SXSW Startups: Switchboard
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 6, 2018
At the 2018 SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event, 50 finalists will show their stuff before a panel of judges. Half will pitch on Saturday, March 10 and the remaining 25 companies the following day. A winner in each of 10 categories will be announced at the SXSW Accelerator Award Ceremony, 7 pm Sunday, March 11, at the Hilton Austin.
Synervoz of Toronto, Canada, will pitch Switchboard at 11 am on Saturday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin, Salon AB, as a finalist in the Social and Culture Technology category. Or connect with them at the SXSW Accelerator Demo Day on March 12. The Switchboard App enables new styles of voice chat and shared experiences with music and video. The Switchboard Platform makes these experiences available to third party developers looking to engage users and differentiate their offerings. Switchboard uses patented technologies leveraging deep audio and voice processing capabilities.
Jim Rand (the CEO of Synervoz) answered these questions. He is on the right side of the couch in the photo above; on the left side is Synervoz CTO James Meier.
What is the competitive advantage of Switchboard?
We’re defining a new category so the product is highly differentiated. Building it takes specific expertise in audio/DSP, machine learning, and many other disciplines. First mover advantage with many embedded network effects. Patents granted. And we have some amazing things coming down the pipeline that will be hard to replicate. More importantly, we love what we’re building and you can’t copy passion.
What are your goals for 2018?
We are formally launching the Switchboard App and a partner will be rolling out the first example of an app built on top of the Switchboard Platform and connecting to the Switchboard Network. We are also running a number of pilot projects with partners in a few industries. 2018 looks like it will be the year thousands of people will make spontaneous voice chat a part of their daily communications.
What inspired your team to apply for SXSW Accelerator?
We built Switchboard with a vision for how it will influence the way people do things together. Media consumption is a big part of that, including music, video, VR and AR. We’re hoping to show some of SXSW’s audience what the future of media consumption looks like. And obviously it’s going to be an awesome time, which is inspiration enough.
What are the goals for Switchboard at SXSW 2018?
To come out of it struggling to keep up with our inboxes and needing to scale up our back end.
What has been Switchboard’s previous experience at tech conferences?
We’ve been to a few, including Midem. They’re fun, but follow-up strategy is the key to maximize value.
Switchboard is based in Toronto. How is the startup scene there? Are entrepreneurs/founders relocating to Canada as a result of U.S. politics?
Toronto’s tech startup scene is definitely blowing up, and our immigration policies are certainly supportive of that trend. We also have great technical talent and can stretch investment dollars further in Toronto than elsewhere. But we are building our presence in New York, San Francisco, and building partnerships in international cities as well. Nobody changes the world without being a part of it
How long has the Switchboard team been together?
Around two years, time flies!
What technology does your team think is most overrated?
To us, it’s more a matter that there are too many companies doing the same thing. We think companies making incremental products are overrated, not necessarily technology categories as a whole.
What do you enjoy most about the startup experience?
Trying to influence behavior.
What about least?
Trying to influence behavior.
What has the startup experience taught you about life?
Successful startup, awesome social life, or sleep. Pick the two you want.
Person, company, thing or goal. What inspires your team to work harder?
Music. We listen to a lot of it at work. Switchboard enables that.
What do you know now that you wish you had known before you began the startup journey with Switchboard?
How important it is to have a great name for your product (like Switchboard) AND for your company (we’re working on that because Synervoz doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue!).
Look for interviews with other SXSW Accelerator finalists in this space between now and March. Startups already profiled as part of this series include 70MillionJobs, Bluefield, Cambridge Cancer Genomics, DashTag, HealthTensor, Instreamatic, PolyPort, Sceenic, and UPGRADED.
Or, click here to browse the full lineup of startups for SXSW Accelerator 2018.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
