ross_chanin
In the interim, I'd suggest subscribing to our newsletter, which you can do from our homepage. We'll update folks via the newsletter when the pod is live.
And probably goes without saying, but I want to make clear that we will only profile stories or "creations" with folks who would like to make those stories public.
And agree that the quality of interviewers will remain very important.
I think there are just different ways of building a business. Ultimately, it's just core to put the customer front and center with every choice you make along the way.
I wish you guys luck and please don't hesitate to reach out if you think we can collaborate — I'll do the same!
If you have any specific questions, please reach out to us at [email protected]. If not, head on over to the website, sign up, and we can get going whenever you're ready.
Also, thanks for the sentiments about what we're up to!
I also want to repost from a comment I made below regarding the role of the professional interviewer and the Do-It-For-You approach we're taking (essentially the "what you pay for part"):
"...Separate from the important logistical aspects of our service that other contributors mention on the thread, our customers continue to share with us that the role of the professional interviewer is just really important.
This space that gets created between professional interviewer and guest makes it possible for the guest to go beyond that first question about, say, the relationship between two people, and get much deeper into particular periods in each others lives when that relationship has really mattered, and also sharing makes sharing lighter moments a lot of fun.
I'll just say that the art and skill of the follow up question is real."
Of course this is not to say that you and many others cannot do amazing recordings and interviews with family and friends - of course you can and that's a skill! It's just not a skill that I and a lot of other people have as much of a command of, and so we are hoping that our service helps out in those cases.
We think that asynchronous convo with voice notes is a really interesting thread - definitely something to explore in the future...
"...there are two reasons we are not using video as an interview medium today.
First, video chat creates technical challenges when an Internet connection is spotty. This creates both sound quality and consistency issues, both of which are detrimental.
Second, we receive consistent feedback from customers that the idea of sitting for an “on camera” interview, while intriguing on first consideration, becomes both intimidating and unnatural as guests get closer to the interview. We’ve taken that feedback to heart. Our North Star at Artifact is:
Every interview guest comfortable.
Everything we do is focused on driving at this North Star. The reason is that we find that the more comfortable customers are when they sit for interviews, the better they express themselves. The better they express themselves, the better the product we can provide to you. It’s that simple."
We are now supporting Artifacts in Spanish, French, English, and just added Korean. Other languages on the way. In what languages would you like your family members interviewed?
I really appreciate.
Your feedback is making me think that we're not doing a great job of making clear the importance of the role of the professional interviewer in what we create for our customers.
Separate from the important logistical aspects of our service that other contributors mention on the thread, our customers continue to share with us that the role of the professional interviewer is just really important.
This space that gets created between professional interviewer and guest makes it possible for the guest to go beyond that first question about, say, the relationship between two people, and get much deeper into particular periods in each others lives when that relationship has really mattered, and also sharing makes sharing lighter moments a lot of fun.
I'll just say that the art and skill of the follow up question is real.
I'd also say that if reading a bit about what we are up to inspires you to interview your mother's closest friends about her and their relationships, that means a lot to me and please go for it. Also, let us know how we can help!
Feel free to email me with any questions you might have as to how to best set things up: [email protected]
Heck, I would love to listen to it.
Appreciate the sentiments and thanks so much for the good wishes!
If you or they have any questions about getting started at all, just send us an email at [email protected]
And yes, the little things are in fact the big things.
We'll also be rolling out accounts for Artifact listeners, so they can login to listen to Artifacts that are relevant to them going forward.
The taxi driver analogy is awesome, btw!
If a "VC case" ends up supporting that goal, great. If not, so be it.
When we think about our goal for Artifact, we really want to create a space for people to explore the important stories and subjects in life, especially when someone might think that those things might not be worth capturing - they are! It's why Artifacts are default private or set up for easy sharing only among close friends, family, or colleagues.
Now if people want to share their interview more widely, they are of course welcome to do so, but I 100% agree with you that I think what we are building looses a lot if the assumption is that Artifacts are created for primarily public consumption, etc.
It's something we'll be paying close attention to going forward. Thank you very much for the astute comment.
Your friend can email us at [email protected]. George, my co-founder, will follow up from there.
Regarding biographies - great question. We don't currently do this, but it's an idea that make a lot of sense as extension of "Life Story" Artifacts. And in a lot of respects, "Life Story" Artifacts, which occur over 3 to 4 interviews, end up feeling a lot like an "audio biography" - with that intimacy of having the person's voice right there.
Thank for the suggestion and please do have your friend email us!
Also, noted on DIY + tooling as a way of making Artifact more accessible - I'd be really curious to learn what features you'd want as a user (i.e., what are your needs and what would feel like annoying feature creep, etc.).
If it's not too much trouble, as you start interviewing your family members, I'd love to learn about what kind of tooling would be helpful. We'd also be than happy to provide some pointers around the interview set up, sound quality control, etc. You can email at [email protected]
From taking a quick look at your website (thanks for sharing it), it looks like you guys are focused on serving podcasters, which makes total sense.
So for us it's a bit different: We set up our customers (who are not podcasters) with a professional interviewer to explore subjects in their lives and the lives of others who are important to them. And yep, like Catsup, we do edit those interviews, so in that way there is some crossover.
Ultimately, different services and different customer bases. But I'm really excited about what you're building and it would be great to chat further if you're up for it. Feel free to reach out at [email protected].
And to your point, VC is in no way a marker of success. Building a sustainable business that provides value is what it's all about, and it sounds like you're doing just that. Hats off!