Hey Hackers,

2 years ago liveapp had been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startup of the Year awards in Santa Fe, USA.

As a result of voting, we took first place in the city’s nomination 🎉

In light of Startup of the Year 2023, I want to remember how it was and how we made it.

Meet liveapp

liveapp is an app to watch videos nearby. Here people around you share what they are doing right at the moment, and you can instantly see it.

On liveapp, people don't waste time on filters, masks, and effects. They share only genuine records where you can catch undisguised emotions, exciting events, new places, and local news from your city, country, or all around the globe.

My Role

My name is Vitalii Vinogradov; I am a product manager and founder of the app.

I define the strategy and lead the team to make a better product for the users.

The idea didn’t come out of nowhere. I had experience working with a similar app before which helped people find restaurants nearby, see the menu, and book a table. When Tik Tok blew up, we found out that video could be useful not only as entertainment but a source of useful information about local events and places. That’s how we started liveapp.

How We're Disrupting/Improving the Video Industry

In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search, they go to TikTok or Instagram.

But it’s still too difficult to find a video post on something happening nearby because modern social apps don’t allow filtering content by geolocation effectively.

A nearby video app allows you to quickly watch videos captured at the current time and place with minimum retouching on the local news feed. Think about it as a video-only Google Maps or geosocial TikTok.

Standing Out From the Crowd

That’s exactly what you can do on liveapp but cannot do on the other apps.

• watch unfiltered "lives" for up to 30 seconds
• search videos by precise geolocation and exact areas
• explore geo-bound hashtags and unique "meetags"
• follow your favorite places as well as people
• like and comment on the best videos
• enjoy the unique minimalistic interface

Today, we have a rapidly growing user base, but that’s still only the beginning.

Our Predictions/Thoughts on the Video Industry in 2023

Gen Z people rely more on video content to find places and things to do around rather than on classic search apps like Google Search.

Despite a short drop in interest in the last year due to the economic crisis, the trend definitely will continue to grow making videos a more attractive source of findings.

Why We Decided to Participate in HackerNoon's Startup of the Year Awards

We were young, and we needed users.

Just kidding, HackerNoon's Startup of the Year is a nice chance for a young startup team to talk about themselves and be heard.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading and good luck in the 2023 competition 🏆

Take care!