Our idea and research for theAudio Innovation Challenge

When presented with the very interesting “Audio Innovation Challenge”, where from a team of university students named “Clairvoyants” (comprised by Irene Bessi, Athena Droumpouneti, Olga-Eleftheria Zavalou, Vasilina Magklara, Michail Samartzis and Stamatis Tsimpoukellis), we would become a start-up, we had to think out of the box. The creation of a start-up is no easy task, as we were to soon find out. The mere conception of an idea unique enough to be differentiated from its competition proved quite the challenge.
After conducting research to compare the audio platform scene globally, as well as in Greece, in order to compare the two, we noticed two very important gaps: a lack in a Greek music streaming platform (as most Greeks use Spotify, iTunes, or radio stations to listen to music), along with a lack in social audio platforms (like Clubhouse).
Initially we had the idea of creating an audio platform with a focus on music and connecting underrepresented artists with music agencies. However, when looking at the matter more practically, we thought that the Greek market, which our start-up would be referring to at first, might not have a need for such a platform.
As such, we went back to our roots, to the very question that every start-up must ask itself: “What need is it that I’m trying to cover?”. We decided to conduct qualitative research with 15 people from different minorities or marginalized groups in general, like women, POC, immigrants and people of the LGBTQ+ community, to see what problems they faced, and see which we could try and solve. When conducting our study, we realized that even though the participants came from completely different backgrounds and social classes, safety was a subject that came up in all cases and discussions, with every participant expressing their wish for a way to feel safer. More specifically, when we asked the participants if they had experienced, or knew someone who had experienced, some form of harassment, or even verbal or physical abuse, all of them answered yes.
That is when the idea for an audio app that promotes safety came into mind. An app that would adapt to an audience like our 15 participants, who may be different, or have different needs, but stand the same in the matter of needing safety. And so, the idea for Adaptable was born.
After looking at our competition, apps like WalkSafe, Red Panic Button or Silent Beacon all had important features which someone who was either in danger or trying to avoid it could use, however the pain points we noted was that there was no platform that combined these features, or acted in a more preventative way. Most platforms had the purpose of helping people who were in immediate danger, and not one’s who were trying to avoid it. Also, sharing your location or being connected with emergency contacts are features crucial for the user’s safety, and should not be separate, as the user would need two or three different apps to feel safe.
Thus, a business opportunity came to light, and we started to think of how our platform would both cover the gap in our competition and provide for the user’s safety.
Looking for market validation, we looked at the example of WalkSafe, and realised that a safety app had a lot of potential. WalkSafe was founded in 2017 by Emma Kay in the UK, however it has just started to meet important growth, by reaching a funding 300.000£ by Fearless Adventures in 2021, being ranked 2.821.405 of sites globally, and acquiring 4.93 visits every month. Its growth has been incredible, especially in the last year, which means that there is demand in the modern market for an app that helps with safety (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/walksafe).

About Adaptable.
Taking everything into consideration, we thought that Adaptable would be keyword activated. The user would have assigned certain names to specific contacts (e.g., the word flower for their parent, the word button for local authorities etc), and by saying one of those words, the app would immediately connect them with said contact via phone call. We also thought of the additional feature of pee-recorded phone-calls that you could prepare with said contacts to use, and the feature of automated messages.
We also wanted to focus on the social audio app aspect that this app could potentially have, considering that during our previous mapping research we found an important gap within the social audio space. This way, we thought that we could create a map that would allow users to warn others about incidents they had in certain areas, by uploading a recording about their incident. Others would be able to interact with said “post”, either by “liking” or “disliking”, as well as commenting on it. The users could browse the area to see top incidents on the map.
We also wanted to create a form of a “community” within the app. So, we thought that Adaptable could have a space where users could come in contact, communicate and share tips or stories. We also thought that users could upload pre-recorded phone calls that could be saved by others to use whenever they needed it.
The demographic we wanted to reach were marginalized groups in Greece primarily, such as women, people of the LGBTQ+ community, as well POC, mostly of a younger age, around 15–25, as this demographic is the most vulnerable to harassment. However, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be used by others. Our hope is that our app will be able to reach an even wider audience, so that anyone can use it if they feel unsafe or uncertain. This way, hopefully, through our community within the app, people from different backgrounds can be brought together, and support each-other. After all, our main values as a start-up are the prevention of uncomfortable and dangerous situations, making sure that everyone feels safe whilst using our app, and emotional support of those who need it through the “social audio aspect” of the platform, as in the community within the app.
When looking at our key partners, we thought that a collaboration with well-known foundations or NGOs would help boost our image within the Greek market of start-ups, as well as help us connect with our customers in order for our values to reach them. We thought of NGOs like Connect Your City, which has more generic actions, IOM UN Migration, to help reach potential immigrants, Womentors managed by Lambraki Foundation, to reach women across Greece, and finally Colour Youth to reach our potential users from the LGBTQ+ community.
However, our platform will need to have a sustainable stream of revenue in order to survive within the market. As such, we thought that firstly, we could accept donations, 10% of which will go to our partners, or different NGOs. We also considered having ads when the user browses through the map or the community, which will not hinder the someone from using the app when in need. Finally, we thought that subscriptions could also potentially provide another stream of revenue, by paying a small amount, in order to have access to features like the pre-recorded phone calls and automated messages.
Of course, when looking at the creation of such a platform realistically, we would need certain resources in order to bring it to life, such as a tech team, to actually create the features of the platform, a UX specialist, who would make sure our platform is effective, as well as easy and pleasant for the user to use. Lastly, we would need a marketing team in order to reach our audience, which can be covered by our team “Clairvoyants” itself.
Lastly came the issue of how we would actually promote Adaptable, in order to reach our audience. Although a 360 approach would be ideal, we thought that it wasn’t realistic for a start-up that is looking build revenue. We therefore decided to look into social media as our primary marketing channel, by creating pages for our platform on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, since our demographic, which is younger, uses these social apps the most. Considering our values, the main content pillars we decided on were emotional support (for those who feel unsafe, have been harassed etc), advocating for human rights (women’s, LGBTQ+ etc), spreading awareness about issues concerning safety, as well as safety tips for anyone who feels like they might need it.
Having a different strategy for each social media platform is better when looking to promote one’s brand, and so we categorised the content we would upload depending on the platform and its use. For Facebook, we thought it’d be better to focus on spreading awareness through articles, along with different safety tips, whilst for Instagram, we wanted it to focus more on the emotional support aspect, by having live streams with professionals, such as psychologists, in order to provide support for our users, as well as by sharing stories of our users, to advocate for support of different communities and groups, and in general connect with our audience. For Twitter, we wanted to focus more on the opinion-sharing aspect of the platform, by creating threads where users can share their experiences, or opinions on different matters, which is another way of promoting better engagement with our audience. Lastly, for TikTok, we wanted to create videos that spread information, awareness, promote tips on staying safe or helping others, as well as content that helps our audience feel safe and supported. By following this strategy, and being promoted by our partners on their pages, we hope to reach our audience through social media alone initially, and then spread our actions as we move on.

All in all, we have high hopes for our new audio platform, as we want to create it with a purpose, for the right reason, which is to support those who need it the most, when they need it the most. In a world that can feel vast, and everyone has different experiences, it’s very common to feel alone, especially when you’re in the vulnerable position of experiencing harassment. That is why our start-up hopes that no matter who you are, or what you’ve experienced, you can use our app in order to feel safe, and realize that you are never alone.