’s fire is made from dropping some sodium in water. The conference itself was a blast and it was fun writing and presenting a TED talk.
Did being on Biz Kid$ help your business?
It helped kids and parents learn about Elementeo, so definitely! Watching that video brings back a lot of memories, especially all the Elementeo boxes we used to keep in the garage before Amazon came by and took them. Needless to say, there was no space for a car.