THE BUSINESS
Bob and Debra Wood opened Scriptive LLC in Dodgeville in May 2023 with the goal of addressing the lack of writing proficiency in students. Bob said, “The big problem is that children are not learning to LOVE writing. Scriptive is focused on helping elementary age children with their literacy skills, and they learn to love books and love writing.”
Scriptive’s first product, WriteStories, guides children through the creative writing process in a fun, engaging way that helps them build real skills. Children choose a picture book from the WriteStories curated library. They see the original illustrated pages, but the story text is missing. Page-by-page, the children type their own original story onto the pages to match what they think is happening in the pictures. The sequential illustrations in the book provide helpful structure while still leaving plenty of room for creativity.
Scriptive found markets locally and internationally for their product. Bob said, “With our first 200 customers, Scriptive was already in 12 different countries. We were excited to establish a partnership with the Dodgeville School District, and they have implemented WriteStories in grades 3 and 4.”
THE OBSTACLES
Like most small business owners, Bob and Debra encountered some obstacles along their journey. “Funding is always a challenge. Initial development was overseas, which has its own complexities. Figuring out how to break into the noisy world and get people’s attention was difficult. We struggled with finding people with the right skill sets to help. Maintaining momentum internally and connecting to people in the target market also presented challenges. Developing the technology for various browsers and mobile platforms came with peculiar issues as well,” Bob said. He turned to the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for assistance.
Accomplishments with SBDC’s Go Global
- Taxation practices
- International agreements
- Resources
THE ASSISTANCE
When the business was setting up a resell partner in India, Bob met with Chris Wojtowicz of the SBDC’s Go Global initiative. Bob said, “Chris helped us understand taxation practices for the international relationship. He guided us on the nature of the relationship given some of the challenges of working with India. He recommended best practices for international agreements and talked with us about International Market Access Grants. He even connected us to another small business that could help us on the content side.”
Watch this video to learn more about the assistance Chris provided.
The entrepreneur also consulted with Nora Roughen-Schmidt, an SBDC consultant for Southwest Wisconsin. Bob said, “Nora helped with a business plan and a revolving loan fund application. She also was a cheerleader for us at the Governor’s Business Plan Competition.” Bob said of the contest, “We had a solid business idea with clear goals and targets. We kept progressing through different rounds of the competition, and we ended up presenting in-person in Milwaukee and winning first place in the IT category.”
Watch this video to learn more about the assistance Nora provided.
“Over all, both Chris and Nora are terrific. They were really concerned about our business succeeding and they did all they could to help us and connect us to resources,” Bob said.Scriptive worked with other Wisconsin entrepreneurial resources as well. They worked with Wisconsin Economic Development Center’s (WEDC) Qualified New Business Venture (QNBV) Program which offers incentives for investment in early-stage Wisconsin businesses with the potential for significant economic impact and job growth.
Watch this video to learn more about the assistance other entrepreneur support organization offered.
THE ADVICE
Bob said, “One thing I’ve learned along the way is it can take a lot of resources to start a business. However, if you start small and stay focused on just one segment that is interested in your product, that is a good first step toward success.”
We look forward to seeing what the Scriptive team does next!
Discover insights about international help that Bob received
Learn more about the start-up consulting assistance from Nora
Learn how WEDC and other organizations helped Bob as well