“Music, photos and videos have all been reinvented,” so it’s time to “create a social platform for voice experiences,” said Susanto, co-founder of Pundit, an audio social media platform. Their slogan states that ‘it’s time to unleash your inner Oprah’, with their social platform encouraging ‘bite-sized talkshows’ among its users which intends to create a unique twist to dialogue. “Anchor and many of those voice apps out there really focus on making broadcasting as utilitarian as possible, but the thing that’s missing is the lack of fun and the lack of conversation.” Pundit encourages users to send short sound bites to their followers or via private message.
Features of the platform include discussing on your favorite topics, with several subjects to choose-from light hearted humor to more intellectual concerns. However, if you’re worried that your voice wouldn’t be considered particularly attractive, there are voice filters included to make things a little more interesting. Unique voice filters such as monster and robot voices are provided to hopefully set the social media platform apart from others with similar themes.
Pundit was in fact one of the few teams to be selected in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt SF, which brings the world’s top early stage startups together on one stage to compete for the coveted Disrupt Cup, a $50,000 prize, and the attention of media and investors. The judges include TechCrunch editors as well as top VCs and entrepreneurs. Past winners include names like Dropbox, Mint, Yammer and many more.
Pundit presented their idea to the judges as a platform to be used by young millennials who are looking to make voice chat more engaging. While attempting to win the $50,000 prize, the startup has already obtained a $120,000 investment from Disney TechStars accelerator, who are working to make the voice filters more entertaining by allowing users to sound more like their favorite Disney characters.
“Voice and audio is the last frontier for innovation in social media right now,” said co-founder Aston, and he believes Pundit has what it takes to change things.