18 Ways Killer Snails Grew in 2018
Lindsay, Jessica & Mandë at SBA awards!
2018 was a banner year for team Killer Snails! We’re so grateful for the continued support of our friends and colleagues in the games, education, and science spheres and we can’t wait to continue to grow, collaborate, and launch new products in 2019!
We wanted to share the snail-love by highlighting 18 Killer Ways 2018 was a success:
AWARDS
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In 2018 the New York District Office of the Small Business Administration named Killer Snails the 2018 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Recipients of the Year! This award recognized our patent-pending multimodal communication system featured in our BioDive Experience, which connects users across VR mobile devices and web browsers to provide real-time feedback to teachers via a teacher dashboard.
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Biome Builder’s many wins including: the gold medal at 2018 International Serious Play, the 2018 Family Choice Award and the 2018 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval! (in 2017 Biome Builder was the Boston Fig Award winner too… two years in row of awards for this awesome nature ecosystem game!)
Our Explainers working with Mandë during our Residency at NYSCI
3. Selected as Designers in Residence at New York Hall of Science. This residency gave us the opportunity to hone our design thinking process with four fantastic Explainers who created a digital and tabletop game based on revitalizing exhibitions within the museum. The residency was a fantastic growth opportunity for us as well as Yuliya, Sam, Leah and Kumari! The games will be available on New York Hall of Science’s website in 2019!
PRODUCTS
4. Launched our first virtual reality game, Scuba Adventure: Philippines available in iTunes and Google Play store. Dive in and Explore!
5. Created our first Augmented Reality experience, Killer Snails All ARound with Google Expeditions. Make Killer Snails appear anywhere you are!
A snail tried to eat our sushi!
6. Developed Beta versions of new games and virtual reality experiences in formal educational settings, including more than 20 schools in the New York Tri-State area, as well as informal settings including the American Museum of Natural History, New York Hall of Science, The Brooklyn Strategist, Brooklyn Game Lab and BioBus!
COMMUNITY BUILDING
7. Started the Virtual Reality in Education Meet Up with our friends at Electric Fun Stuff and grew to include over 545 active members in under a year! On the third Wednesday of every month come join the meet-up and learn about latest in VR and Education!
8. Led workshops at the New York Film Academy, Queens Tech Incubator, Playcrafting, Columbia’s Teachers College, and New York University. Sharing our expertise with formal and informal audiences.
Lindsay and Amanda at Intentional Play!
9. Presented our work at events such as CUNY Games, Games For Change, Serious Play, and Intentional Play. Building collaborations that strengthen our projects.
10. Spoke on panels for Women Owning It, Black Women Talk Tech, National Science Foundation Innovation Corp, New Schools Venture Fund, and National Association of Women Business Owners. Recognized as leaders and sharing experiences.
Mandë, Jessica and our Explainers at MakerFaire!
BRAND BUILDING & GROWTH
11. Demonstrated our games and experiences at Ed Games Expo, ToyFair, SUBMERGE, Maker Faire, MineFaire, Play NYC, and National Science Foundation Conference
12. Invited to join the Project Entrepreneur cohort where we learned so much from other female founders and Lynn Loacker!
Jessica doing a 90 second pitch at Entrepreneur.com festival
13. Pitched at Virtual Reality NYC, NY Tech Alliance, Columbia Venture Community Start Up Night, National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research Conference, Entrepreneur.com, and Propelify. While we didn’t always win, we always learned how to get better at pitches!
14. Proudly represented female founders by pitching at Project Entrepreneur, and Female Founders Pitch Competition. A growing circle of women entrepreneurs we’re happy to be apart of!
15. Signed our first collaboration with partners C&A Scientific to develop a new game together featuring their microscopes and slides!
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
16. Mentioned in some of our favorite publications, including: EdSurge, The New York Times, The Telegraph, Education Week, Downtown Brooklyn, The Root, and Entrepreneur.com!
17. Appeared on podcasts including Science Friday, The Nerdette and Technycal, where we had wonderful conversations about science, entrepreneurship, making STEM education better for all students, being female founders and on spreading a love of science through games.
18. Spoke on the Impact Stage for the National Science Foundation about the power of collaboration and how Killer Snails has leveraged our expertise to work with others- Growing stronger with our many partners and collaborators!
Bye-bye 2018, it was a Killer year for us!