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Social networks have become more and more homogeneous , showing everything from text edition to brusque television across platforms , where algorithmic rule often overshadow your creativity . In this ubiquitous environment , it ’s harder than ever to get a genuine mother wit of someone ’s vibe before decide to stick with them .
EnterShelf , an app that permit you create a individualised “ storefront ” of your media habit , then connect with others based on the movies , show , Christian Bible , biz , and music they consume . It also get you track forward motion while reading your favorite Koran or determine a trending show .
“ If you notice culture at large on the internet , it ’s wobble by from posting selfies to here ’s what I ’m reading , check , screenshots of the review article of my motion picture and so on . It ’s basically going deeper about a somebody , trying to understand what they ’re in … that ’s what Shelf is all about , ” say Jad Esber , founder and CEO of Koodos Labs , the startup behind Shelf , in an interview .
Esber grew up write on-line poetry anonymously , then drop the early years of his career at YouTube in London from 2015 to 2018 . During this time , he worked on the God Almighty side of the Google subsidiary , aid people make contentedness , grow their audience , and monetize their work . This was when YouTube arise its creator ecosystem in various emerging markets outside the U.S.
After spending over three years at Google , the Cambridge University schoolmaster ’s grad returned to academia , conjoin Harvard University to research consumer internet trends and study the cyberspace academically . That finally helped him gestate Shelf in a market full of social medium apps with millions and billions of users .
“ We built many , many products , ” Esber tell TechCrunch . “ They all did n’t wreak until Shelf , and Shelf emerged from those learning . ”
How does it work?
The Shelf app , available on iOS and get to Android , lets you connect your accounts associated with media , including Apple Music , Goodreads , Netflix , Spotify , and YouTube , then builds a customizable “ storefront ” WWW page that updates mechanically base on your consumption progression . you’re able to also manually contribute tie-in to any other internet service to your virtual shelf — even connect to yourfavorite TechCrunch article , which you’re able to showcase to your follower .
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The New York - establish startup also be after to expand the list of supported services , including Steam for gamers .
“ [ A]s humans and as people online , we ’re very multi - hyphenate . We ’re not just into medicine , motion picture , shows , and all these thing . Adding support for certain categories will enlarge the user base , but at the same time compound the use cause for live drug user , ” Esber said .
you may pick out a universal resource locator for the digital ledge based on your taste . too , the app lets you customize the port by change the background color and moving item look on your sense of taste .
Koodos plans to monetise Shelf by offering new customization options . It could also explore monetizing insight that the app surfaces , Esber recite TechCrunch .
Unlike apps that call the data using APIs , Shelf works regardless of whether the platform has a first - party API . Generally , when users choose a third - party service like Spotify or Apple Music from the Shelf UI , they ’re signed in ( either via a redirect to that app , or via a bulge - up screen ) . Once the user has signed in , Shelf can root for all the info about that user ’s media consumption directly from the app .
Esber also submit that the startup does not practice the datum Shelf gets from the Robert William Service users name on the app to wagon train AI , which has become a coarse recitation among on-line platforms nowadays .
This data - sharing is powered by a engineering called DataMover , and Koodos has been working with other apps to expand this root as well ( although Esber would n’t say which ones ) . He compare DataMover with the data transference meshing for fintech Plaid .
“ In a like way [ to Plaid ] , we ’re affording that user planning access to data to other software , too , ” he said .
Private experience in testing
Alongside letting drug user make their storefronts for the world , Shelf has start out testing a private experience for some user , who only want to track their own culture medium consumption without sharing it .
“ We intend to be a fun public utility that anyone can use over sentence . Everyone has a bookshelf in their living room or at home base . So , why ca n’t everyone have the Shelf ? ” Esber said .
Launched publicly this summertime after its beta testing at the end of last year , Shelf has added half a billion item by its users . Esber declined to share user number but said the figure of shelves on the app is produce by 40 % calendar month - to - month and that users visit Shelf an norm of five time a week to check in on or update their digital shelves or keep up with others ’ shelves .
Koodos has raise $ 7 million in total from investors , including First Round Capital , M13 , Blockchain Capital , and IDEO , as well as the founder of company , including Zynga and VSCO . It also counts Pinterest atomic number 27 - founder Evan Sharp , Dubsmash co - laminitis ( now Reddit VP ) Suchit Dash , and the trailblazer of marketplace design at Harvard , Professors John Deighton and Scott Kominers as adviser .
