Today we’d like to introduce you to Francisco Cornejo. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Dani Vega and Francisco Cornejo struggled with anxiety and sleepless nights for the first years of their children’s lives. After a life-changing experience, Dani found the answer she was looking for in the power of the human touch. “It’s not about attention. It’s about connection” (You can read her journey from idea to product here: https://bit.ly/DaniStoryB)
The idea came to us when our kids were suffering from sleep problems and we were undergoing a family crisis (by that time, living in Australia). However, for me, the big aha moment was when I realized that my eldest was already 4 YO and I missed a lot of bonding time with him because I was too focused on my career. When we started introducing multisensorial stimulation (massage, music, oils) to our bedtime routine, we saw something that never happened before: our kids started to fight each other about who is going to bed first. But the main outcome was that we felt so much more connected with each other. Our kids seemed happier, more affective and we felt like super parents. Just by giving them a few minutes before bedtime. I turned out a lot of C-level job offerings to pursue this dream and there is nothing more rewarding than reading reviews from users who tell us that they are experiencing the same connection at home.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been an extremely demanding and challenging journey. We have made many sacrifices both professionally and personally. My co-founder and I left our hometown and corporate job to pursue this dream of helping families to bond and sleep better.
One of the biggest challenges was to raise our first investor check. I’ve been following Jason for a long time. I’m a big fan of his podcast and content. I decided to apply to one of his Founder University online programs and got accepted. During the program he asked ten startups to pitch live for 1min. There were 300 people on the call and I decided to give it a go. At the end, Jason selected the startup that he liked the more and chose Storybook. The next, we were approached by his team to offer us an investment and the possibility to join his personal accelerator program LAUNCH. Jason was our first investor check and we were lucky to have him investing more at the end of the program. It was impactful to see how we saw the potential in just a pitch and a quick follow-up call. Later he explained to me that he loves the consumer-based subscription apps in the wellness space, he had a big success with Calm in the past and also he personally experienced the benefits of multi-sensorial therapy with his daughter. So for him, it was a no brainer, there is no offering in the parent-child wellness space and we aim to own it.
As you know, we’re big fans of Storybook App. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Storybook is a parent-child wellness and sleep app. By combining narrated bedtime stories, music and relaxation techniques like meditation and infant massage Storybook helps parents share high-quality time with their children before bedtime to improve emotional health and sleep. With close to 2m downloads, Storybook has been called “The best for Bedtime” by Apple and has been the #1 Parenting app in 90 countries.
There is nothing like Storybook out there. We are the only “sleeping” app for children to physically involve parents in the falling asleep process. Parents use Storybook as a guide without their kids looking at the screen. This allows them to bond and connect in a genuine way.
WE DESIGNED OUR APP FOR PARENTS, not their children.
Children shouldn’t be looking at screens before bedtime to get a good night of sleep. Our competitors have designed their apps to entertain children adding illustrations and animations that make kids want to look at the screen. Hence, instead of designing an app for children, our product is focused on assisting the parents by guiding them through massages and providing bedtime stories with relaxing sounds.
PARENTS MAKE THEIR CHILDREN FALL ASLEEP, not us.
We understand the importance of infant massages. For children, a massage not only relaxes them before sleeping, it helps them reduce stress and feel loved. For parents, it’s a way to give love and show affection. We understand parents can get their kids to fall asleep better than any app will ever be able to.
For most parents, bedtime routines are the only one-on-one moments within the day in which they get to bond with their children. We want to make each night special.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in Cuenca, a small Andean city in Ecuador’s southernmost region. My childhood memories are filled with my grandparent’s house and playing with my cousins. I remember my first computer class when I was in 7th grade. I was 13 by the time the first home computer reached home. Internet connection via modem didn’t work for most of the time. I bought my first mobile around the same time with saving and earning cash by running errands for the family. (Car washing and shoe cleaning mostly)
I have been an entrepreneur since I remember. If I didn’t have the money for something, I would find a way to make the money. I paid for my university studies by myself with my first company at 18 YO. Since then, I had three companies which I sold and also made a corporate career as the CMO of Honda Motors in Ecuador.
Pricing:
- Storybook is free to download
- Free version has all the features but limited content
- Premium plan has over 100 content tracks and is free to trial for 7 days. After that is $49.99 per year
Contact Info:
- Email: francisco@familify.com
- Website: www.storybook-app.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storybook_app/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Storybookapp.en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/appstorybook
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StorybookApp/
Image Credits
Familify Corp.
