Studying feels like work. Most of it doesn't stick.

Jon is a learning tool for adults who need to understand hard material and keep it.

Teach-back

I’m a curious student. Explain the concept to me in your own words, and I’ll ask questions.

Design theory

  1. Okay, “Contrast”. I keep hearing about it, but I don’t really get it yet.
  2. It’s when things look different from each other.
  3. But different how? If I make everything bold, is that contrast?
01The problem

The easiest ways to study are the weakest.

  1. 01Monday: forty pages to read.
  2. 02Highlight the important parts.
  3. 03Reread it all before the exam.
  4. 04A week later: almost nothing left.

The ones that work feel harder while you do them.

  • 61%Remembered after a weekby testing themselves. 40% by rereading.Roediger & Karpicke, 2006
  • 84%Reread as their study methodOnly 11% test themselves without being asked.Karpicke, Butler & Roediger, 2009
  • 18%Test themselves to learnAbout 70% only use it to check what they know.Kornell & Bjork, 2007
02Who it's for

Built for people whose learning has to last.

It started with my own MBA. Six people now test it on their own material.

Across Europe

Move them around.

The learner

Medical resident

Age35

The job
Keep pharmacology for years, not for one exam.
When
Residency, with exams on top of shifts.
Hired instead
Rereading notes and question banks.
Done means
Can still explain it on a ward round.

Typical age

2030 to 4050

Illustrative profile. Typical ages for the role.

The learner

Law graduate before the bar

Age25

The job
Understand doctrine well enough to argue it.
When
Months of bar preparation, mostly alone.
Hired instead
Summaries and highlighted codes.
Done means
Can apply a rule to a case they have not seen.

Typical age

2023 to 2950

Illustrative profile. Typical ages for the role.

The learner

PhD researcher

Age33

The job
Turn reading into understanding they can write from.
When
Reading across a field that is new to them.
Hired instead
Highlights in PDFs and loose notes.
Done means
Can write about a concept without opening the paper.

Typical age

2027 to 4050

Illustrative profile. Typical ages for the role.

The learner

Pilot studying for the ATPL theory exams

Age25

The job
Keep it all long after the exams.
When
Many theory subjects on a fixed timeline.
Hired instead
Question banks drilled until the answers look familiar.
Done means
Knows why, not just which answer.

Typical age

2020 to 3550

Illustrative profile. Typical ages for the role.

What they come to Jon to do

  • Bring materialA PDF, a document or their own notes.
  • Explain it backFrom memory, with the source hidden.
  • Come back on timeEach idea returns when it is due.
03The gap

The tools exist. The method is missing.

I went through seven tools people already learn with: 24 sources, 98 claims about what each tool does. Most of them store what you know or drill what you typed in. The ones that schedule practice ask you to grade yourself.

  • 7tools
  • 24sources
  • 98claims about what each tool does
  • WHAT I FOUND: Stores what you knowSO JON: Makes you use it
  • WHAT I FOUND: You grade yourselfSO JON: Something checks your answer

Something checks your answer

Stores what you know

Makes you use it

model checks, model decides

They answer, quiz and grade you. Nothing is built from your own concepts or comes back on a schedule.

Jon

You write it, something checks it, and the schedule follows.

stores, never checks

Good at keeping what you know. They don't ask you to use it.

practice, self-graded

They bring cards back on a schedule, and you decide if you got it.

You grade yourself

Jon is built for the corner where nothing was.

04The decision

The model renders. It never decides.

Three decisions define learning. Jon gives none of them to the model.

So the rule wrote itself

What is worth learningYouWhether you understoodCodeWhat you practise nextCodeThe model's verdictThe model

The usual AI tutor

Model decidesWhat you learn

Model decidesWhether you understood

Model decidesWhat comes next

The model picks the topic, grades your answer and plans what comes next.

Jon

You decideWhat you learn

Code decidesWhether you understood

Code decidesWhat comes next

You choose what to learn. A fixed rule grades the answer and sets the next date.

If the value of a product sits in the model's output, the next better model takes it. If the decisions live in your own code, a better model only improves the inputs. It is the same thing I look for in a client's business.

05Your material

Jon never writes a concept for you.

  1. Add materialA PDF, a document or notes.
  2. SectionsJon cuts it up and stops there.
  3. Your conceptsEach idea in your own words.Missingan idea in the source your concepts don't cover.Driftedyour concept, or its example, says something the source doesn't.Not linkedtwo ideas that belong together aren't connected.Redundanttwo concepts say the same thing.
  4. ReadyChecked, with no open notes.
06Scoring

Further apart each time it sticks.

Every answer gets a verdict from a fixed rubric. The model only reads features out of your answer. Code weighs them and gives the verdict. Strong moves the idea one rung further out: 1, 3, 7, 14, then 30 days. Developing keeps the gap. Needs work comes back tomorrow and climbs again from one rung lower.

  1. 1
  2. 3
  3. 7
  4. 14
  5. 30

Score 0.81Strong

Four rounds, each one closed a hole.

Round 1

Eleven steps to five screens

  • The first flow had eleven steps and a wall between studying and practising.
  • I cut it to five screens.
  • Review became a session, and the rule that the source stays hidden moved into each question.
07Left out

What I left out, and why.

Flip them over.

Some things are waiting rather than ruled out: a mobile app, Anki and Notion integrations, and search across your own notes.

08Shipped

The main screens, as they run today.

Jon is built for the desktop. Flip through the screens.

  • 6In testingpeople testing it on their own material

From the testers

Six people studying their own material

  • Tester 1: I want to group my concepts by topic. Right now they are one long list.
  • Tester 2: I need a place to actually write, like Notion, not just a box per concept.
  • Tester 3: Sometimes the feedback misses what I meant. It should read my answers more precisely.
  • Tester 4: For my PhD I need it to help me build up a whole field, not just pass a test.
  • Tester 5: Getting an API key was the hardest part of starting.
  • Tester 6: I study on the train. I need to practise on my phone.

Jon is getting a cleaner brand. These are today's screens. The next version drops the beige and the grid paper for a lighter, more comic style, so your material comes first.

See how Jon works

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09Next up

Next up: from studying to writing.

Interest has come from PhD research. Next, Jon helps you collect concepts across your sources and write from them.

  1. Built for one learner, Done
  2. Live at withjon.at, Done
  3. In testing with six peopleWe are here
  4. Collect concepts across sources, Still to come
  5. Write from your concepts, Still to come

Your take

How would you have built it?

Tell me which part could be better, or how you'd have approached it. It comes straight to me.

RagneI read every one myself

Which part could be better?

Get in touch

A product, a plan, or your next step. Let's talk. 

Next opening: March 2027

Business, strategy, building and mentoring. For founders, small teams and anyone finding their way.

Move them around.