akono

Hey everyone 👋🏼
I'm Etienne, the maker behind Akono.

Why I built this:
The most effective form of learning has always been the personal tutor. This isn't a new idea. One-on-one tutoring has been the gold standard for centuries, from the private tutors of ancient Rome to the tutorial systems still used at Oxford and Cambridge today. The reason it works is well understood: A tutor adapts to your level, makes you think through the problem, and gives you immediate feedback.

The problem is that it's always been reserved for the few who can afford it. And despite all the technology we've built for education, nothing has come close. The AI study tool market is full of tools that summarize, generate flashcards, and create quizzes. They make studying feel easier, but they don't actually make you think harder.

I spent the past year going deep into learning science (if you're curious, How We Learn by Stanislas Dehaene is a great starting point) to understand what actually makes learning stick, and then tried to build a product around those principles.

What I built:
Practice first, theory second. When you study with Akono, you don't read summaries or click through multiple choice. You answer free-form questions in your own words, because expressing your thinking in full sentences is how knowledge actually consolidates. AI grades your answer and gives you in-depth, annotated feedback on what you got right, what you missed, and why. The kind of feedback you'd get from a great tutor. If you can't answer a question yet, Akono teaches you the concept right there, then lets you try again.

AI that knows your level and decides what you study next. Akono tracks your mastery across every concept and uses it to decide what you should work on next. It adapts question difficulty per concept as you improve. And it factors in your exam date to tell you how much you need to study today to stay on track.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! This is still early and your feedback genuinely shapes what I build next.