That is how my conversation with Hugh Shepherd felt.
I reached out because of the work Hugh is doing through Liaura, a child-first digital platform focused on safer, more positive spaces for children to connect, learn and grow. But the real reason was more personal than professional.
I am a father of two children, Dante and Samaira. They are eight and six. So when I see someone building for children, for the next generation, and for the kind of digital world they will grow into, I do not see it as just another founder story.
I see it as something that sits close to home.
That was the spirit in which the conversation began. Very natural. Very easy. No heavy agenda. Just two people speaking openly about life, children, technology, purpose, and why some problems are too important to ignore.
The founder behind the mission
What struck me most about Hugh was not only what he is building. It was where it seems to come from.
As he shared his story, I got the sense that this mission did not arrive suddenly. It has been forming quietly for years. From an early age, Hugh had seen and experienced difficult moments. He had observed life closely. He had understood, in his own way, what it means for a young person to need safety, expression, identity and belonging.
And through that journey, music became an anchor.
Not simply as a subject. Not simply as a career path. But as a way of finding rhythm, meaning, energy and connection. He went deep into music, specialised in it, worked with it, taught it, and brought it into schools.
That part of the conversation stayed with me because when music enters a child's world in the right way, it does something very special. It changes the room. It changes the mood. It gives children a way to feel something before they can explain it. It creates joy, confidence and presence.
The future of digital childhood cannot only be about restriction. It has to be about creating better spaces before children are pushed into broken ones.
I told Hugh about Dante's Year 3 teacher, who used to play guitar in class. Sometimes he would use music to explain, sometimes to energise, sometimes simply to lift the children's day.
I still remember how much the children enjoyed it.
It was not complicated. It was not a big system. It was simply a human being bringing music into the learning experience, and the whole atmosphere changed.
That is the power of music. It can take a child beyond the noise around them and bring them into the moment. It can turn an ordinary school day into something they remember.
Listening to Hugh, I could see that this was not separate from what he is building now. It was part of the same thread.
From music to digital childhood
Hugh's journey moved through music, education, schools, technology and entrepreneurship. But the deeper pattern was clear.
He has spent a long time around children, creativity and learning. He has seen what happens when young people are given the right environment. And he has also seen what happens when they are not.
That is why Liaura is interesting.
Because it is not simply trying to say, keep children away from the internet. That would be too easy. It is also not trying to copy adult social media and make it slightly safer. That would not be enough.
The bigger question is this: what kind of digital environment should children experience first?
That is a better question. And it is a harder one.
Safety has to be the foundation. Parents and guardians need to know that their children are protected. That should be non-negotiable. But once safety is in place, the next question is about what children are learning inside that environment.
Are they becoming more responsible? More resilient? More informed? More thoughtful? More confident? Are they learning how to behave in digital spaces before being thrown into platforms that were never designed for them?
That was one of the strongest points from the conversation. This is not just about chat. It is about environment.
It is about giving children a place where they can connect, learn, play and grow without being exposed too early to the pressures, noise and risks of adult digital spaces.