"Exclusive Interview w/ David Lee, Co-Founder of Nex Playground | NEX NEWS EP. 4

Summary

In this episode of NEX News, Juan from Nex Connection sits down with David Lee, the co-founder of Nex Playground, an innovative gaming system aiming to bring families closer together. Lee shares his journey from creating web apps to selling his first startup to Apple, and his subsequent adventures leading to the creation of Nex Playground during the pandemic. This interview delves into the inspiration behind their game-changing system, its unique features, and the bright future for the company despite its humble beginnings.

Highlights

• David Lee sold his first company to Apple, which adds great value to his current venture 🍏
• Nex Playground creates a seamless offline play, which saved family vacations from being weather disasters 🌧️
• AI innovation allows Nex Playground to stand out by not needing handheld sensors for gameplay 🤳
• Facebook community engagement has played a pivotal role in their development and customer service 🎤
• Nex Playground offers a unique subscription model allowing access to a library of games 🕹️

Key Takeaways

• David Lee is co-founder of Nex Playground, which aims to unify family time and gaming 🎮
• The Nex Playground was inspired partly by the pandemic-induced innovations 🚀
• David Lee's previous venture, Home Court, laid foundational experiences leading to Nex Playground 🏀
• Nex Playground utilizes AI to offer an immersive motion gaming experience without the need for complex sensors 🤖
• Future developments include educational games and more multiplayer experiences to engage various age groups 🎓
• Engagement with major brands like Hasbro has bolstered Nex Playground's offerings, with a focus on family-friendly content 🧸

Overview

David Lee joined Juan from Nex Connection for an enlightening interview focusing on the Nex Playground system, a game changer in family entertainment. Lee recounted his career journey, highlighting his past success with a web app company he sold to Apple, an experience that eventually led to the creation of Nex Playground during the global pandemic.

The discussion progressed into heartwarming anecdotes about how this system, using cutting-edge AI technology, seamlessly integrates into homes by advancing gaming experiences without requiring additional gadgets. Lee elaborated on their vision of uniting families through play, driving home the importance of shared gaming sessions that engage users of all ages.

David kept the conversation lively as he discussed future plans, including partnerships with beloved brands and a stream of new game releases. The collaboration with established names like Hasbro opens new avenues for content development, underscoring Nex Playground’s commitment to offering enriching and entertaining gaming experiences that prioritize family involvement.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Setup In this introductory chapter, the host, Juan, from Next Connection, announces an exciting development. They've successfully conducted their first sit-down interview with David Lee, the co-founder of the Next Playground System. During the interview, they delved into a range of topics, including David's past experiences and current happenings with the Playground System. Both parties enjoyed the discussion and the opportunity to share insights.
• 01:00 - 08:00: Welcome and Interview with David Lee The chapter titled 'Welcome and Interview with David Lee' contains a discussion about the future of a particular system. The conversation includes addressing common questions from the community, particularly those raised in a Facebook group. The content suggests that many of these questions may have been answered during the interview. Additionally, the chapter encourages the audience to subscribe to a YouTube channel to promote the system and to help spread awareness about its benefits.
• 08:00 - 16:00: Background of David Lee The chapter discusses the importance of community involvement in bringing families together. The speaker encourages viewers to subscribe to their channel, share the video, and leave comments to facilitate further discussions and address any questions about the system with relevant people who are part of the 'next playground' team.
• 16:00 - 24:00: Next Playground Technology The chapter discusses the positive impact of Next Playground Technology on families, particularly emphasizing the speaker's personal experience with the system. The speaker notes that their three children have enjoyed using it over the past year, and it has become a great source of family bonding and entertainment. The speaker is optimistic about the future growth of both the system's game catalog and its community.
• 24:00 - 32:00: Partnerships and Collaborations The chapter discusses the potential growth and popularity of a Facebook group, suggesting that it might develop to rival major companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft in the gaming industry. It highlights the openness to innovative players in the market. The chapter includes an interview with David Lee.
• 32:00 - 40:00: Team Size and Future Plans The chapter discusses team size and future plans. Although the transcript features a casual conversation, the primary focus is on the organizational aspects concerning team composition and forthcoming strategies.
• 40:00 - 48:00: Community Engagement and Feedback The chapter titled 'Community Engagement and Feedback' revolves around the personal experiences of individuals who are actively engaging with their community while balancing their family responsibilities. It begins with a conversation highlighting the commitment of parents awaiting their children involved in weekend activities. The narrative emphasizes the dual roles of being a parent and being involved in community activities, showcasing how individuals manage their time between personal family commitments and community engagement, indicating a broader theme of balancing personal and social responsibilities.
• 48:00 - 56:00: Product and Business Model Discussion This chapter begins with an expression of gratitude towards a guest who is a founder or co-founder, marking a significant moment for the small YouTube channel, Next Connection. The interviewer appreciates the guest's willingness to be interviewed, noting that they are the first entrepreneur to do so. The interviewer also mentions their family's appreciation for the 'next playground system,' though further context on what this system entails is not provided in this excerpt.
• 56:00 - 64:00: Game Recommendations and Accessibility The chapter begins with the host expressing gratitude for the time they can spend with family and wanting to know more about the guest. The guest is asked about their background and inspiration for co-founding 'The Next Playground.' They discuss how their previous ventures have influenced their approach to this new project. The guest emphasizes the importance of collaboration and expresses gratitude towards the host.
• 64:00 - 72:00: Future Developments and Fun Facts The speaker expresses gratitude for the support and encouragement from others in their journey, emphasizing the importance of community and consumer love for a small company's growth. They appreciate the efforts of those who help spread the word about the company.
