Why We Built This

I've spent the last decade working in AI. I know how powerful this technology is — probably better than most. But I never really felt it until my daughter Rosie was born.

She arrived in August 2025 and immediately made me realize that all the AI products I'd worked on were fine, but none of them were magic. I wanted magic for her. I was tired of reading her the same books over and over again. I wanted something that would make her bedtime feel like it was made just for her — not a generic YouTube video, not the same board book for the fourteenth time, but a real story. Her story. With her name in it. Illustrated. Different every single night.

So I did what any reasonable new dad does: I stayed up way too late building it. (My wife has opinions about this.)

What came out was a nightly email story. Watercolor illustrations. Her name woven in. Language that actually matches where she is developmentally and gets more complex as she grows. The first night it landed in our inbox I read it to her and she fell asleep before page three. I counted that as a win!

I started telling friends and family about my fun little side project. They started asking for it for their own kids. Then friends of friends started asking the same. At some point my wife suggested I just make it a real thing — so I did.

That's Snuggle Star. Built by a dad, for his daughter, and now for yours too.

— Jake, Rosie's Dad 🌙