A Video Based Networking Platform.

by Nitesh Baskaran on 5 Feb 2025

The Problem

A good networking platform should allow anyone to form trustworthy connections with new people they might want to partner with in someway.

A reliable online networking platform has two major requirements:
1. There should be a lot of users you can freely interact with.
2. There should be significant trust in every interaction

Platforms like LinkedIn and Reddit have accomplished #1, they have a lot of users, but trust remains out of grasp. LinkedIn's culture of self-promotion and posturing often means that people are rarely honest about who they are. And even without all of this, someone's work history alone is hardly enough information for anyone to trust them.

You might be a startup trying to find a partner, a venture firm searching for the right founder or even a business trying to find new customers, trust is critical in deciding to partner with someone. Yet, that is the one thing these platforms don't offer.

Fundamentally these platforms are great for communicating with people you already know but not great for communicating with people you don't. Essentially, LinkedIn today is Facebook for people you work with. But one would think a networking platform would help you connect with people you don't know. Afterall that's where new opportunities are most likely to be found. That is the problem we are trying to solve.

Our Solution

Text based solutions lend themselves to deception and self-promotion very easily. We need a better way to communicate.

We want to build a networking platform where people communicate through simple selfie videos where they are talking into the camera about what they are working on. Listening to someone talk even for a minute tells you a lot about who they are in a way that they cannot hide very easily. So deception is harder and you get to know who someone is before you make a big decision.

Specifics about videos on the platform:
• Every video has a square aspect ratio to ensure focus on the person talking and uniformity across the platform.
• Every video will be someone introducing themselves and talking about an idea, a product or their company.
• Videos are not more than 5 mins long

Everything starts with someone posting a video describing their work and their ideas. This video then becomes a point of contact where people can leave responses with their contact information. They can either just leave a public comment or also add a private video response for the owner.

Our Focus

While the platform can be used by companies of all sizes, right now we want to focus exclusively on Venture Capital firms and Startups. We are not the first platform to try and solve communication between VCs and Startups but a good solution is still lacking in this space.Most of the existing platforms are just directories of companies and VCs without providing any real means of communication. The fundamental issue of trust has been left unsolved.

Given the rise of startups across the world and therefore the increased relevance of venture capital, a robust solution for this problem could carry significant value.

Challenges

Our biggest challenge is getting people to open up in video. The idea is new and takes some getting used to and so in the early days I expect the platform to grow slowly. But eventually, if we can hit a critical mass of users, we should be able to grow much faster.