Turning Passion into Business: Avenue’s Founders on Building AI-Powered Stories for Kids

Hey Ground Zero fam!

Today, we’re bringing you the story of Blake, Kate and Ethan’s, co-founders of Avenue, a startup focused on AI-powered storytelling for kids. Their journey is a perfect example of how passion projects can turn into businesses—and the pivots needed along the way to achieve product-market fit.

Founders: Blake Chasen, Kate Wallace & Ethan Perez
Company: Avenue
Sector: AI-powered content creation
Location: Toronto

You’ll learn: Blake, Kate and Ethan’s unique transition from working at startups like Better and Peloton to launching Avenue, the insights they gained along the way, and how they adapted their product to meet the needs of parents and kids through AI-generated stories.

The Journey: From Startups to Storytelling

Blake, Kate and Ethan’s entrepreneurial journey didn’t begin with Avenue—it started in the fast-paced world of tech startups. They both worked at companies like Peloton, drawn by the opportunity to learn quickly and work for experienced founders. At Peloton, they led the mobile apps team, focusing on consumer products that relied on deep user engagement.

What really brought them together as co-founders was their shared drive to experiment with side projects. They tried launching businesses on the side for years before Avenue took shape. The idea was born when Blake, who has a background in creative writing, started publishing stories online. These stories, originally written for fun, gained traction in the NFT space. However, as the NFT market cooled, they realized their users were there for financial gain, not the stories themselves.

That’s when they made a pivotal discovery: Parents would benefit from a platform to create stories for their kids. This led to Avenue’s focus on AI-powered storytelling for children, allowing kids to see themselves in interactive stories, with images and personalized details that bring the stories to life.