Community Highlights: Meet Swarna Ananthan of MagicPolygon

Today we’d like to introduce you to Swarna Ananthan. 

Hi Swarna, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am the founder and CEO of MagicPolygon, LLC. I am also a Software Engineer and my specialization is mobile apps. I have worked with various companies like Motorola, Samsung, iHeartRadio, New York Times, Peloton. I was one of the very first Engineers of Peloton and played a major role in bringing up the product. I left Peloton in 2016 to start MagicPolygon. I am a mom of a 7-year-old. When telling stories to my son, I realized that storytelling, as opposed to story reading, has another important aspect – perspectives. Stories may be the same but the perspectives are different. Storytelling is Connection, Love, Creativity, and Perspectives – But the Distance is Tough. My son loves stories! It’s just amazing to see how stories light up so much in this little human. 

Like many immigrants – our families are overseas and we try so hard to engage them in my son’s life and day to day. They have tried reading him stories, having him talk about his stories – but just holding a book over Zoom or Facetime doesn’t have that same magic, connection, conversation – it was VERY hard for kids to concentrate and not lose interest. 

It got me thinking – what was the magic of storytelling that couldn’t get enough of via a screen? Maybe it was the voices? The pictures that he could ask about, the different versions of the same story that his dad and I would make up or he would. Never the same story. It was moments of pure love, connection, and creativity – they just weren’t carrying through the screen. 

So, I decided to change the screen – welcome to MagicPolygon 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Once I decided to start working on the idea, I had so many unknown areas. Since I had an Engineering background, doing a proof of concept of my idea was within my comfort zone. However, other areas like customer validation, hiring, marketing, etc. were new to me. Also, I had to make decisions like whether to bootstrap or to pitch the seed investors. I became part of a few Women founders/Entrepreneur communities and received many inputs from those forums as well. I made many mistakes and learned and still learning from those mistakes. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
MagicPolygon is an app that allows anyone to record themselves narrating a story – or live stream a storytelling session – with interaction, surprises, and twists – and share them from anywhere for an interactive, magical experience. MagicPolygon also allows users to create their own stories by uploading their own pictures. 

We also have a classroom version tailored towards the needs of the teacher. The app is currently available in the AppStore. 

Benefits 

Families: 

Connect deeper with family far away 

Delightful, interactive experience 

Family can give their own twist to a classic – endless possibilities! 

Encourage your bussing storyteller to create stories 

Connect with your family’s roots and culture, narrate and create in any language 

Ease of use – any level of tech-savvy can easily click and create! 

Secure, private, closed platform 

Schools: 

Fun, interactive ways to encourage kids to write and create 

Interaction for teachers and tutors – comments, feedback 

Great companion for remote or hybrid learning, as well as online schools 

Bilingual schools can play with both languages 

This is our website 

https://www.magicpolygon.com/ 

Quick video for parents – family-based subscription 

https://youtu.be/dR5s2s9dHBQ 

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
This year with remote learning I think it’s clear to see that a screen is simply not engaging enough for a child – and I’ve seen teachers struggle to engage and keep their student’s attention – especially with the younger kids and it’s a losing battle for them as well…There is a need for a better experience. MagicPolygon has an opportunity to provide a better experience for teachers and young students in the age range from 3 to 7. 

Pricing:

• Annual Subscription Family/Parents – $59.99/year
• Monthly Subscription Family/Parents – $5.99/month
• Classroom Subscription for School – $399.99/year for max 40 students

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.magicpolygon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magicpolygonkid/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/magicpolygonkid
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/magicpolygon/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/magicpolygonkid
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCnZvP67vW6Rc1XK76CW4rg