Framework
Pay attention to the tools teenagers use — they become big companies
Shaan's heuristic for spotting winners: he noticed Replit because his teenage nephew used it to learn coding. The products teenagers adopt (Snapchat, Minecraft, Roblox) tend to become big companies, so they're worth tracking early.
“Kind of like, that's interesting stuff teenagers use. You should probably like pay attention to stuff teenagers use because those tend to be big companies, you know, whether it's Snapchat or, you know, Minecraft or Roblox or things like that.”
Steal thisWatch what teenagers are adopting before anyone takes it seriously — those products disproportionately become the next big companies.
Idea
Build the Education Layer on Top of Roblox
Elaine pitches building life-skills games (financial literacy, mental health) directly on Roblox, where 75% of kids aged 9-15 already are, rather than building a new platform. Let kids co-build the games and share in the upside.
“So I wrote about a concept of doing this but on top of Roblox. And the reason being, Roblox already has the eyeballs and the attention of kids. 75% of kids between 9 and 15, I think, are on Roblox. And today, anybody can go and build these games. But why can't you go and build games? I was focusing more on life skills. Right. So things like financial literacy, which you never learn, mental health, which you never learn, all the things that you'd want either a younger kid or a teenager to learn. Gamify it, but build it where they're already there”
Steal thisDon't build a new platform — build your product on top of one that already owns your audience's attention and habits (Roblox, Fortnite).