Why I’m building Tekku
It started with my son, a math game, and a look on his face I couldn’t stop thinking about.
Jansen had an idea for a math game, and he knew exactly what he imagined. So he tried to build it with the same AI I use for work.
He couldn’t put his idea into words the AI understood. When it broke, he couldn’t explain why. The same bug kept coming back.
I watched the frustration land on his face. A kid with a perfectly good idea, stuck trying to be understood.
What was missing wasn’t the AI
The AI could write the code. What Jansen didn’t have yet was the skill to direct it: to say clearly what he wanted, check what came back, and notice and fix what was wrong.
He didn’t need a machine that hands him answers. He needed one that makes him think.
That’s the skill I want for him, and I think it’s the one that lasts. Programming languages will change. AI will change. Knowing how to direct it won’t.
Why now, and why at home
This September, during UN General Assembly week, what stayed with me is how conflicted education is about AI. Kids need the fundamentals, and school matters. But AI is moving too fast for anyone to keep up, and our kids are growing up now.
So Tekku is for the families who want their kids learning this now: after school, not instead of it, with a grown-up in charge.
What I’m building
Tekku will be a place where kids 8 to 14 build their own ideas by directing AI. They’ll plan with Teko, their AI guide. Teko will build one step at a time and show each step. Then they test it, say what’s wrong, and make version 2 better. When they finish for the day, Teko will ask one question: what’s one thing you learned?
The goal isn’t to learn a coding language. It’s to understand how things get built, and to make something real, with the thinking done by the kid.
Why it’s a waitlist
We’re not open yet. I’d rather open late than open before Tekku has been fully tested with families. And once Tekku makes a profit, we’ll give 10% of each year’s net profit to youth education nonprofits and publish where it went.
If this is what you want for your kid, the waitlist is open. If you have a question, write to me at will@tekku.app. I read every email.
Will