• 72:00 - 78:00: Conclusion and Call to Action The chapter 'Conclusion and Call to Action' reflects on the author's early career experiences, including the first startup venture that involved building web applications and online spreadsheets, similar to Excel, facilitating collaborative work. The narrative highlights the transition to working with Apple, focusing on teamwork and collective productivity. The chapter signifies both an end of a journey with reflections on past achievements and a motivation for continuing to pursue innovative collaborative solutions.

"Exclusive Interview w/ David Lee, Co-Founder of Nex Playground | NEX NEWS EP. 4 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey guys this is Juan here with next connection and we've done it uh we've done something that you guys have been asking me to do for a long time and uh we was able to actually have our very first sitdown interview with none other than co-founder David Lee of the next playground system uh let me tell you we had a really good time uh talking uh about everything from his past to uh what's going on with the playground to
• 00:30 - 01:00 the future of the system uh I even pulled some questions that I've been seeing in the uh the community in the Facebook group and so a lot of questions that have been coming up uh there's a really good chance that those questions were answered in the interview today and so if this is something that you're interested in if you really like this content please uh subscribe to the YouTube channel so that we can help the next playground uh to spread the word about this amazing system and how it's
• 01:00 - 01:30 going to help bring families together and so I can't do this alone I need everyone here uh in the community to help so again if you like this please subscribe to the channel share this video with your friends leave comments below uh if there's other questions things that you would like for me to cover uh about this system with other people uh that uh work in the uh next playground uh Team uh please let me know
• 01:30 - 02:00 it'd be it'd be an honor to to be a voice for you guys uh I have three kids and we bought the system a little almost a year ago now and they have fallen in love with it it's been a really big blessing to myself and my family uh bringing us together to play games and uh just having a really good time together and we know that um over time the next playground is only going to grow as a system the game catalog is going to grow the family the community
• 02:00 - 02:30 on the Facebook group is going to grow and then in popularity it's also going to grow uh I I wouldn't see why the next playground system wouldn't be able to rival uh companies like Nintendo and Sony and Microsoft uh in the gaming world there's always room for another Innovative player and so without further Ado here's the interview with David Lee
• 02:30 - 03:00 hi uh she wanted to ask a question later on uh if that's okay 100% absolutely okay cool um what I'm just gonna pull up yeah I see my my daughter's now there playing batminton badminton look see they're playing it's like uh like tennis in the air in the air right this
• 03:00 - 03:30 without without theor the ground that's Bon um yeah I'm in a Bonton cor now my this my my daughter's weekend activities so I'm waiting for her that's why I have uh some couple hours of free time when I'm waiting for her to get off class oh wow well so I guess we're both family men huh well yes we are we are father first that's all right and um I think I have
• 03:30 - 04:00 what I need thank you so much for uh joining us here at next connection and um you know we're just a really small YouTube channel and you're actually the the first uh I guess uh founder co-founder um that has ever done an interview with us and so I just want to uh really thank you for that thank you for giving us that opportunity uh let you know you know our family we really love the uh the next playground system and uh you know just the fact that it's
• 04:00 - 04:30 been able to give our family so much more time together um has been awesome and so uh I wanted to get to know you a little bit more um and so tell us about yourself tell us about your background um you know what inspired you to uh co-found the next playground and how did any of maybe your previous Ventures uh shape your approach to this project 100% uh first of all I want to say thank you to you too Juan um you know is is important to to
• 04:30 - 05:00 next to have somebody like you in our journey it's very important um and and makes us very small company so you know any consumer love and anyone you know coming in and help us spread the word help us a lot so very thank you for for what what what you're doing here um all right so give you a little bit more my background um so I am um so next is my second startup um I
• 05:00 - 05:30 sold my first one to Apple um the one that I that that the first startup I did is I did it first first out of college um so we built web apps we wrote and online spreadsheets um that uh is like Excel but online let people work together so bringing people together to work together was the thing that you know my in my previous life um so um and after join Apple then you know I leave the team that build
• 05:30 - 06:00 I work for iCloud web apps and also collaboration feature sets um you know bringing people together in work was like a thing that that that you know it's the focus in the past but after have a lab Apple I'm going to do something totally different um at lab Apple 2017 um and the first app that we have done is a basketball training app um so using the phone using the phone and phone camera um and you can you can track a Bas workout and you can count your mix and miss yeah I am a big
• 06:00 - 06:30 basketball fan I like playing basketball I like running with fans I'm very short guys I'm 5 foot five um but I just love you and uh I know a lot of kids even right now that I work with um at at the school that I teach in uh an app like that would be cool for them to be able to you know it's still there um it's still there home today is still tracking over a million triples a day and over 150,000 shots a day so
• 06:30 - 07:00 still an app that is going and have its own Community um but but then what leads us to next playground is that homecart itself also have um some training games in it um and in the Pandemic those training games went rro um so many people love it download an app to play it even though it's a very small screen so we know that's not the best experience um so you know after a few steps later that's how we start uh next Pam because we think hey the best
• 07:00 - 07:30 experience is actually take the experience to the TV the biggest screen in home and create something that can bring family together um so we we're deeply inspired by um the customer of our first product home court and then second one is active arcade active arcade is also on playground so you know the first app after we we after home call is active arcade and you can see in active arcade it's more like the uhu the Og app there's a lot of like really rough edges but you can see oh wow this is how it
• 07:30 - 08:00 inspire a lot other things later so um yeah my have been shipped with uh uh uh uh playround as well and we are we want to bring home court uh onto playground so this one of the next step because we just hey if there's something that can help kids gain more confidence in in sports handling a ball um I think we have a huge win for for the families yeah absolutely I mean and that's the thing right you know the the kids are so involved these days in um you know their
