This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ben Drury, cofounder and CEO of Yoto. It has been edited for length and clarity.
My company wouldn’t exist without my kids.
The idea started nearly 13 years ago, when I was shopping for a stroller in a London department store. One of the strollers had a built-in tablet holder.
It made me feel sick in my stomach. This was a product designed for infants, not even toddlers. It felt wrong.
I’m someone who loves gadgets and technology. At the time, I was running a digital music company I’d founded, and was in the process of bringing it public. Yet, with fatherhood on the horizon, I was thinking about the perils of modern parenting, particularly around screen time. That stroller with the tablet holder wasn’t the right choice for my family, and the fact that it was even on the market made me uneasy.
I started to think about giving parents a better option.
Building a solution felt like a hobby at first
My 10 year journey with my previous company had been long and hard. I was honestly feeling a bit burned out. Combine that with the life-changing step of becoming a parent — plus a bit of sleep deprivation — and I wasn’t really considering launching another business.
Building the screen-free audio player that would become the Yoto player felt like a hobby at first. My son was playing with it as a toddler. But eventually, I realized that this wasn’t just a great product: it could make a great business.
I started talking more seriously to Filip, who became my cofounder. He’d been one of the first hires at my previous company, and — in my opinion — he’s a genius. Filip had become a dad around the same time I had, and we shared many concerns about tech and kids. Plus, we always had great conversations in the pub, and I knew we would work well together.
Paul McCartney invested in the player
I knew my own kids loved playing with an early version of the Yoto player, listening to music and books. But Filip and I wanted to really test the market, so we launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2017. It was modest — with a goal of about £20,000 (or $27,000) — but it was the catalyst we needed to home in on our product and branding.
After that, we knew we were all in. As soon as you start taking people’s money, you have to be fully committed.
Because of my previous company, I had connections to the music industry, and I pitched an acquaintance on the new project. He, in turn, was connected to Paul McCartney. The stars aligned because McCartney had recently written a children’s book. He invested in the Yoto Player in 2019, which was a huge affirmation of the idea. Taking any investor money is excellent motivation, but taking a Beetle’s investment — well, we knew we really needed to go for it after that.
My sons are tweens and still use the player
From there, Yoto has just grown. We’ve reached more than five million children around the globe, and partnered with Disney and other brands. McCartney has invested twice more.
My sons are now 11 and nearly 13. They still listen to their Yoto players. I’m not anti-screen time, but we do have strict limits, with almost no screen time during the school week. I like that with the Yoto player, they can listen to media, whether an audiobook or music, while playing with toys, driving in the car, or being creative.
I hope my boys have learned that anything is possible. That’s a cliché, but it’s true. If you can get people on your team to work with you, invest in, or buy your product, there are no limits. Hopefully, Yoto has done a little to prove that.
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