How Piccuzoo was born?
There was was a snow blizzard in NY, when my then-5 year-old daughter and I were stuck inside, doing arts and crafts. We made a book; a silly one where Maya made the drawings and I wrote a story. I'm sure millions of moms have done the same thing at some point. We were both proud of our work. The next day I thought of surprising her by actually publishing the book, so I searched the web but couldn't find a single personalized children's book that involved personal art. Personalized books simply take a child's name, swap it into the story with the correct pronouns, and it's called “personalized”. Yes, it is personalized but to the child's name, not to the child herself. I downloaded some self-publishing software, spent a few hours learning it, spent more time doing the layout, then paid $$$ for a hardcover book of Maya's drawings. It was my pet project. But at the back of my mind I kept asking why there wasn't a product like this; and that there are thousands of Mayas in the world, who would love to have a truly personalized book. When the book arrived, Maya was amazed! Her eyes sparkle, page after page, when she saw her drawings, in a REAL book! When I was teaching an undergrad entrepreneurial management course, I used to tell my students, "If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, when you see an opportunity you have to act on it." That's when I decided to bring this idea from the back of my mind to front and center.