• 08:00 - 08:30 phones and their screens and they're not being as active as they used to I mean I remember when I was a kid we'd be outside until the street lights came on um and we're just not having that and so the to be able to combine the two that way you know and I know Microsoft tried to do that you know Nintendo was was was fairly successful with the Wii system um but you know NEX is definitely taking that to the next level so um what would
• 08:30 - 09:00 you say really makes next playground unique compared to maybe any other motion based games systems out in the market I know there's the uh the thing usually you go to like museums and hospitals and they have like this projector type game and uh I know the Xbox Connect is still floating out there sometimes and I know VR is starting to come in and things like that so um you know what makes next uh so unique
• 09:00 - 09:30 great to the great question so um we are not the first um company to do motion gaming uh we started that and have it's really successful like we sold over 100 million units um in their existence and we use sensors so at that time remember that like the sensors acometer uh gy scope you know go into the go into the remote and once you move it and actually have the the six Dee motion tracking uh with the remote so that's like holding
• 09:30 - 10:00 holding sensors um and there one technology that you know has been built by the Wii and ofice also going to go to your phone as well so the phone can also know that you know the phone is actually moving um and then it's get Kat Gat use a pretty complicated camera system um to understand oh there's somebody you know in front of it because they use a depth camera a depth camera is more like a human eye so normally start with having like you know two camera the the first as a two camera because use these two
• 10:00 - 10:30 camera to to to look at and when when you have two camera you have some dep perspective um by looking at looking at the Pix how the pixel move in front of it so does the next actually have two cameras in it or is it just one next next has one so let me finish the how the KET evolve as well so then KET um move to um what they call the time of flight sensor the time of flight sens actually projecting um u a greed of um of of
• 10:30 - 11:00 invisible lights you know onto it and then use a camera basic to you look at those lights uh and how they come back and then basically use that to detect the dep it's still like a better way to detect dep um from the the object in front of it um and in interestingly that technology is also go into your iPhone as well which is your fun facing camera also have a time of flight sensors to basically now do your your um uh detal phas and um and all the fancy stuff Rel to that the Next Generation technology that is on next playground is
• 11:00 - 11:30 AI so how AI works here let me exp to J as well in some kids kids language so camera K pictures right and what a video is a video is a series of pictures fairies you know in in in one second it take like 30 of them and then when they you when they like you know show it to you just like you how you f that book and then you see oh wow that's is moving how next do the verion detection is for every of these picture
• 11:30 - 12:00 we use AI to understand what's in that picture and see oh there's a person in it and we can the AI know there's a face there's hand and there's a leg and we do it for every single T pictures that the camera takes and with that that we know oh there's a person here there how the person moveed we sometime also can can track multiple people at the same time because in one picture we actually look at and find all the people that's on it so basically that's how it works it's a evolutionary technology from sensors to
• 12:00 - 12:30 you know our comcat sensor base depth camera base to now ai what is different is that AI is actually making it very flexible so we don't need the communicated sensors we only need one single LGB camera and it's and connecting to an a a a basic chip um and what we call a system on the chip uh capable to understand um the the pictures um so that's basically how we we do it the differentiation that we
• 12:30 - 13:00 have is that we don't need to hold anything we don't need a complicated system we have a simple small system that can understand and track multiple people at the same time it's a lot simpler um compared with other things if you look into more mod thing which is like the real glass so that we would say this more like isolating you know when you put on your real C you okay you got teleport into another world and what if how about the other people that you know right next to you so what we want to
• 13:00 - 13:30 create is something that is sh motion keep active but also bring the family together so this is how Mi differentiates and so w with the system being AI driven um you know I know there's like this big thing right now with all these AI companies struggling to get chips and trying to get the latest chips and so um how does the actual system on chip work um as far as it compares to you know Chad GPT and and these other chips chips you know how
• 13:30 - 14:00 future prooof is that chip um in compared to current technology so um so first of all the the first chip that is capable to run real time um what we call Post estimation and post tracking is in Apple's a12 bionic a12 bionic is a chip that is on the latest iPhone in 2018 the iPhone 10s so that is basically
• 14:00 - 14:30 what make things possible you know first in the first time and then obviously apple is leading the deow and and over the years that Flagship chip that everyone have becoming the technology itself becoming available like in a lot more places so what we are using now is the highest end chip of am logic am logic is the global leader in setup box chipset manufacturing so we're using that chip to to understand motion the CH GPT or
• 14:30 - 15:00 gener AI is different like first of all no CH GP at the moment or or model in that complexity can be run locally so you need to kind connect to a cloud and that's that's how Nvidia become the biggest company in the world because everybody need to do that um in the surface side and then that's you know basically buying up a lot ofia uh chipset but that is basically a chipset can capable to run a huge model in the
• 15:00 - 15:30 cloud and you are talking to the cloud for those Services we um um next payr is a device you know designed for families we want it to be fully private and secure so everything is not so PN next pgr actually work completely offline because we actually can run the AI right in the Box itself we are not depending on our Cloud we're not sending video anywhere all the video captured by the camera is actually processed locally on device so so looking at like how future
• 15:30 - 16:00 proof is is we are keep improving the model the model of post is small that can run on the on the playground and we keep training with more data to kind of make it better and better and better um and we don't see that on this particular use cases that you know oh we would not be able can run it on the current chip um um motion obviously there's more we can do 100% but I don't see that that the next payr I think we'll be able to
• 16:00 - 16:30 kind of capture motion and keep have those having those Improvement for years to come okay that's that's I mean that's amazing you know and I can attest that the the offline Works flawlessly uh we recently took vacation uh with our family and um you know we just packed up the uh the next and we took it with us and and to be able to sit in a hotel and what ended up happening was it was actually raining uh you know instead of being able to go out to the beach you know it was raining so we're kind of stuck inside on vacation uh but to be
