Years after selling one of the world’s best-known email platforms to Microsoft for $400 million, Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia has announced a new venture, Showreel.
The new app seeks to use the short video format popularized by TikTok to connect job seekers with employers, entrepreneurs with venture capitalists, and even patients with the bride and groom. It urges users to create a video resume of sorts, and aims to create a community of users who can communicate with each other, react to their video profiles, and use these videos to reach users. can do for
in chat with MintBhatia said the idea of such an app in India stems from the inability of a large section of youth to properly market their ideas. “Even though the youth in India are smart and have great skills, they need a better structure to be able to sell their ideas. Shoreel puts it into one structure – whether it’s for a startup pitch or a matrimonial proposal.”
The app currently has four categories – Professional, Startup, Personal and Leadership. Each section has a certain number of questions that are asked to the user along with a pre-recorded message from Bhatia – like ‘what is your name’, ‘what is your startup idea’ etc. Bhatia claimed that the current format covers most of the possible questions. A user may be faced with listening to a startup pitch during a job interview, or in a session with venture capitalists (VCs).
He said recruiters from companies can post a video query on Showreel to get answers from potential candidates, or use the platform’s artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to spot the right candidates. After the candidates answer the questions, the entire package is shared as a video, which includes both questions and answers.
Bhatia said he intends to add a new healthcare category to the app later, which will try to answer commonly asked questions on doctor’s consultations. “Once we add that, users can see real value addition in terms of essentially not needing to go to the doctor,” he says.
According to Bhatia, the western countries are not the target area yet. He said the company is launching in India and South Asia because “this is where the market is suitable” for the product. “Given that users in a market like the US are comparatively better prepared to pitch their ideas, we are not specifically seeing this as Shoreil’s market right now,” he said.
The project is currently self-funded or bootstrapped, and Bhatia has no monetization plans yet. Right now the focus is on data. “Once usage ramps up and we have all the labeled data from users, we will see how we can monetize the platform,” he added.
Bhatia said that unlike entertainment-focused short video platforms, he has no intention of encouraging creators to get on the platform. He said he doesn’t see Shoreel as an app that rivals LinkedIn or anyone else. Videos from Showreel can be shared on LinkedIn, and users can use these videos to contact VCs, recruiters, and more. “This can be beneficial because LinkedIn is a lot more text-heavy, and video is the way forward in the future,” he said.
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