Two podcasts in one day, and a third-place finish for Roomful

On Thursday 5 November, I recorded two podcasts, got to talk about projects I’ve been building, and came away with a few more ideas to think about.

Talking Shroozy with StudentVenture

I went down to London to record a podcast with Liam Jeffery as part of the StudentVenture cohort. We talked about Shroozy, Vicarious and what it’s been like building my own emerging technology company.

I really enjoyed having the chance to explain what I’m working towards. Some of Liam’s questions got me thinking about what Shroozy could look like once Vicarious reaches the goals I’m aiming for. I spend a lot of time working on the game itself, so it was interesting to talk through what could come afterwards.

It’s always a pleasure making content with the StudentVenture team. Thanks again to Liam and the team for having me on.

Showcasing Roomful on This Week in Startups

Later that day, I joined This Week in Startups to showcase Roomful as one of the three finalists in the Qloo Agentic Hackathon. I got to demonstrate the project and talk with Jason Calacanis, Cedric the Entertainer and Alex Elias, Qloo’s founder and CEO.

Roomful started with my interest in meditation and giving people somewhere to clear their heads. You tell it a little about what you like, and it uses those interests to create a personal environment, with music recommendations to go with it.

During the demo, I entered interests including The Office, R&B music and mountains, then showed how Qloo helped inform the result. From there, the “Walk Inside” option opened an explorable version of the space, with a VR option for people using a headset.

At the start of the conversation, I explained that a big part of Shroozy is my interest in bringing emerging technologies together. Roomful gave me a chance to show what I meant by that.

We had a few laughs, talked through the project and discussed ideas that could come from it. I enjoyed being able to ask questions about how some of those ideas might work.

When we discussed where Roomful could go next, I talked about working on my startup on my own and getting burnt out. I could see myself putting on a headset and using a space like this to relax. The conversation has even got me considering a commercial release.

A result I’m really happy with

Roomful went on to win third place in the Qloo Agentic Hackathon, with a $4,000 prize. Getting to showcase something I’d built and then receive that result was a great way to finish the experience.

I’ll share the episodes here when they’re available. In the meantime, you can take a look at Vicarious and read about the StudentVenture playtest.