Hallway Conversation at GROW Sparks Game That Teaches Three-Year-Olds Coding Fundamentals

A conversation in a hallway has turned into a promising young startup.

While most networking at the annual GROW Conference revolves around startups and investors connecting, apparently the event is good for building companies right then and there—and we’re not talking about the hackathon.

Alexandra Greenhill, the cofounder of myBestHelper, was chatting with Nathan Slee on Wednesday, the first day of the conference, about how to get very young kids to understand and enjoy the basics of code. She shared a game she played with her kids since they were three that they enjoyed.

That very evening, Slee—who is the founder of Gate64—built a site to sell Greenhill’s idea. Called Littlecodr, the game uses cards to teach kids how basic commands work, forming the foundation of coding. A set of cards is available for preorder for $19.

By Thursday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Greenhill and Slee’s conversation, the new site had already sold 20 sets of Littlecodr.