Like many, when North Texas native Tanaka Tava uses many of today’s social media platforms, it can come with feelings of isolation and the anxiety that comes with the fear of missing out.
So he and his fellow co-founders are looking to launch a new kind of social media platform called Videloo to create and foster local communities, which they’re looking to launch later this year as the team graduates from Baylor University.
“What we’re doing is… to be the antidote and solve the problem that everybody has,” Tava, who serves as CIO at Videloo, said. “Our key focus is being able to help our customers and the consumers to be able to see different social events, bars, restaurants and entertainment as they get to go out again.”
Tava had already launched an internet production company last year and was looking to develop a tool to create more connections with his audience. While at university, he was approached by his co-founders, who had the concept for Videloo but not the tech skills to build out the platform. So, collaborating almost entirely online, the team got to work.
At its core, the Videloo is a live streaming platform with users focusing their cameras on the world around them rather than on themselves. Users stream the events, bars and restaurants they are going to, and others can tune in and get GPS directions to join in the action. Businesses can also get listed on the app to highlight activities and generate more customers. Videloo will also allow content creators to create a revenue stream through their content, which the company will take a cut of. Businesses will pay a subscription fee to be listed on the platform.
While the bootstrapped company’s team of eight works remotely – with two people in DFW – it is based in Florida, where its CEO Jerry Dimanche lives.
“We don’t see ourselves as a social media. We see ourselves as more of a utility tool. It’s like, here’s the pulse of what’s going on around you and here’s what you can join,” Tava said. “You’re not here, but you’re part of the community, the family, and that empowers and enables creativity and functions as a way for people to be inspired. That’s the most important.”
Created by college students and planning to target college students first, Videloo is rolling out its beta version later this summer. Tava declined to say how many users have already signed up. After making updates based on feedback, the company is looking to launch its full version in the fall, as students are returning to university classes.
Tava said the idea is to focus on the Gen Z market first, which he said is looking for authentic connections, community and expression. He added that Gen Z is also increasingly incorporating the digital world into the physical one.
“Gen Z has a whole lot of buying power, a whole lot of influence and staying power, especially as we’re growing older,” Tava said.
After its launch, the Videloo will be available via the Apple and Google app stores and integrate several other social media platforms. Eventually, Tava hopes the company will be an international name. He also said the Videloo team is mainly made up of first-generation students and hopes that as the company adds to its headcount, it can be a model of diversity and inclusion, better representing the customers it’s hoping to reach.
“We know that in the world, people who don’t see themselves in those positions are less likely to do that,” Tava said. “Us being on the forefront and continuing to provide that is a way for us to have a more inclusive nature and say, ‘Hey… you do belong in these spaces, and there is an opportunity for us to co-create and do well.”