• 16:30 - 17:00 able to have uh that next and um the hotel we were at know they had Wi-Fi but it really wasn't that good too many people were connected to it um so to be able to play that game offline I mean it it was a game changer it it saved the day right you know the kids were still able to get active and play around um you know and so you know can you share you know we've been watching and and you know you guys have been working at a really fast pace uh with these games uh that you guys are
• 17:00 - 17:30 coming out and I know I've made videos you know if you're watching if you haven't seen my videos made some videos you guys got some new games coming out with Barbie and Ninja Turtles and things like that and so can you share a little bit more about how how does NEX approach your partnership with with the the bigger Brands like Hasbro and how do these collaborations kind of come about um yeah I I it's great that meting opportunity can share like our journey with our
• 17:30 - 18:00 ERS um so it is is hard uh in the beginning because like oh who is next right you know why why I didn't do work with you um and and so many people go to these company can ask for hey can I get this lip and put it in in in the system um and the first thing is like you know I you know would would would working with this company like do any harm because we are not anic company to speak with right um you know the the we are very small
• 18:00 - 18:30 and and but what it happens is that hasbo see the potential of what we're doing and and agree to license Peppa pick to us first so Peppa Pig is the first IP that come onto the platform Peppa Pig and I know J Peppa Pig game right yeah we we we did a we did a good job on that game um and pepp the game on is on iPad first and apple say hey this
• 18:30 - 19:00 is the app of the day um and then gaining the trust of has Pro um uh make a big difference so when Hasbro is here and say hey this company is doing good work doing no harm um and then and then our second one is easier the second one that come on the platform is is Sesame Street so Sesame Street have a very high bar of of how they think about the games they they great people really thoughtful
• 19:00 - 19:30 about their target audience and been guiding the development of the game with a fair consistent philosophy uh and we ship those games and those games also really well loved by our community as well um and then then would be like okay wellow you did a few great things and the rest would like hey we all now want to work with next because the next has proved that you know we do we do great work we are we are we are we have a great team um and we are also good Guardians of the brands
• 19:30 - 20:00 um and after we prove a few few points and then more Brands come on board and and now we have a a fair exciting lineup of uh new brands will be coming on to our platform um in the next two two to three years and more honestly if we can keep going yeah absolutely and so um with the with your team you were just mentioning your team how big is the next playground team we have a little more than 60
• 20:00 - 20:30 people today you said 16 60 60 60 60 wow yes I mean that's such a small team so you guys are really running efficient there uh at next and and I think you know AI definitely opened the door for for that to even be possible um you know I know you were talking about the future so um what do you see for next playground in the next five years are there any new developments coming up any any new features that could be coming down the PIP with the
• 20:30 - 21:00 next um so we have a lot of games that we want to ship um we will be going more happy on Sports um Sports resonate with um with our with our customers a lot um we would be so kind of think we always think from our our customer perspective you know next is serving families with younger kids so we want to do a lot of things so the young kids would enjoy we also want to kind of create something that the parents uh can have as well so
• 21:00 - 21:30 that's why we go into uh Fitness that's why we go into sports and we also want to kind of you know bring in the grandparents as well so we are doing actually more multiplayer games uh more like the family game night games um to bring a family together so we are we are really focusing on serving uh serving them and in in 2025 one of the thing that got frequently requested um is online play and we want to do online play safely securely and
• 21:30 - 22:00 privately um so this is like something that you know dear to my heart because I want to create something that my mom can play with my daughter my mom live in Hong Kong uh my daughter live with me Ino so I want to create something that they they would be they would be able to play together that was sing to my heart um so to to sum it up you know more his educational games more family game lights games a lot of sports games that would you know available for like everybody um um and more Fitness games
• 22:00 - 22:30 for the for the ads online play that bring them together yeah that that's probably the biggest thing um that I've noticed as well uh when we were doing uh the game reviews um the having that online feature and you know I we're really thankful that you guys are really focusing on the the Privacy aspect of it um and you know I I think it's I I think it's awesome um uh when it comes to the upgradeability
• 22:30 - 23:00 of the next you know because you I think with it's been out for what about a year now or almost a year um will you guys be shipping out in the future I guess new next with updated uh computers in them or is it something that you'll just upgrade them as you go kind of like how Tesla doesn't have model years they they just kind of upgrade as they go um I think we would think a bit more
• 23:00 - 23:30 um um about how we can serve our customers really really well and and G gaming Hardware have a very long life cycle so you don't expect oh my gaming oh wow it is obsolete in next year I think we want to serve our customer for for years to come um and obviously we also have a very simple model as well so you can see that we keep updating the OS uh we keep
• 23:30 - 24:00 adding new fature to OS um we keep updating games and we would love to you know serve a family for for many years to come at some point you know in the future I think we would expect hey there will be next two coming but I don't I don't see it I don't well I don't have any plan yet you know we talk about it internally there's no next two everybody watching there's no next to yeah there's no next to yet um I think we would want to support um the the current generation
• 24:00 - 24:30 next for for for many years um that's in our heart because we want to be able to form that deep relationship with with our customers um and and yeah this how how we think about how we think about it I think we are we still pushing a boundary of what we can do the software or the same Hardware um um and and Hardware itself can also connect to accessories as well so because it's Bo to enable then there might be some some new thing that will come up with that that would R to
• 24:30 - 25:00 connected and adding new capabilities to to the platform as well um because we are serving we are serving family with younger kids then you know we kind of be I can imagine that get some really good toy integration or musical instrument Integrations that could become G fund um and in overall we want to to create something that that is not just pure um you know digital but you know we can bring some games into the physical world as well uh like jarding a basketball or
