How SuperAwesome Built the World’s Biggest Kid Tech Platform with Co-founder Lee Veitch

Riding UnicornsLee VeitchNov 19, 202543 min

Lee Veitch takes listeners through the counterintuitive decisions that built SuperAwesome into the world's largest kid-tech platform before its acquisition by Epic Games. His most striking insight: rejecting programmatic advertising—despite board pressure—to maintain direct brand relationships with Disney, LEGO, and other major clients who needed safe, compliant ways to reach young audiences.

Key takeaways

  • Reject automated solutions when they compromise your core value proposition—SuperAwesome's refusal to do programmatic advertising preserved crucial brand trust.
  • Navigate complex regulations like COPPA by building compliance into your product architecture rather than treating it as an afterthought.
  • Choose B2B over B2C in regulated industries—SuperAwesome avoided building a Chrome for kids to focus on powering existing platforms safely.
  • Find acquirers whose vision amplifies your mission—Epic Games' metaverse strategy aligned perfectly with SuperAwesome's safe digital experiences for children.
  • Turn regulatory constraints into competitive advantages by becoming the compliance expert that brands desperately need.

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8:54· 42scontrarian take

SuperAwesome rejected their board's push into programmatic advertising for kids' safety

8:54 / 9:36

journey, almost in a fully managed service. It's really interesting we say that because probably in the early years of Super Awesome, we talked about that automated advertising, which we call programmatic. And we sort of toyed with that, but, you know, we made the decision not to play in that space a because of safety concerns, but, b, actually, because we felt that we'd lose that sort of really strong relationship that we have with our brand partners and media agencies. And and almost it was a great decision to not go down that road even though our board at the time wanted us to play in that space. Because in the end, a lot of our product roadmap decisions are really being about what's gonna be safe and good for kids and families. And, actually, what do our brand partners need, and and how can we service them well?

Lee, have you talking of difficult strategic decisions, have you guys ever thought about doing, like, your own browser, like a like a Chrome for kids that's That's that's completely safe that you control everything within that environment?

I think the one thing I think being sort of real about Super Awesome is we've never been the best at sort of b to c.

at 9:29

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