Talksho is a new conversational media platform centered on national news – and on being a consumer-friendly alternative to mainstream media. Its magic lies in asynchronous video conversation – a proprietary tech feature that allows for multi-way discussions and feedback that’s actually heard. The platform’s web foundation is ready to launch, mobile apps are in development.
It’s time to change the national narrative!
Freedom of the press? Not hardly. Our Founding Fathers had great intentions when they wrote this section of the 1st Amendment, but we’re moving further away from it every day. Sadly, democracy is dying, and it’s taking our influence over the media with it. With mainstream media being totally one-way, broadcast-only, and allowing no real feedback, the people have no voice in their national dialogue. Instead, it’s controlled by a tiny elite.
Thankfully though, not all is gloom and doom on the media landscape. Technological advances have led to a significant shift in the way we get our news – a move away from printed publications and network TV and towards digital content.
This has given the “everyman” more opportunities to make themselves heard through self-produced videos and podcasts, especially on platforms like YouTube.
But when it comes down to it, even the digital news landscape is controlled by the big boys. True, YouTube gives us a semblance of a “voice”, but it does nothing to foster conversations between users. You can’t reply to another’s video with your own video, let alone record an ongoing conversation for subsequent discovery and playback. The problem, just like with traditional media, is the one-way nature of broadcast; and with our current state of affairs, the need for valuable multi-way discussions in America has never been more pressing. Our nation’s people need to talk to the government, Wall Street, business leaders, and each other.
The time has come for a new national dialogue – an actual alternative to mainstream media – to emerge with Talksho.
Beyond what CNN did to the national TV networks back in 1980, the Talksho team is now proposing to take the national dialogue away from broadcast TV news altogether, rehosting it on their brand new, audience-friendly, conversational news platform. Talksho America, their launch, will offer open multi-way video conversation on the nation’s top stories – all voices will be heard, all facts will be factored, all bias and spin exposed. The nation’s top conversations will be presented with a TV news-like experience, led by an auto-refreshing panel of experts with dialogue going on indefinitely, through multiple threads.
With physical bodies (and therefore the potential for violence) out of the equation, no location or topic is off limits. They call the experience collective conversation, and it appears to have the potential to change the world. Suddenly, the will of the people can be knowable with great accuracy, on virtually every subject of national importance. Talksho will launch in America, but soon enough, a new collective dialogue in every nation will emerge.
Just a few examples of Talksho America conversations:
On Talksho, the ability to provide feedback is what really sets their platform and experience apart. Speakers rise or fall based on feedback from the audience, who can rate everything that’s said. The audience can even post video replies of their own. The key element in the feedback formula is their proprietary asynchronous video conversation recorder/player, which allows Talksho speakers to hold real conversations despite not being in the same moment of time. So, unlike with the competitors’ synchronous platforms, there’s no need for scheduling – speakers simply engage when they’re inspired to do so.
The team’s current focus is the launch of Talksho America – and on bringing Americans together under a new collective dialogue. Once this is done, though, they’ll move forward with Talksho-as-a-Service (TaaS), an enterprise-geared news platform that gives any organization or person who wants it their own talksho. Built on the Ning/WordPress model, TaaS can be easily integrated into any existing website. On top of this, check out more features and benefits that the Talksho platform offers:
The Talksho team has been operating in stealth mode since 2011 – gaining traction under the radar and waiting for the perfect time to strike. The first WordPress prototype was completed back in 2012, and since then, the team has gone on to build two MVP versions – one on WordPress and one on Meteor. Now in private alpha, they’re already building the next iteration of their tech stack. Here are just a few more impressive things Talksho has accomplished along the way:
Key speaking partnership secured. Talksho Evolve is a pilot talksho the team has been developing. Six speakers have been recruited for Evolve so far, and the team has a developing relationship with the Evolutionary Leaders that is very promising. If all goes well, the total number of speakers could quickly rise to around 100, each of whom has their own following (including Deepak Chopra, with over 2M on Twitter).
Outside funding commitments made. In June of 2016, they crossed the $324,500 mark in terms of total funding secured..
Industry assets are on their side. One of their investors is Ross Jackson, a major businessman in Denmark and key figure in the industry. He has a number of talkshos in mind for both Denmark and the United Nations.
Important team additions made. A number of talented, key team members have been added in Talksho’s five years, including an interim CTO and CFO.
The Talksho web product will be ready to launch through a public beta within weeks. Looking further ahead to when Talksho America is adopted by the consumer market, it’ll also be offered as a service geared towards enterprise customers. This “TaaS” product will be rolled out approximately 6 months after initial launch and immediately be made available to businesses everywhere.
Another crucial element of Talksho’s future strategy is geographic expansion. Once Talksho is scaling in the US, they intend to take it abroad to the UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil, India, China, and other markets.
The Talksho vision got its legs from an unlikely source – Hollywood. Talksho’s Founder, an amateur screenplay writer, wrote a script about a software application that changed the world through video. Instead of taking it to the silver screen, he decided to make it a reality – and eventually built it up to the platform you see today. Details on this visionary, and his fellow executives, are as follows:
A software engineer for 20 years, he made the jump to “bootstrapping entrepreneur” a decade ago. After college, he landed an Analyst position with a well-known aerospace company, taught himself to code, and then went on to create Talksho. Carl’s in charge of all things product vision and design, as well as future strategy.
Talksho’s finance guru has spent over two decades as a software engineer for top defense firms. For Talksho, Dennis helps Carl with execution and planning, while heading up the company’s accounting and financial management processes.
Talksho’s tech end is covered by Nik, who has been nominated and/or won several national and international awards. He’s a full stack web/mobile coding and development expert who helps ensure the platform is state-of-the-art and fully optimized.