• 25:00 - 25:30 like playing with a guitar and how we can how we can bring some of those experiences um onto onto playground um and and what they helping with that's just like the the whole person development so like not just say because like there's other people get oh just on iPad or on on the uh on the on the game control use cases I think we can we can have a our a room to innovate um or ceiling is is very high okay so do you you know thinking about that are there
• 25:30 - 26:00 any I guess ancillary products that you could see maybe coming out for the next you know like Nintendo switch has like a steering wheel that you hook the joycon up to or uh you know different things like that that would you know either add to the experience or maybe make the motion tracking a little bit uh you know more accurate or different things like that so we um we thinking about it the one thing that we our difference with Nintendo Nintendo actually put the sensors onto whatever you're holding we
• 26:00 - 26:30 do not right we just this your body is is is is what we where we tracking so what we can do is I think we can push like you know forward into that and we also have um because using computer vision not just we can track person we can also track objects so one of the thing that we have actually Shar the community is that we can track a basketball and wouldn't we be fun if next can do more in in Indoor Sports um
• 26:30 - 27:00 that is like dribbling a basketball at home if it's a real basketball is actually very noisy so we are thinking oh how we can have like work with a silent basketball and and and how that's how a career experience so that like kids learning to DP ball basketball and have you know uh uh some advancement of their basketball handle at home that we fre really fund so we are we are building something like that um at the moment um because of object tracking capability ities you can actually work with any um any basketball um so that's
• 27:00 - 27:30 how how we think about it what about um because what what if you had something that had like the the same camera setup but maybe just like like a camera you could put in I guess different angles in the room um and I guess you know they would be the cameras would basically be talking to each other um and that would help you you know to see if if if a kid's dribbling a ball right did they
• 27:30 - 28:00 actually get the ball between their leg and onto the other side things like that what what are your thoughts on that um so there's a few things there um first our the current camera on next playground is um uh it's very right angle so actually can see uh majority of living room so the the angle of the camera is 176° so you actually don't really need in a camera to can see from the angle second is for the camera
• 28:00 - 28:30 to um um to have a great detection or low latency so for for the camera to detect um object with low latency we also really care about how the camera is actually connected to the chip so that connection actually do very fast so if you have external camera meaning that like that connection with the camera may not be that fast and it will add to the latency of the detection which we don't like that okay um so we will think about
• 28:30 - 29:00 like what exactly will be the use case of another camera and what exactly that camera do um to to and we we are we we still open to okay what exactly would that be but it's all different by use cases all different by um what we're trying to build uh the games um and if the game like you know call for some new hardware to be created uh we'll go create the hardware um but as a mention that you know we sometime may not even need to uh great how because we can also train um IM mod to recognize to
• 29:00 - 29:30 recognize objects as well man yeah absolutely it sounds like you you guys are thinking about everything over there and so um if you don't mind uh you know you have a um what who how was the decision made to be uh on on Facebook you guys have a really big active Community um people and um you don't really see very many
• 29:30 - 30:00 CEOs or or co-founders if any having the level of Engagement that you guys have uh with your customer base uh so my first question is is um you know how did that come about and is that something that you know will continue on into the future um because that's probably the biggest compliments that when I'm reading the thread you know they're just like man these these people are just so so open they're they're answering questions and you know you you tag your
• 30:00 - 30:30 your team and just say hey handle this problem and and and it gets done quickly and so for for a 60 person team and and not everybody handles customer service issues um you know how what's your philosophy around uh customer service customer engagement you know and I noticed I don't think you guys have a phone number um where we call you directly so I think you guys just do everything online yep um um so I'm extremely thankful for the
• 30:30 - 31:00 Facebook Community um I think before doing this I I'm not even a frequent Facebook users um and and and this is basically that my the most time I spent on Facebook like ever um but it I think we it kind of how we think about this is that we we we did not expect you know this out this so well and we are building deep
• 31:00 - 31:30 relationship with customers like we feel like we feel like we are friends we feel like we are we are we care about each other um and and and it's is is hugely valuable um to next um what we want what we are really proud of that we deeply care about like our customers and solving real problems um it's not like that hey we we have a product we s your product and and this a product is more
• 31:30 - 32:00 like hey we want to we want to solve real customer problem and and that deep relationship to we built you know with each other on Facebook group help us get there um it becomes something that is our a culture that next would like to build um and how we keep the communication open because like you know in a in in a startup we go through tough decisions all the time um you know and and be able to at least you know
• 32:00 - 32:30 communicate and have open communication um um with our about decisions is is hugely valuable and I would hope that you know all of customer will be there but obviously not everybody use Facebook um so we see where what we where we can reach out to them in other channels as well um but I think Facebook is the is is is is one of the not the one is the most um you know ractive community that we have um at this moment for
• 32:30 - 33:00 next yeah you know I absolutely agree and so um with that being said I uh I've been just kind of browsing through that thread and just uh wanting to pull up some of the most questions that I'm I'm just seeing a lot of um so if you don't mind you might we take some time and just kind of see where your head is at with with uh with some of these questions sure all right so uh one of the first
• 33:00 - 33:30 questions that that they're asking about is uh discounts right uh I recently made a post about discounts like man we just need to support these guys they're they're doing great work and that that post went viral uh on on the group chat and everything and and I still agree with that um but you know black Friday's coming out and and I think you guys mentioned something about Black Friday so would you mind just you know letting everybody know what's going on with next and Black Friday yep so we're going to
