The idea for Artifact came about over a beer at Crooked Thumb Brewery in Safety Harbor, after Ross Chanin was in town to visit his in-laws. He, along with now co-founder George Quraishi, began chatting about Chanin's regret of not learning more of his grandfather's stories before passing away. They began to think of a way to share stories with loved ones, without the hassle of setting up a time to sit down or asking uncomfortable questions.
"One thing we hear from people all the time is, 'I tried to get my grandparents' stories and it was too hard,'" Tampa-based Quraishi said. "With either scheduling it, or recording, or knowing just how to ask the right questions. And then, to get it to be something you can listen to."
After teaming up with Moncef Biaz and Martin Gouy (now both co-CTOs), Artifact was born. The company, with the simple tagline of "personal podcasts with the people you love," allows customers to have anyone in their life go through the process of recording a podcast. The co-founders have seen customers use the setup in a multitude of ways: capturing grandparents' stories, gathering messages for a couple's wedding and even a roast for one client's bachelor party.
"There is something about that magical connection between strangers and feeling safe to share intimate details," Quraishi said, stating an average of around 30 people listen to one of their podcast episodes. "That (small number is) great; that's what we want. The more comfortable people feel sharing their stories with us, the better our product is."
Anyone can buy one, two or four episode packages, ranging from $175 to $625. That will come with the equipment needed for an in-home studio, along with a professional interview and editor to make it sound like a podcast.
The company, while based in San Francisco, has gotten backing from locally based Tiger Investment Partners, LLC for an undisclosed amount, along with investments from the Y Combinator, David Lieb, the director of Google Photos, Sander Daniels, the co-founder of Thumbtack, Eric Kinariwala, founder and CEO of Capsule and Sean Bratches, former executive vice president at ESPN.
The launch comes at a time connecting with one another can be particularly difficult as the Covid-19 crisis continues on, in turn making it that much more important for many to receive that human interaction.
"It does turn out while the late spring, early summer was a bad time in the world, it's not the worst time to launch a business like this," Quraishi said of the June 1 launch. "It's a remote experience and it's still extremely meaningful."
The company has recently gotten into a B2B component as well. With most offices remaining remote, the podcast can be used to introduce employees to a newly on-boarded team member or to hear from the company's CEO. And as the company continues to grow, the hope is to eventually offer interviews in any language across the world.
"We've had requests for people who can speak Cantonese and Thai and French," Quraishi said. "We’re learning new ways we can use it every time we talk to someone."
