Following on the smash success of its educational app
PocketZoo, which went to number one in the iTunes App Store's education section after its release almost two years ago, Toronto app developer Tiny Hearts recently released its second product,
InstaMatch, this February.
"It's been really well received so far," says company founder Robleh Jama. "We've gotten some great reviews from TechCrunch and others, and it was featured by Apple as a 'new and notable' application." The app turns images captured by the popular
Instagram app into a card-matching puzzle game.
The company was founded in 2010, Jama says, because he loved apps and wanted to create apps he'd want to use himself. He says PocketZoo in particular was inspired by his becoming a new father. "I wanted to create an app I could use with my daughter." Since then, his company has tweaked the app, released a version for the iPad and grown to three employees working out of both the
Ryerson Digital Media Zone and a shared workspace in the east end called
Work Republic. All the way along, Jama's company has been self-financing.
"I'm not a big believer in spending time chasing investment," he says. "I think your customers are your best investors."
Jama says Tiny Hearts will soon be hiring three more staff—a developer, a marketing representative and a summer intern—as it improves InstaMatch, prepares an Android version of PocketZoo and gets ready to work on a new app.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Robleh Jama, founder, Tiny Hearts