• 33:30 - 34:00 have a Black Friday discount of uh 20% off uh of the next playground Hardware uh so it will be priced at 159 uh on Amazon Target Walmart Best Buy so this is like a really good question I do want to kind of explain myself as well um there I actually wrote a pretty long post about like you know why we doing this um and I think the first thing would be that um um we we create great
• 34:00 - 34:30 product um um but we also need to get the word out right that's why we also kind of need to kind of spend on spend on marketing um so that people know that such a product exists and consider like buying the product and the the marketing budget that we spend on that is not it's not it's that small you need to be substantial in order can of reach the American consumers um so when Black Friday comes
• 34:30 - 35:00 and we have our retail partner come to us hey we are doing a big push like to reach out to a lot of people and that big push is need to align with um their promise to American consumers to find great deals for them and this like what retailers like think about and how I can help our customer save money and and that process is more hey I'm
• 35:00 - 35:30 going to promote your deal I am going to even fund part of the deal um so that they can fulfill their promise and it's compelling so the question is hey instead of we spending money to reach out to the customers ourselves we can also you know leverage our Retail Partners distributions or reach to to then like write on their promotion train but to write on those train that we also need to deliver what their what the our
• 35:30 - 36:00 our we help Partners you know promise to their customers and a deal that is 10% off doesn't cut that to be right on that train so we make our pett hard decisions to um to get on that train to reach more people and pass on the savings to um um you know some new customer that would to have certainly it's a very unique opportunity right because they say Hey you know you save on your promotion and pass along those saving things you know we get you give you promotion we fund
• 36:00 - 36:30 part of the deal so there very unique opportuni that we have here on Black Friday because because just that the the retailer just have a motion a constant yearly motion to um um to reach a lot of consumers uh and making the price more affordable also help us reach more people as well so that's that's how we make make the decisions to and and I like what the I going the hard time that I have had is always that hey somebody who supported us paid and early paid the
• 36:30 - 37:00 the the the most um you know for the product and always have a hard time that oh they they they don't have the the the best de but you honestly kind of thinking thinking from the the the perspective of that we we also build an ecosystem we are the more custom that we have you know obviously our earlier supporters also can see this as well so they're very supportive for the deal that hey with more people here every body would just get a better experiences by having more thingsam um and and I
• 37:00 - 37:30 that's the the the how we think about this how this could be a win-win win-win situation new customer win retailers win next win existing customer win so kind how we think about this and we certainly what we need to work with is the some recent buyers who just bought it um you don't feel like the existing customers yet uh and obviously miss a deal and you know there's some bad taste left in their mouth um and and we want we we want to do right thing for them we just we just
• 37:30 - 38:00 do so um uh the other question that customers have been uh asking about is um your the the business model of the company you guys are subscription based uh with the games and you know I in in the post that I put on the thread I said You know guys the average game is about $20 a game uh you know for any of the other major platforms and uh with the next you know the the the play PL the
• 38:00 - 38:30 the play pass is uh you know $89 and includes unlimited gaming um what's your thought process behind going subscription base versus alart um and maybe is there any future plans to have like maybe a next playground App Store where you could kind of pick and choose games um and then the last part is um some customer on the threat have been kind of weary about getting the play
• 38:30 - 39:00 pass because um they're afraid that you know we're starting at a really good value right now but then you know over time it's going to be1 $150 a year you know and um they they may feel like that value is going to be lost so what's next playgrounds thought process on the uh the play pass and um how you go about pricing games and things like that and and I know as far as the the future you
• 39:00 - 39:30 know if you want to have more Partnerships with Brands you know like Hasboro and and others you know you're gonna need the money for it right you know to license those deals and so how do you balance that and um what what's next playground's future as far as the the business model the subscription model things like that well this is a great question um so I can share where my head is at now you know certainly you know that could be
• 39:30 - 40:00 new information things can come later but I I just want to be completely open and honest about like how we think about like you know our business model um first thing first is that we serve families we serve family for young kids and and and young kids would want a lot of things would always want a new things what kind of want people have like and we don't want that conversation become a constant nut that Al bu not scheme we want it to be hey we just pay one one
• 40:00 - 40:30 time price and we take care of family and this is the relationship we want to have with the parents we don't want hey can I can I do this can I get that like well when we when we every kill rate the content we able kind have a have have um really build for the customer that we are serving we will constantly have some new Innovations as well so that's how we like the subscription model or like the pay pass model it's not exactly subscript subcription because you I would see this as that you pay once um
• 40:30 - 41:00 and if we do well for you in a year and then we earn another year right and that's kind of the fair trade is is that oh people worry about oh I would forgot to cancel because and actually next would remind you when you you up for Renewal and you know you want to kind of keep going on cancel right we would remind you on that um so it's more like we we like the model because we only going to charge you one price and we
• 41:00 - 41:30 want to search you for a whole year um and if you like what we do and we hope to earn you as a customer for another year and that avoid us being you know have hey the kids come in and have great attention with the parents oh I want this game you know you know can I buy this game and not buy this game and like I think the a lot of other gaming platform actually have this like you know Nicor and dime thing that just like you know great complex complex like you know having kids and Families already a lot of decision to make on a daily basis already we don't want to introduce even
• 41:30 - 42:00 more headache to um to our to our customers and this where where our heart is as well and and changing to individual purchase decisions or even I AP would completely change the relationship with we have with our customers completely change because the game didn't think about okay how I can get more people gu buying this game and how or or how this game can have more IP so they can earn enough money to justify the produ budget and all of these can go away when we have a simple model that
