TechCrunch50: Start-Ups Target Kids

Blogging from a SF conference called TechCrunch50, NY Times writer Brad Stone writes that some Silicon Valley startups will be targeting your (and my) kids very soon:

"...One is a virtual world called Hangout.net (hangout.net). Another is a portal for tweens called Tweegee.com The third is Blah Girls from Ashton Kutcher — more on that later.

The fourth kid start-up is online banking site for kids, iThryv.com, which is the brainchild of Shryk, a vowel-challenged company based in Oklahoma City. It lets young wealth managers who still live with their parents organize their bank accounts and get advice on credit management and budget planning. The site appears easy enough for the piggy-bank set to use.

Wisely, instead of offering the tool right to kids and soliciting advertising, the company plans to sell its software to banks so they can forge lifelong connections with young customers. It will also give the tool away to schools. “We want to help cure the epidemic of financial ignorance in our country,” said Shryk’s Shane Kempton."

Link: New York Times article