Next Up: First Place

Tonight I opened the list of the most downloaded educational apps on the App Store in Iceland. In second place, right behind Duolingo, was LESA.

I paused for a moment.

Duolingo is one of the largest education apps in the world, with hundreds of millions of users and thousands of employees. LESA is a small Icelandic startup with a team you can count on one hand.

Still, I’ll say it plainly: We are going for first place.

Why does this matter?

This isn’t about one company’s pride, although the moment is certainly a big one for us.

It’s about what the list tells us. Icelandic children and their parents choose Icelandic content when it is available and holds up to comparison. I have written before about how much of the content children choose for themselves is in English, on their phones, in games and on social media. If Icelandic content isn’t there, children don’t choose Icelandic. They choose whatever sparks their interest.

The App Store list shows that this can also work the other way. When Icelandic content is well made and fun, children choose it. Interest isn’t a side issue. It’s a prerequisite.

The feedback that drives us forward

LESA launched in August. Since then, the response from parents, teachers and the children themselves has been wonderful. Every single message we receive encourages us to do more and to do it better: More stories, a better experience and more children who discover the joy of reading.

We have funded LESA almost entirely ourselves. The team is small, but it puts its heart into every story and every character. Seeing LESA next to the world’s biggest education apps in our home market confirms what I have long argued: Icelandic ingenuity can compete with the biggest players when it gets the chance.

We’re not the only ones

I’m also glad to see how many good Icelandic apps are on the list. Undralingur, Læsir and Evolytes are all doing great things for Icelandic children, and I encourage parents to check them out.

Because in the bigger picture, we are not competitors. We are all working toward the same goal: That Icelandic children have access to quality content in their own language.

You can help

If you have a child who is learning to read, try LESA.

And if you like it, it would mean a lot to us if you rated LESA on the App Store. Every single rating helps an Icelandic app make it all the way to the top.

Thank you.

We’re just getting started.

The author is the CEO of the software company Revera and the founder of LESA.