How Spirkz Is Turning Screen Time Into an Opportunity for Discovery
Like millions of people, Iviko Shengelia knew what it felt like to open TikTok or Instagram for a quick break, only to become trapped in an endless stream of short videos.
The scrolling was easy. The content was addictive. But much of it was not something he would have deliberately chosen to watch—and very little of it left him feeling as though his time had been well spent.
Iviko began wondering whether the same engaging format could serve a better purpose.
What if people could keep the familiar experience of scrolling through short videos while replacing random entertainment with useful knowledge? What if a few minutes on their phones could introduce them to history, finance, health, science, art, or a skill they never knew they wanted to explore?
That question became Spirkz, an educational short-form video app built to help people scroll less aimlessly and learn more intentionally.
From an Idea to a Working App
Iviko is a 26-year-old software engineer originally from Georgia. Before moving to Malta, where he has lived for approximately three years, he also studied in Germany and Poland.
With six years of software engineering experience, he possessed the technical skills to begin turning his idea into a real product. Approximately six months before the app’s launch, he started building Spirkz himself.
The name does not carry a complicated hidden meaning. Iviko had purchased the domain roughly two years earlier and decided it simply worked. After all, names such as TikTok did not need elaborate explanations to become memorable. What mattered was the experience behind the name.
Iviko developed the original Android prototype before moving to iOS. He also built the back-end infrastructure, artificial intelligence systems, content-filtering tools, and AWS environment himself.
Spirkz officially launched in early September.
The app initially attracted about 20 users. Once the iOS version became available, however, people from the United States began discovering it. Within approximately two months, Spirkz had grown to around 1,400 users, with roughly 50 more joining each day.
The most remarkable part? Spirkz accomplished that growth without spending money on advertising or promotions.
When AI Became the Referral Partner
Many early users discovered Spirkz through an unexpected source: ChatGPT.
People were asking AI tools to recommend alternatives to TikTok—specifically apps that could help them use their time more wisely. Spirkz began appearing as a recommended solution because its concept aligned closely with what those users wanted.
Rather than searching for another social media platform, these people were asking for a healthier and more productive way to engage with short-form content.
The audience arriving through those recommendations was highly motivated. At the time of Iviko’s interview, Spirkz was seeing an approximately 80% conversion rate among people who reached its app-store pages. In other words, many people who discovered the product were not merely browsing. They were downloading it, registering, and trying it.
Even before the app existed, the concept had shown signs of demand. Approximately 50 people joined its waiting list after seeing the website and understanding the idea, despite having no product available to download yet.
For Iviko, that early response provided powerful validation: he was not the only person searching for a better relationship with short-form content.
Learning in the Language of Modern Attention
Spirkz does not ask users to abandon scrolling entirely. Instead, it transforms scrolling into a pathway toward learning.
Traditional tutorials may require someone to sit down and watch a video for 30 minutes, two hours, or even longer. Many people simply do not have the time, patience, or attention available for that type of experience.
Spirkz breaks educational material into smaller, more approachable pieces. Users can explore short videos independently or enroll in courses built from bite-sized lessons.
The app’s internal AI system transcribes longer videos and divides them at logical points. It does not simply cut a video every 45 or 60 seconds, which could leave a lesson ending halfway through a sentence. Instead, the system identifies natural beginnings and endings so that each segment makes sense on its own while still fitting into the larger course.
The goal is not to convince users that they can master a complex subject in one minute. A short video may introduce an idea, inspire a new interest, or open a door to something worth exploring more deeply.
Someone may encounter a video about sewing, handcrafting, history, science, or another unfamiliar subject and discover an interest they never knew they had.
Users also identify their interests during onboarding. Spirkz then learns from their preferences and serves more of the educational content they actually want to see.
The familiar dopamine reward of scrolling remains—but now it comes with knowledge.
A Product Its Founder Actually Uses
One of Iviko’s most meaningful moments happened quietly.
While lying in bed one evening, he instinctively reached for Spirkz instead of TikTok. It was not a planned product test or a deliberate attempt to support his own creation. Opening the app had become his natural choice.
For the person who built Spirkz because he wanted a healthier alternative, that small moment carried enormous meaning.
The product was beginning to change his behavior in exactly the way he hoped it could change the behavior of others.
Iviko has also connected directly with early users, including members of the app’s first major audience in India. He asked why they downloaded Spirkz, how they used it, and what they thought of the experience. One user who had emigrated to Malta even met with him in person to discuss the product.
Those conversations reinforced the same conclusion: people still enjoy short-form content, but many want it to give something back.
Building a European Alternative
Iviko is now collaborating with Zura and Keith, with team support spanning Malta and Georgia. The app currently offers a starter collection of 12 broad topics, but the team plans to expand considerably. A category such as science, for example, could eventually develop into separate areas for mathematics, physics, and chemistry.
Iviko’s vision is for Spirkz to become a recognizable European alternative to TikTok and Instagram—one built specifically around education and self-improvement.
He hopes the platform will eventually serve millions of users who want to learn without surrendering large portions of their day.
In a world accelerating through AI and automation, access to information is becoming easier while competition for human attention becomes fiercer. Simply earning three minutes of someone’s focused time is now an achievement.
Spirkz intends to make those minutes count.
If you are ready to replace mindless scrolling with ideas, skills, and discoveries that can actually enrich your life, visit spirkz.com and download the app. Your next scroll could do more than entertain you—it could introduce you to something that changes your future.