Shanda

Over the last couple of decades, the podcasting world has exploded. There’s been an increase in the number of individuals and companies starting their own podcasts along with new platforms to host them. With the development of this space, the barriers to entry have become almost nonexistent. Anyone with a computer and internet access can create and post their own podcasts. Curiously, despite this accessibility to the podcasting ecosystem, most new podcasters don’t make it past three to five episodes before they fold. Despite the clear passion and intent behind each new podcast endeavor, they seem to burn out quickly. This comes down to one main reason: editing. It takes hours to cut and edit the recordings, and this can become tedious. With something as mind-numbing as editing a recording of conversations that can last up to two hours, it’s easy to see why these podcasts run out of steam and die so often. This is where Shanda comes in.

Shanda is a podcast editing solution intended to make the process easier and more intuitive. Founder Dumi Mabhena is a Zimbabwean entrepreneur currently pursuing his MBA at Georgetown University. The idea behind Shanda came from Dumi’s experiences in the podcast space. Zimbabwe used to be run by a dictator who stifled the people’s voices. There was one news outlet, and it was the only place where people were allowed to get their information. With the technological developments of the last several decades, more people have voices and can share their perspectives. Dumi started his own podcast in which he interviewed people with different stories and ideas. He enjoyed making the podcast but found it difficult to produce. If you don’t want to spend the hours editing the recording, the only recourse is to outsource the work, which is expensive. Dumi spoke to several others in the podcast space and realized that there’s enough friction to prompt a real solution: automating part of the editing process using modern AI technology to augment the entire production. Shanda was born from this idea.

The idea produced another problem. Dumi is a journalist by trade. He came from an entrepreneurial background and lacked technical expertise, particularly in computer science and software development. He knew how to identify and solve problems but couldn’t implement the solution alone. What he needed was someone to help build the technical solution. Enough funding was found to get a minimum viable product (MVP) off the ground, but the current state of the product isn’t a long-term solution. From here, Dumi hired some technical experts to add perspective and develop an implementation roadmap.

Enter Vertex Labs. Dumi wanted fresh eyes, specifically an external party to oversee and guide his thought process. He needed someone with big picture strategic planning and startup experience. Dumi reached out to several companies, but they charged an unreasonable fee. At the time, Vertex Labs happened to be looking to help people like Dumi in such situations. They wanted to help startups like Shanda get off the ground, setting them on the path for success while building their confidence in their product.

Vertex Labs’ assistance has allowed Dumi and Shanda to focus on other problems, namely the challenges impeding the product’s growth and development. Currently, the biggest challenge is iteration. The most formidable enemy of any startup is time. You must utilize your time efficiently to provide a working solution and attract paying customers. With startups like Shanda, there’s often an impulse to outsource development and try to build using an offshore team. While tempting, this hinders iteration. The bigger challenge is bringing technical expertise in-house. Dumi wants to “bring such talent in-house and iterate as quickly as possible with the time and money available.” There are two obstacles, however. First, Shanda doesn’t have a CTO with a stake in the product to help iterate quickly. Second, those who want to work lack seasoned development skills, and the developers with those skills are well out of these startups’ price ranges. It’s a catch-22, because without any revenue, it’s hard to attract this talent. Without talent, it’s hard to create a viable product.

Despite these challenges, Dumi and Vertex Labs are optimistic about Shanda’s future. Within the next year, Shanda is aiming to build a MVP that solves customers’ problems and is validated with some form of revenue. Once one or two people are willing to pay for a product, you have a foot in the door. From there, it becomes much easier to scale and build a solid customer base. Shanda has set its sights on a point where it can take care of its team and customers.