5 ms·

It's always good to see someone take a big swing and try something new, but I'd love to hear the VC case for this service. I have trouble believing that 1) many

It's always good to see someone take a big swing and try something new, but I'd love to hear the VC case for this service. I have trouble believing that 1) many people will want this 2) churn rate won't be murderous.

jdamon96 6y ago
My quick thoughts on a VC case: it's a $100M revenue company at ~500k sales / year. There's apparently 144M podcast listeners in the US, so you need 0.34% of that population to purchase your product each year. That may be an aggressive assumption, but investors also may think 'podcasts are a huge and growing market, even if this idea isn't the one that works out, there's a lot of potential in the "podcast creation" space'
- alangibson 6y ago
  At $175 for one podcast, I guess that's a pretty health number even if you mostly have people ordering them as birthday presents and for family reunions.
  - ross_chanin 6y ago
    That's right. We are seeing that an event like an anniversary, birthday, reunion, starting the school year, is a reliable trigger into that first episode for a family or friend group, and then that group creates additional episodes organically from there. I'll also say that (and this is off in the future), that we hope to bring this per episode price point down as we streamline ops. We really want our service to be accessible to all. Not there yet.
    - vbordo 6y ago
      I really like this idea. I'm unfamiliar with podcasting overhead in a marketplace model. What can you streamline to reduce episode prices?
      - ross_chanin 6y ago
        Thanks for support! To your question: The core interview itself will remain consistent, but we do see opportunities around streamlining the match of the interviewer to the interview guest, scheduling, providing a rock solid remote recording set up for interviewers, and the edit.
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  Nice analysis! I should also share that since launching in June, we've felt fortunate to serve customers across five continents. We'll definitely focus on the US as our initial market, but it's been exciting to see the potential appetite internationally. I also like to think about podcasting as the "modern" medium for oral history and story creation. At its core, we think about Artifact as a service that makes it easier to go deep - and it just so happens that this podcast interview setting seems to be a good way to do that.
CosmicShadow 6y ago
Seems like something that could spread like wildfire via word of mouth with people where word of mouth actually matters most and works the best.
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  Hey - So you're spot on. See my comment above. This is what we are observing thus far and what we plan to focus on going forward. We just want to focus on the core experience and letting the product speak for itself among friends and family.
ross_chanin 6y ago
Hey - I really appreciate the sentiments on the swing we are taking. Regarding your on point concerns — I gotta share that we felt the very much the same before launching beyond friends and family. Thus far (and, admittedly, it's early days), we are growing organically. When people are interview guests for an Artifact or listen to Artifacts involving, friends, family, or colleagues, they are becoming customers. In this way, people are telling us that they can see a "constellation" of Artifacts around them and the people in their lives — and that they'll add to it over time. So, we might do an annual Artifact interview with your child from age 9 to 18, capturing their voice and their thoughts, and then you might sit for an Artifact with colleagues as a send off before leaving for a job, capturing that work together. You also might use Artifact to capture family heritage - with parents, aunts/uncles, and grandparents, and do so incrementally over time, etc. So yeah, early days but this is what we are seeing. We'll be keeping our heads down, focused on providing quality service day in and day out.
- alangibson 6y ago
  I can definitely see the value. Definitely not trying to shoot at your business, just honestly curious.
  - ross_chanin 6y ago
    100%. We have a ton to learn and figure out about engaging customers over the long haul. Absolutely don't have all the answers today. Really appreciate the curiosity!
ponker 6y ago
Why does a service need a "VC case?"
- netsharc 6y ago
  For a snarky response, if the aim is to have a VC exit, the 5th minute of the artifact would be, "This artifact is brought to you by [Square Space|Harry's|MeUndies]"...
  - ross_chanin 6y ago
    Hey - I don't take that as snarky at all! Totally fair point. See my comment above about how our team is thinking about investment.
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  Agree. It doesn't. We think about investment (of any type - including reinvesting revenue) in pretty simple terms: As a means to support our goal of making Artifact available to people who can benefit from our service. If a "VC case" ends up supporting that goal, great. If not, so be it.
  - ponker 6y ago
    Please don't go and do something crazy to pursue some kind of Forbes Magazine exit... "what if we did Artifact, but for the corporate training market." or VC bullshit. This is a genuinely important company to exist and you can make millions or tens of millions dollars doing it, I hope no VC invests to try to get billions out of it.
subpixel 6y ago
I'm not particularly high on the DIY scale but this just screams do it yourself. Record Zoom calls with my mother's closest friends? Edit that together with some punchy music? Match to a slideshow? Share on any service I want? All that is both pretty straightforward and fun. If I hire Artifact to do this for several hundred dollars, I've essentially paid someone else to have the fun. I may be an outlier but this inspires me to do something, not to buy something.
- mgkimsal 6y ago
  > Record Zoom calls with my mother's closest friends? Will they necessarily talk to you, based on the relationship with your mother? Outsiders can often get info from people they wouldn't share with family members. > All that is both pretty straightforward and fun. Not for most people, and not with any reasonable assurance you'll get something 'good' at the end. Even scheduling time between multiple people can be a deal breaker. The OP had posted there never felt like a 'good time' to do it. Asking good questions, prompting people who aren't great (nerves, whatever) can all add a lot of stress to the process. I think you're probably a bit of an outlier. If it works for you, great, but... I know far more people that want the end result of something like this than have the time to do it.
  - ross_chanin 6y ago
    Thank you for effectively addressing a number of the important aspects of our service. I really appreciate.
- achillesheels 6y ago
  I think there are many people that consider your "fun" toil. There are some people that, when presented with the opportunity, will pay to have their story be told :) I think it is a great idea for a product to be spec'ed into family lore :)
  - ross_chanin 6y ago
    Thank you for the sentiments! And I agree, there are many people who do prefer to DIY - and we are going to think about how to bring that into our product as well. We also look forward to serving those who like us to "Do It For You".