• 42:00 - 42:30 allow us also can innovate as well so we can try new things and and and Just sh it to the customer if they like it we build more so that conversation become a lot more aligned interest so that we know the don't need think about I was in Mobile gaming before you know we create like motion mobile games you know and and put it on app store and and steam and all that the one thing that's like wow we spend so much time so much time that we can basically innovate for our customer creating
• 42:30 - 43:00 better experiences those time I spent on figure out the business model all those time are basically wasted wasted I don't want to waste any of those time we don't want hey the G don't need to think about business model we have one simple business model for the customer and we think about how we do really great thing for our customers and that alignment can only appear when we have alignment with our customers well hey this will be a subscription we hope to earn you to be here for another year and we to Great do great thing for you uh so that we can
• 43:00 - 43:30 earn you to be a customer for next year so that huge alignment there create and we move all these you know how how we can make money in the game becoming a simple conversation of how we do great thing for the customers that's how we think about the subscription model and why we like it that that that's amazing the the fact that you guys are actually thinking that way um putting your your customers first um you know you know I I remember one time I gave my daughter uh a tablet and
• 43:30 - 44:00 you know she was playing some games and out don't nowhere Google sending me emails oh thank you for your purchase of you know coins and rubies and gems and all these instant purchases inside game and and like you said it's a headache it's absolutely a headache um and so when it comes to Innovation and obviously you know your team is working hard making new games right now the the
• 44:00 - 44:30 current price of the of the play pass is $89 for the year that's definitely the best value um do you see that that that price point changing anytime soon we don't have any plan at the moment so we can stick to this pricing um you know I would not say make future promise that the price would never increase um but when a time comes I would also seriously consider to keep the price consistent for existing PL
• 44:30 - 45:00 existing customers as well um so I just want to make sure that you know I you know we deeply care about customers and if we can you afford to not raise price um we would not want to and and um one way to do that is to have a lot more customers um so that we would not be undering pressure to do that um and and you know I think look into
• 45:00 - 45:30 the history of Netflix I think you know while over a long time yes it does raise prices but the amount of content the quality of production also improve as well um and and and you know I think that that might be that that might be possible in the future that you know price may be raised but you know and I think to just want to kind of to be open about like we always put our customer first and always want to make sure that we do the right thing by our customers um it's still very early stage I don't think that you know we have any plan to
• 45:30 - 46:00 raise plans anytime soon um so that's where we are at and so I also know um it's it's possible that you can use one play pass with more than one system is that correct how does that actually work for the customer so um at the moment that you would having um an account uh tied to the um so in in the latest I think after play 1.5.5 uh when you activate the system you have create an account and once the
• 46:00 - 46:30 subscription activated that account will have that subscription and you can actually lock into two device with the same account in the same household so you can actually have like okay the the your when we talk about household we also kind of put l in as well hey if you have have a family um in our location then you can share that share the subscription um with with with the with the um with your family members is there a viice limit yes
• 46:30 - 47:00 two you said two yes okay yeah you know because I you know this Christmas I'm definitely planning on getting some systems for uh some some people that that I know and and I love and so um that's definitely a question they had um let me ask you this what's your favorite next playground game to play and why um it keep changing over time uh is really the the um uh the game that my
• 47:00 - 47:30 daughter loved the most because you you might be to play with her um for a long time uh it been Starry um and I still love playing that game with my older daughter as well it's is one of the thing that how we connect and be able can compete each other she's very competitive um you know she's she's still playing bring baton downstair now yeah so I'm wait waiting for her uh to to get off the class um to answer your original question
• 47:30 - 48:00 sorry a long time um and then stud hats um and I really looking forward to uh uh Sesame Street Rover um uh group and wve group and move uh I I I we looking forward to that just one thing is is um my younger daughter is little more introvert um so but when I play with her on that game and she would dance with me and I never seen my daughter move like that um so that was so fun so I'm really
• 48:00 - 48:30 looking forward to that game and obviously you and I have been like play testing that game for a while and I I I that is become one of my core memory that the moment I dance with her and then I I get to see the video afterward um is in that game in that game are two people able to dance with each other and the game recognizes that is that what you're saying yes so this is an upcoming game to be launched um um so we have two dancing game shipping for Christmas one is with Barbie and that is like amazing
• 48:30 - 49:00 um the the Sesame Street um move and groove um um really create a family moment that you know and and it's just funny this is like it's great fun um to be able kind of to kind of follow gr and uh and seeing seeing you and your kid move in that like you know fun funny uh funny ways U it's absolutely absolutely amazing yeah I I can't wait I'm I'm you know I I I like to do uh daddy daughter
• 49:00 - 49:30 dates uh every now and then and so to maybe add that to that you know go out to eat come home do a little dancing you know that that sounds like a a fun experience um another question that um I've been seeing is is um are you guys able or what games would you recommend and are there any games maybe down in the pipeline that would help someone that um maybe is is bound
• 49:30 - 50:00 to a wheelchair um that can't actually stand up and and move around um what's next playground's thought process around that and um what could you tell um our you know the customers that are in that situation um so we um uh we always think about accessibility we want to make our game system as accessible as possible um certainly some games involving like jumping dodging dancing um that would um um you know certainly
• 50:00 - 50:30 require more full body motion but we also have quite a lot of games that is half body only uh and we'll keep making more um speak because being able to create some joyful movement experiences for for them um sing to our heart so would it be possible to maybe on the carousel to add like a like a little symbol so that like hey this is like you know approved you know half body
• 50:30 - 51:00 something like that just that we we have we have that plan already um and that I think will be I'm hoping to see that in play 1.7 um where you see that game so actually we we making a step towards the direction already I will probably Post in the community what we have what we are doing in one PS 1.6 um um you know about that um and and we would keep improving that going forward as well um so I'm going to post to the little soon about what are we doing with play 1.6 in terms of exposing
