CLIENT | NEARSTORY
The Challenge
Take pre-existing audio stories, enviromental sounds and historical recordings and create an immersive listening experience that minimizes screen time while building a connection and understanding of a place.
Roles
Co-Founder, Designer, UI, UX, Database Management
(Everything but iOS development)
Awards
- Entrepreneur Magazine 2016 | 100 Brilliant Companies to Watch
- Toyota InfoTech Award | Stanford Startup Weekend 2014
- Wait listed | Matter Accelorator
I am going to take you on a drive in Oregon, specifically the Columbia Gorge. If you have been there take a moment and let your mind drift to that last visit and drive along the river bank. Picture a landscape of forests, waterfalls and rivers and man made structures? Everything here has a story. Now imagine if you could access those stories as the scene unfolds in front of your eyes. Listen as Meriwether Lewis tells you about the Corps of Discovery Expedition, while you see the very sites he passed on his trek in 1805. Or, listen as an FBI agent shares his story of the 1971 DB Cooper plane hijacking in the skies right above your head. Hear a Chinook tribal elder describe the forgotten Celilo Falls that now lies beneath the Columbia River. These stories are real, but they exist in siloed inaccessible archives, or websites. Finding them is time consuming and difficult. This is why I created Nearstory.
Nearstory is a location-aware mobile listening experience & app that revitalizes pre-existing audio sources such as podcasts, historical speeches and environmental recordings, with the intent to entertain, bolster curiosity, and build connection to place. For the curious minded adventurer, these stories are locked in siloed archives and websites. They’re difficult to find and virtually inaccessible. Until now.
Nearstory Hook
Screenshot of the first slide in my Nearstory pitch deck. I have my hook down. You see it in the text above. I took the audience through a quick drive through the Columbia Gorge and helped them understand all of the forgotten stories that surround us everyday.
“What The Hell Are We Doing? A Nearstory Manifesto
I had to get my ideas out onto paper to begin the branding process. So I started a manifesto to capture “What The Hell We Were Doing”. It gave me a starting point to create our mission, values, company name and our 4 word story. While also allowing me to play with style, look and feel.
Remember The Sullivans (Iowa Public Radio Archives)
We need to do the best we can to keep memories alive, because people forget…especially the young. A lost story of 5 brothers serving together in WWII on the USS Juneau, were all killed in action on its sinking around November 13, 1942. Give it a listen.
Nearstory Origin
The Nearstory idea came about while on a trip with my father driving an old pickup from Portland, Oregon to Chicago, Illinois. I decided to pursue the idea at the Stanford Graduate School of Business campus while my wife got her MBA. I sketched out thoughts, flows, data models and screens on the whiteboards in the GSB Library. Brilliant minds would stop and chat and offer thoughts. I loved that environment! I decided to test out the idea at Stanford Startup Weekend since I had a free entry from being on the winning team from the previous year. Out of 60 pitches, Nearstory made it to the final 10 businesses selected by the participants to work on over the weekend. We were rewarded with the Toyota Info Tech award!
Matter Accelerator Presentation
I sent in a long shot application to Matter in San Francisco and was asked to present. I made it through the initial round of presentations and was asked to complete a project to test out my assumptions on desirability, viability and feasibility by talking to customers and experts and presenting it to the Matter team. I had the worst possible outcome, I was waitlisted. Which meant I had to act like I was in and get prepared, but the odds were against me on someone falling through. It was still an honor to make it that far in such a prestigious program.
I Have A Dream (the Great Speeches in History Podcast)
One of the many speeches that you can hear on the platform and should never be forgotten. The application gives you the ability to stand on the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech and remember his time, his words and his dream. I envision a day where you can experience other voices that were there that day and transport yourself into their shoes. Then, be able to connect those accounts to other stories and how that moment connects to your town, neighborhood, or another movement in history. Deepening your connection to place and people. Give it a listen.
Brian Doyle Quote
A quote from the author Brian Doyle from his book Martin Marten, it captured the essence of Nearstory so well.