jdamon96 6y ago

My quick thoughts on a VC case: it's a $100M revenue company at ~500k sales / year. There's apparently 144M podcast listeners in the US, so you need 0.34% of that population to purchase your product each year. That may be an aggressive assumption, but investors also may think 'podcasts are a huge and growing market, even if this idea isn't the one that works out, there's a lot of potential in the "podcast creation" space'

alangibson 6y ago
At $175 for one podcast, I guess that's a pretty health number even if you mostly have people ordering them as birthday presents and for family reunions.
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  That's right. We are seeing that an event like an anniversary, birthday, reunion, starting the school year, is a reliable trigger into that first episode for a family or friend group, and then that group creates additional episodes organically from there. I'll also say that (and this is off in the future), that we hope to bring this per episode price point down as we streamline ops. We really want our service to be accessible to all. Not there yet.
  - vbordo 6y ago
    I really like this idea. I'm unfamiliar with podcasting overhead in a marketplace model. What can you streamline to reduce episode prices?
    - ross_chanin 6y ago
      Thanks for support! To your question: The core interview itself will remain consistent, but we do see opportunities around streamlining the match of the interviewer to the interview guest, scheduling, providing a rock solid remote recording set up for interviewers, and the edit.
ross_chanin 6y ago
Nice analysis! I should also share that since launching in June, we've felt fortunate to serve customers across five continents. We'll definitely focus on the US as our initial market, but it's been exciting to see the potential appetite internationally. I also like to think about podcasting as the "modern" medium for oral history and story creation. At its core, we think about Artifact as a service that makes it easier to go deep - and it just so happens that this podcast interview setting seems to be a good way to do that.

CosmicShadow 6y ago

Seems like something that could spread like wildfire via word of mouth with people where word of mouth actually matters most and works the best.

ross_chanin 6y ago
Hey - So you're spot on. See my comment above. This is what we are observing thus far and what we plan to focus on going forward. We just want to focus on the core experience and letting the product speak for itself among friends and family.

ross_chanin 6y ago

Hey - I really appreciate the sentiments on the swing we are taking. Regarding your on point concerns — I gotta share that we felt the very much the same before launching beyond friends and family. Thus far (and, admittedly, it's early days), we are growing organically. When people are interview guests for an Artifact or listen to Artifacts involving, friends, family, or colleagues, they are becoming customers. In this way, people are telling us that they can see a "constellation" of Artifacts around them and the people in their lives — and that they'll add to it over time. So, we might do an annual Artifact interview with your child from age 9 to 18, capturing their voice and their thoughts, and then you might sit for an Artifact with colleagues as a send off before leaving for a job, capturing that work together. You also might use Artifact to capture family heritage - with parents, aunts/uncles, and grandparents, and do so incrementally over time, etc. So yeah, early days but this is what we are seeing. We'll be keeping our heads down, focused on providing quality service day in and day out.

alangibson 6y ago
I can definitely see the value. Definitely not trying to shoot at your business, just honestly curious.
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  100%. We have a ton to learn and figure out about engaging customers over the long haul. Absolutely don't have all the answers today. Really appreciate the curiosity!

ponker 6y ago

Why does a service need a "VC case?"

netsharc 6y ago
For a snarky response, if the aim is to have a VC exit, the 5th minute of the artifact would be, "This artifact is brought to you by [Square Space|Harry's|MeUndies]"...
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  Hey - I don't take that as snarky at all! Totally fair point. See my comment above about how our team is thinking about investment.
ross_chanin 6y ago
Agree. It doesn't. We think about investment (of any type - including reinvesting revenue) in pretty simple terms: As a means to support our goal of making Artifact available to people who can benefit from our service. If a "VC case" ends up supporting that goal, great. If not, so be it.
- ponker 6y ago
  Please don't go and do something crazy to pursue some kind of Forbes Magazine exit... "what if we did Artifact, but for the corporate training market." or VC bullshit. This is a genuinely important company to exist and you can make millions or tens of millions dollars doing it, I hope no VC invests to try to get billions out of it.

subpixel 6y ago

I'm not particularly high on the DIY scale but this just screams do it yourself. Record Zoom calls with my mother's closest friends? Edit that together with some punchy music? Match to a slideshow? Share on any service I want? All that is both pretty straightforward and fun. If I hire Artifact to do this for several hundred dollars, I've essentially paid someone else to have the fun. I may be an outlier but this inspires me to do something, not to buy something.

mgkimsal 6y ago
> Record Zoom calls with my mother's closest friends? Will they necessarily talk to you, based on the relationship with your mother? Outsiders can often get info from people they wouldn't share with family members. > All that is both pretty straightforward and fun. Not for most people, and not with any reasonable assurance you'll get something 'good' at the end. Even scheduling time between multiple people can be a deal breaker. The OP had posted there never felt like a 'good time' to do it. Asking good questions, prompting people who aren't great (nerves, whatever) can all add a lot of stress to the process. I think you're probably a bit of an outlier. If it works for you, great, but... I know far more people that want the end result of something like this than have the time to do it.
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  Thank you for effectively addressing a number of the important aspects of our service. I really appreciate.
achillesheels 6y ago
I think there are many people that consider your "fun" toil. There are some people that, when presented with the opportunity, will pay to have their story be told :) I think it is a great idea for a product to be spec'ed into family lore :)
- ross_chanin 6y ago
  Thank you for the sentiments! And I agree, there are many people who do prefer to DIY - and we are going to think about how to bring that into our product as well. We also look forward to serving those who like us to "Do It For You".