“We don’t have a normal day,” Marie Lunney said, operations manager of Lexercise. “A startup means taking it day by day. The intention is always to move forward and get things done, but you also have to balance all the things that come up.”

Inside the entrepreneurial ecosystem that is HQ Raleigh is the workspace for Lexercise, an interactive learning startup for dyslexics. Light floods the room, illuminating weathered brick and ornamental plants. A chalkboard frame sits atop white, modern décor, featuring a “quote of the day.” For the past two months, Lunney has adapted to an abnormal timeline in this office — prioritizing sales, customer support and talking with therapists. 

Chad Myers, co-founder of Lexercise and 1998 alumnus of NC State, faces a similar schedule. The idea for the company materialized in April of 2008 when he and his business partner, Sandie Blackley, were talking over dinner. Blackley is an expert in literacy therapy, who sought to find better treatment for children with dyslexia. 

Sipping wine at the beach with her friend, Blackley was brainstorming names for the venture. 

“Lexercise came from the words exercise and lexicon, which means the vocabulary of a language,” Myers said. “Since the activities are practiced daily, they thought it was a good name to emphasize the regularity of it.”

In 1998, she was awarded the Clinical Services Award by the North Carolina Speech, Hearing and Language Association, deeming her the best in the state. This should come as no surprise; Blackley’s private practice in the foothills of Elkin, North Carolina attracts patients from hundreds of miles away.  

Myers encouraged her to consider integrating an online platform for learning convenience. 

“Her son had dyslexia and the school system wasn’t helping him,” Myers said. “She decided to take him out and homeschool him through the structured literacy method, which is the recommended method that has been researched and proven to work for dyslexics.”

At the same time that Blackley’s son was having struggles with reading, Myers’ sister was facing similar adversity at a neighboring school. Although the school made accommodations, she was never remediated from her reading, writing and spelling difficulties. 

“She was able to overcome it, thanks to a dent of hard work and my mom’s help,” Myers said. “Now she has a master’s degree in special education and is probably the best writer in my family. Dyslexics can become very good students and good writers, but it would be easier for them to do so with the structured literacy methodology that we use here at Lexercise.”

At the time, Myers was a professor at the French campus of INSEAD, an international business school. Three months after the dinner, he left his job to create the first prototype game for Lexercise. The company officially became an entity in January of 2009.  

The games allow children to master the concepts prior to assessing new material. Activities integrate phonetics, vocabulary, sounds, shapes and more. 

“The way our program is structured is that there are two parts of practice that are reinforcing everything that’s done with the therapist; there’s parent-facilitated practice and individual practice,” Lunney said. “Our research has proven that continuous practice between instruction is necessary for a child struggling.” 

The optimal time to address dyslexia is around kindergarten to first grade, although it’s a seldom occurrence in public school systems. As a result, parents are looking outside of the school system for help. Lexercise improves reading, spelling and writing by one grade level in two months. If there isn’t an improvement within that time period, Lexercise pays for the third month.  

Lexercise individually caters to the students, featuring pre-recorded practice videos and live instructional sessions with therapists via webcam. 

“Every child is different, which is why customization is a big part of our program,” Lunney said. “Everything from the beginning is customized, whether it’s practice or instruction going forward. It’s one of the reasons why we see results so quickly.”

Once a week, the parent, child and his/her therapist meet for a conference. For the remainder of the week, the parent and child have access to their respective logins where they can play games and the parent can participate in activities with his/her kid. 

Lexercise targets the 20 percent of kids who are struggling in school, working with kids as young as 6 years old. However, adults often come into the mix. Preferably, the best time to intervene is between the ages of 6 and 9, but the customization allows Lexercise to work with anyone. 

“We have over 25 therapists,” Myers said. “The online platform has allowed us to work with therapists as far as St. Croix, the Virgin Islands, Mexico and Montreal.”

Myers had been involved with consulting companies and startups in the past, so entrepreneurship was familiar ground. After college, he spent time in Bolivia for the Peace Corps and temporarily returned home to work on his father’s dairy farm.

“I learned so much about managing people, cash flow, bookkeeping and all the elements it takes running a business day to day,” Myers said. “I’ve had other mentors, such as one from the business school who taught me how to manage crises. I’ve been lucky to have good people to help me — whenever I can, I try to teach Marie and others so they can avoid and learn from some of my mistakes.”

A few years ago, Myers worked with the entrepreneurship initiative at NC State to initiate the Alumni Entrepreneurs Network.

“I think what’s so interesting about business and entrepreneurship is there’s so much that’s transferable,” Lunney said. 

Myers graduated with a degree in biological engineering and served as the NC State student body president from 1997-98. His presidency was a catalyst for Service Raleigh, an annual citywide day of service. 

“I ran on the platform that I wanted to create the service event to show that students are meaningful participants and contributors to the Raleigh community.” 

Myers suggests that students have a backup plan in place for their entrepreneurial pursuits.

“Don’t sit around and think your idea is going to fall out of the sky,” Myers said. “Go get a job, go work, get some experience and by the time you get your idea, you’ll have an established income and a professional career. You’ll feel better about yourself.”

Learn more about Lexercise and check out their free dyslexia screener for children here.