2024 Startups to Watch: Storytailor captivates global audiences with personalized, ‘diversity by default’ storytelling

Editor’s note: Startland News editors selected 10 Kansas City scaling businesses to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. Now in its ninth year, this feature recognizes founders and startups that editors believe will make some of the biggest, most compelling news in the coming 12 months. The following is one of 2024’s companies.

Click here to view the full list of Startups to Watch — presented with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and independently produced by Startland News.

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JQ Sirls envisions Storytailor as a platform that finally normalizes imagination and imaginative storytelling in children from all backgrounds, empowering them to see themselves in stories they create.

“Kids are just as complex as we are. They get what’s going on,” said Sirls, founder of Storytailor.

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Elevator pitch:  Storytailor is a diversity-first, “Imagination as a Service” (IaaS) platform for young readers aged 3 to 8, enabling them to become the heroes of their own unique stories. Our platform and tool gives life to diverse stories in communities that traditional publishing have long neglected. We operate on an affordable subscription model, costing less than one book per month, making inclusivity and quality storytelling accessible to all. We’re powering a new, inclusive generation of storytellers, authors, and educational businesses who speak for their own communities and in turn, redefine the children’s book industry.

• Founder: JQ Sirls
• Headquarters: Overland Park, Kansas
• Founding year: 2022
• Current employee count: 2
• Funding amount raised to date: $20,000
• Noteworthy investors: Digital Sandbox KC
• Noteworthy programs completed: Pipeline Entrepreneurs, Digital Sandbox KC, Techstars – Anjal Z Techstars Founder Catalyst

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Observing the scarcity of minority characters in children’s books, Sirls sees Storytailor as a beacon for showcasing unique stories from diverse communities.

“In just three and a half months post-launch, we received over 8,000 stories globally, with a significant number from Saudi, China and India,” Sirls shared.

Sirls sees how Storytailor’s global exposure contributed to the platform’s momentum last year. 

“Storytailor naturally encourages sharing, as most creators of these stories tend to share them with friends and family,” he explained.

That same momentum contributed to Storytailor being selected as finalist for Anjal Z Techstars Founder Catalyst, an Abu Dhabi based startup cohort, and growing to more than 1,600 users currently.

According to Sirls, 0.6 percent of books are made for Arab children, and almost zero percent are actually written by Arabs.

“They rarely find themselves represented in children’s books, and even more seldom are these books written by authors who share their backgrounds,” said Sirls.

“I’ve seen a growth for Storytailor because now kids are the center of their own story,” he added. 

Sirls is also working on integrating Storytailor into children’s hospitals and elementary school curricula, he said. The platform, intentionally designed from a kid’s viewpoint, also allows a user to teach complex subjects, like math or science, in a fun, engaging way.

“You can make it as whimsical and as silly as you want to, but it’ll still teach that complex math problem in a way that matters to the kid,” said Sirls. 

“I’m getting this feedback from teachers, that it’s helping a ton, kids are getting the big ‘aha’ moment because the lessons are from their perspective,” he continued.

In 2024, Sirls plans to launch a proprietary API for Storytailor. He plans to empower edtech publishers to integrate it seamlessly, offering options like Zapier. 

Sirls aims to address issues seen in current API platforms, such as ChatGPT, where stories lack diversity by default and might include inappropriate content for children, he said.

“Our unique language model will offer a secure and inherently diverse API for children,” said Sirls.

Open to partnerships as the technology continues to evolve, the founder said he’d love to do a pilot program with Kansas City organizations or companies that might be a good fit for Storytailor.

“Every journey begins with a story,” Sirls remarked.

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Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2024

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Startups to Watch is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.

For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn