Backstory

How did VizzVox come to be? Read on.

Inspiration

VizzVox was invented, not coincidentally, by someone with a story to tell. Steve Harshbarger, a software designer and avid photographer, had just returned home to San Francisco from a month long adventure in New Zealand. Having friends and family around the country he couldn't share his experience with in person, he decided to produce a DVD of narrated stories accompanied by his own photos, which he shared through the mail.

Invention

While the result was a hit, it was hardly the instant gratification Steve was looking for. A weekend spent producing the story and physical distribution made this a task not to be taken lightly. He realized right then that the entire process could be done in minutes, over the web, to great effect. All that was needed was a microphone and some great software to make it fun and easy to produce the stories. A number of months later, a working prototype was up and running, and VizzVox was born.

Opportunity

One person Steve shared the prototype with was his long time business associate, Bob Beth. Bob was also someone with stories to tell, being an avid world sailor when not busy founding his own software companies. He immediately saw a global opportunity for VizzVox. He agreed that storytelling is a universal social activity and that our mobile world is actually making it harder for people to do this in person. VizzVox could be the next best thing to being there, helping people (and businesses) bolster their relationships in very personal way. Shortly thereafter, Bob joined Steve as a co-founder.

Kickstart

Bob showed the prototype to Graham Short, an Internet-savvy underwater photographer and marine biologist. Graham regularly scuba dives through out the world—especially the South Pacific—taking pictures and gathering knowledge about marine habitats. Bob knew that Graham was looking for a platform to share his growing insights and underwater photography collections in a unique and compelling way. Graham became an immediate enthusiast of VizzVox, and quite unexpectedly committed to providing the seed capital to kickstart VizzVox.