• 51:00 - 51:30 more information about the game when you are selecting the game okay um and I don't want to take any more of your time so thank you so much you've been really generous with your time um yeah with with your daughter you said don't have a question would oh yes she did Josie uh Josie come here Josie all right so Josie had one question for you um uh Josie what what did you want what did you want to ask David um can you make St four
• 51:30 - 52:00 player make Star four players wow that's a that's a very good ask I would seriously think about it um so let me share with you why it's only two players now this story also have lateral movement so you moving left and right um and the two players can also choose different difficulties as well so you may you may be dancing different things you know even for the same song
• 52:00 - 52:30 right so one is hard difficulty maybe for the parents and for young kid may choose normal so we want to make sure that it's safe and when you have two player can move in you know in different time and we care about not we really having enough space for the players so make sure that the players actually have his own enough space to move so that they don't crash into each other and that means that if you playing four players that you the space you require will be huge you need to be living in a
• 52:30 - 53:00 you know pretty having pretty big living room in other can play place at the same time without us like creating trouble um so we think about it maybe we all players that we need to make sure that everybody will be moving to the same direction then it might be possible that we can do four players um yeah I can see is very like viral videos of you know dance parties of everybody moving in the same direction that's actually a really good idea I even think about it that way um Y what about online play for
• 53:00 - 53:30 a game like Star you know having like you know competitions with that with that type of game um we need to kind of well thank you Josie for your question um we are uh we definitely think about online play um and we the the the the real ESS is is the latency is very important so do or dancing together or is it comparing a score so we think about that for all our games um you know which we can enable I think we will start with some new game first that would have the online play
• 53:30 - 54:00 capabilities uh and would when time comes and we add it to more games all right and I guess we'll we'll we'll end it with this um what's one fun fact that most people don't know uh about the next playground that you would like them to know and then um you know anything that you want to tell us that's coming down the pike okay yeah that's one thing that I like one 100% comeing to my mind right away so don't do you know that next
• 54:00 - 54:30 playground actually have a camera cover and it have a parking spot behind playground so every time I see people like you know just leave that playground cover like lying around it's like I put my head up ah we have we have that design and please put it in there's a home there's a parking spot of that camera cover behind it please use that um like the next time I see that picture I would I would I would losing more hairs um or people who not using not using that packing spot um anything that that we should
• 54:30 - 55:00 know that that uh the next the next team is working on right now I know you guys have that coming soon we will keep posting new things um I probably posting a new videos um uh uh in the weekend as well U we have a dot dot game working on a DOT game um and we can use that into education game as well I think the the we have prototype of like okay what you know uh uh like you know where is Chicago and then you know you need to kind throw the dots to to Chicago and
• 55:00 - 55:30 basically measuring measuring uh how far how far off you are this just like fun things that we we are building because like the next next Lab actually enable us to to be um running more experiments um and sometimes some these exper very fast kind of come up and you know what we want to we want people to be like when they see that they react to it they would you know literally guiding us to you do more of what people love um
• 55:30 - 56:00 all right and then for those process is interactive yeah and and and for for the people that are watching and you have no idea what the next playground is someone showed you this video um David if you could give a message to a a mother a father an aunt Uncle grandparent that is considering purchasing the next because a lot of people on the threat are like I'm considering it I'm thinking about it you know uh what's your message to those people um so you know next playround is an
• 56:00 - 56:30 active play System for kids and families and and we literally put our hearts into building that and I I hope that when you when you are become a customer using that um you would feel our heart and feel our popess behind the creation awesome all right well David I just want to thank you for your time thank you for giving us uh our very first interview um you you you answered all of our questions openly honestly and
• 56:30 - 57:00 uh we couldn't have asked for more and so um hopefully we can do this again in the future as the next playground system uh grows you know we're we're hoping for for a a big fourth quarter for the next playground uh my wife just posted a short video of the uh the next playground stand at the Target uh near where we live and uh so that was exciting to see that my kids were excited to see that and so um just looking forward to the the future future of next and um again you know just thank you for your time thank you thank you
• 57:00 - 57:30 thank you for your time have a great day okay thank you byebye man didn't I tell you guys what an amazing interview and I think the best part that I really got out of that interview was the fact that uh David Lee is just very down to earth um he's very family centered I mean if you guys remembered uh he was sitting there taking the time to interview me a new YouTuber uh you know just trying to do my best to spread the word of the next
• 57:30 - 58:00 playground system and he's actually there watching his daughter uh play Bad mitton in court and so he's very family focused and I believe that if he can keep that same attitude along with being open with uh the community like he and the team have been in our Facebook group and other social media Outlets I think there's no stopping uh what's going to happen with the next playground and so again if you guys like this content if
• 58:00 - 58:30 You' like to see more of it if You' like to see me do interviews with more of the team um or if you're interested I'm interested in hearing uh from you the community um I've reached out to several of you to see if you guys would like to be a part of this channel um and contribute uh we'd love to hear your stories uh how has the next playground uh been beneficial to you and your family uh and so if you're looking forward uh to that and more content Please
• 58:30 - 59:00 Subscribe uh to this YouTube channel share it with your friends and family that may not really know what the next playground is or what it's all about and I'm going to do my best to inform the public and with your help we will help the next playground team and system uh reach New Heights new people and so this is uh Juan signing off and remember keep moving AC