I've developed an AR tool that allows eye contact over Zoom/Teams/Meet, which according to the studies I've read vastly improves perception of your competence, confidence, empathy, and even attractiveness. Apple, Intel Corporation, Nvidia and Microsoft are all working eye contact into video chat, but mine is much better. I have four patents pending, and think the best customer would be dating apps and B2B corps like ad agencies. Do I need a direct Sales team or just LinkedIn ads? Http://AICONTACT.AI
What is the actual thing you’re selling? Is it an algorithm for developers to integrate into their app to improve their own video conferencing? Is it a new camera app for end users to install and configure their Zoom/Meet/Teams to use like mmhmm?
You want a very different go to market depending on whether you are a developer tool or consumer app.
I think you are overvaluing the long term psychological benefits of eye contact and undervaluing the annoyance of indirect eye contact for very specific people.
I agree with you that the true benefits will be hard to convince people of and so you shouldn’t try. On the other hand, there are some people who are just annoyed by the fact that eye contact isn’t right.
These are the same people who bought a good webcam and microphone and ring light for video calls when they started working from home. There is not an appreciable benefit to them, it just meant that they are doing video calls better and that made them feel good.
This is absolutely not a majority of people. It is a small group of people. Probably mostly in R&D (engineers, design, etc.). Detail oriented people who like doing things right for the sake of doing things right.
My understanding is that once you set your camera in Zoom it stays as default every time after that, so that helps you if you can get some of these people to try it. You also need it to be clear to the person who’s trying it that it’s working.
I’d then suggest putting some kind of unobtrusive watermark on the video stream so that other detail oriented people notice they are using your camera and can ask about it, and start using it themselves.
The nice thing about this focus is that people who work on video call apps probably fit the persona and will maximize your chance at getting noticed by the right people.
I would contract an agency to make a couple of 5 min ads showcasing usage and run ads on YouTube and on LinkedIn. As well as doing cold email to companies you think would be potential customers. Sounds very cool.
Mentor
Sales or LinkedIn ads to...?
Sounds like what you need is a head of marketing. Because that's not a question you should have; knowing the answer to that kind of stuff is rather the most important things a startup invests in (directly).
I run MediaTech Ventures and this is precisely the kind of stuff we feature, connect, or work with. Why don't you ping me and we can guide you to the bigger questions that would get you at knowing the answers to this.
Sales? Um.. yeah... If no one knows about, wants, or can find what you're doing. Marketing is the work of eliminating the need for Sales so, you'd need it because you need it (and that's not ideal)
LinkedIn Ads? Are just the same as other social network ads so no one can answer that. They're performance based, so run them; and if the ROI is what you want, do more. Most established companies just have ads like that (and Google AdWords) on autopilot. More likely you're not quite ready for them...
Does your site convert well?
How would those interests engage with you?
Do you know your targets on LinkedIn? Who influences, who decides, who buys??
Mentor
Sounds like you haven't talked to enough random people. First day of startup school, sit in a coffee shop and talk to 500, random people.
Why'd you bother running a LI test without more insight to what to expect and what you need to learn?
What's the ROI on your test? Forget lifetime value. Was it awful or reasonable?
Now go talk to people AND users and get some insight to how long they'd keep with it, and what they'd pay. That gives you a benchmark of LTV, to test.
If that's good news, then there you go, acquire more users and prove it. If it's bad news, you work with that too.
In either event, startups rarely (if ever) should be paying to promote something. You have content, social media, etc. in place to get your early users and customers at no paid cost? If not, back up and start there... Talk to a ton of people, then do what will get you adoption.
Not to be too cynical, but Apple and Microsoft each spent about $19 billion last year on R&D. I’m curious what makes yours much better?
Without even getting into the patented parts, I can tell you Apple’s solution only works on iPhone 12 FaceTime, intel and nvidia’s don’t work anywhere and require enormous processing power, and Microsoft’s only works on their latest Surface Pro. My tech works on any Mac or pc that was made after 2015, on any videoconferencing platform, including Zoom, Teams, Meet, BlueJeans, Skype, etc. and can be adapted to mobile apps like Bumble.
DM me?
Mentor
Great idea and nicely presented website.
Since the offering looks to be consumer based, look at running ads in Facebook, Instagram and any dating sites. I think you need to reach enterprises for bulk signup and for that you need email marketing or cold calling in addition to targeted LinkedIn ads with those decision makers.
Why not sell the algorithm to one of the larger players?
Yes, it does what I say, and it's protected, but for the same reason you can't call up Nike and sell them your great idea for a Super Bowl spot you can't just sidle up to Google and get acquired. I'm working on getting customers and working on building contacts and improving on the product and building the site, ads, infrastructure, etc. but I'm only an expert on one of those things, capable on a few others, and a total noob on the rest. So I'm looking for people who can help. One excellent piece of advice I got here helped me stop pursuing venture capital on which I had wasted a solid month building/tweaking decks. I am now focused on getting users and figuring out if the best way to do that, while still not knowing for sure who my primary audience is, so testing that out, too.