From rebellion to revolution: the story behind Cyanschool & Bluda
The Inefficiency
Latin. Five hours a week spent memorizing vocabulary you’ll probably never need again. As a student, I sat in front of the textbook, stared at endless declension tables, and asked myself: Why are we still working in school like it’s the Middle Ages, while real life has long been digital and efficient?
I wanted to build things, start companies, change the world. But the system demanded blind repetition instead of real understanding.
Inefficiency has always been my biggest enemy. Even as a kid, I simply rebuilt a broken MP3 player from an old navigation system because buying a new one would simply have taken too long. I took problems into my own hands. And the school system was a massive problem.
That’s where it began.
The Secret Project
Frustration turned into rebellion. I wanted to find a way to outsmart the outdated system with technology.
The idea: a fully functional, cloud-connected computer compressed into the exact millimeter dimensions of an ordinary highlighter—with a camera, display, flexible touch sensors—an endless battle for every millimeter and every milliwatt, until the battery finally lasted 6 hours. It was an immense technical challenge, but it seemed like the ultimate tool to simply circumvent the inefficiency of the system.
What started as an idea became a three‑year hardware marathon—with a total budget of just €3,000. Professional PCB designers ghosted me because they thought I was a delusional kid. So I taught myself. Over six iterations, I designed custom PCBs, soldered prototypes on the floor of my childhood bedroom, built supply chains in Shenzhen, and fought my way through CE certification and company registration. Out of nothing, I created a production-ready gadget...
This device cost me countless sleepless nights and incredible stress alongside my A-level exams. While others my age were out celebrating, I sat at my desk, soldering components and negotiating at night with suppliers in Asia. It was an intense and often lonely path that taught me extreme discipline.
The Turning Point
Then I stood there. The product was finished, tested, and legally certified. The factories in Asia were just waiting for my ‘go-ahead’. I knew: this device had enormous viral potential and the market for it was huge.
But the closer launch got, the clearer one thing became: I started this project because I wanted a better, more modern school system. This pen wouldn’t solve the problem. It would help students pass exams more easily—but it wouldn’t make learning itself better. It would only further burden the system at its core.
I made the hardest decision of my life: I pulled the plug. A completely finished, market-ready product—stopped before it ever hit the market.
The Start of Cyanschool
I buried the hardware project, but kept what mattered most: my knowledge—and my vision of efficient education. I was no longer the frustrated student who had to rebel. I had become a developer who knew how to build complex systems.
Hardware forgives no mistakes—one wrong circuit and the board is destroyed. I took that relentless engineering discipline, my knowledge of data processing, and the passion for modern learning, and transferred it to software.
When I noticed how inefficient ear‑training prep for interval recognition in music class was, I didn’t build a cheating tool—I built smart software that trains your hearing. My teacher loved it. Suddenly, I wasn’t in conflict with school anymore; I was working with it.
That was the birth of Cyanschool.
We Make It Better
Today, Cyanschool is exactly what I always wished I’d had as a student: a platform that reduces frustration, enables smart learning, and helps schools prepare students efficiently and realistically for their future.
We don’t hack the system anymore. We make it better.
– Blue
Founder of Cyanschool