Tag: Company profiles

  • Convert Your Blog Content to Audio Instantly with AudioTilly

    Internet has made knowledge and information accessible like never before, and this knowledge and information is available in various forms – text, audio and video. However, recent trends are showing that audio and video content is becoming more popular these days. One main factor that  gets users more attracted to audio and video content over text content is that the users either lack patience or time to read text, while it is easier to consume audio and video content. So, if you are a website owner especially a blog site owner, you can increase traffic in your site by offering the website visitors the option to listen to your content other than reading it. AudioTilly, a startup based in San Jose (California) is simplifying this for you, by letting you convert your website’s text content into speech format instantly. We interviewed AudioTilly founder Lloyd Jacob to know more about the startup.

    AudioTilly Highlights

    Startup Name AudioTilly
    Headquarter San Jose
    Founders Lloyd Jacob & Alexander Burakovskiy
    Sector WordPress Text to Audio convertor
    Founded 2019
    Parent Organization AudioTilly
    Website www.audiotilly.com

    About AudioTilly
    The Idea Behind Starting AudioTilly
    AudioTilly – Founders
    Core Beliefs of the AudioTilly Team
    AudioTilly – Revenue Model
    AudioTilly – Marketing Strategies
    AudioTilly – Challenges
    AudioTilly – Future Plans

    About AudioTilly

    AudioTilly was started in 2019, with the vision to create tools and services to make content easily accessible. AudioTilly’s text to audio technology converts website text content to audio instantly, and allows visitors coming to the site to listen to the content, other than reading. So when users of a website don’t have time to sit and read their great content, they can simply visit the site, click play and start listening to the great content instead.

    A major USP is that AudioTilly has modified and optimized the text to audio technology to make the content being read sound very much human-like! The platform offers 23 voices highly tuned and pleasing to listen to.

    Websites and blogs can monetize this audio content via advertisements provided by AudioTilly or other DSP (Demand side platform) . This is similar to how radio content is supported with advertisements.

    Blog owners can also access AudioTilly reports that quickly give insight of important data like top articles listened to, avg time, and more. Again once you subscribe to AudioTilly, the content of the blog site automatically gets added to the AudiBrow app, which gives you free access to AudiBrow’s user base.

    Integrating AudioTilly to your website is simple. You can either do it by getting the AudioTilly WordPress Plugin, or you can just Copy & paste AudioTilly’s JS script to blend the player into parts of your site. Till now the company’s product was in testing phase and they are launching the WordPress plugin this month, i.e August 2020.

    About AudioTilly

    The Idea Behind Starting AudioTilly

    The idea to start AudioTilly came to Lloyd form his own personal experience. Lloyd enjoyed reading his favorite online news and blog sites, but didn’t have time in the day to do this, as much of his time was spent on managing his work and family. But Lloyd realized that he had enough time while driving, commuting or at the gym, and this is the time he could use to listen to the content of his interest, and it would have been great if the blogs and news he read could be listened to as well. Lloyd decided to work on the idea, which led him to start AudioTilly in 2019. To start, Lloyd created a mock in Figma and shared it within his social circle and networking groups, to get the feedback.

    “The feedback we received on Figma has been very positive.  Many can’t believe this isn’t already in mass usage today”  Lloyd quotes

    AudioTilly – Founders

    Lloyd Jacob and Alexander Burakovskiy are the co-founders of AudioTilly.

    AudioTilly CEO Lloyd Jacob is a Y Combinator alumni (W’12). Lloyd has over 16 years of experience in product development and marketing. He is the mentor of SJSU Ideas Lab, and also was mentor for YC Startup School (S’18).

    AudioTilly Founder Lloyd Jacob
    AudioTilly Founder Lloyd Jacob

    AudioTilly co-founder and CTO Alexander Burakovskiy has 10 years of technical experience, entrepreneur, software architect, product designer, specializing in scalable web services & mentor young developers group.

    AudioTilly Co-founder Alexander Burakovskiy
    AudioTilly Co-founder Alexander Burakovskiy

    There are no other team members currently in AudioTilly. The co-founders  work remotely and are handling all by themselves.

    “My co-founder Alex worked on several small projects with me.  He is very skilled and I’ve enjoyed working on past projects with him. So when it came to AudioTilly I proposed to him a co-founder role. He was happy to accept and join me on this journey” Jacob says on how he met his co-founder Alexander Burakovskiy

    Core Beliefs of the AudioTilly Team

    • Create tools and services to Customer Obsession. AudioTilly focuses on building everything with the customer in mind. The team works with the aim to serve the customers, provide value to them, earn and keep customer trust and  delight the customer with quality product and performance.
    • Invent and Simplify. Build innovative things. Don’t just copy. Build products to be simple yet powerful.
    • High Standards. Build quality products. Fix defects before customers experience them.
    • Be Frugal. Accomplish more with less. Throwing money and resources at a project does not equal success.
    • Data Driven.Use data to make a judgment on performance and discover opportunities to improve, make content easily accessible.

    AudioTilly – Revenue Model

    AudioTilly is now launching its WordPress plugin. All users get free conversions monthly of  up to 5 articles. From there on, fair prices will be charged for those who require more content converted to audio, . Regardless of the plan, all user’s will get access to the premium text to audio voices.

    AudioTilly – Marketing Strategies

    AudioTilly’s text to audio converter was in a testing with 39 blogs to gain feedback and improve the product, and the WordPress plugin is launching in August 2020. For getting the first set of users, the startup is planning to reach out to blog owners. They are also planning to  leverage content  marketing, influencers,  and paid marketing options at a later stage.

    AudioTilly – Challenges

    Making the audio human sounding was a challenge for the co-founders.

    “We didn’t want the end users to feel they were listening to a robot or computer reading the text aloud.So we focused heavily on optimizing the audio text to speech quality. Today we have 23 voices highly tuned and pleasing to listen to” quotes Lloyd

    AudioTilly – Future Plans

    AudioTilly is currently in the launch phase and the team believes that they can break even on cost by 3rd quarter of 2021.

    Considering the high demand by users to simplify consumption and aggregation of online news & other written content, AudioTilly’s solution is an excellent blend between news apps and podcast experience. If executed as per plan, the team  expects AudioTilly’s valuation in the next 4-5 years would match/beat that of their competitors, SmartNews ($1.2 billion valuation) and FlipBoard ($1 billion valuation)

    “Audio content is exploding. Up until the growth trend of podcast, users were limited radio, Sirius,  and user’s personal audio content.  Now, Pandora, Podcasts,  Alexa, etc have opened up new channels in Audio content options.  This is leading a change in user behavior. For instance majority of the podcast listeners have carved our listening times at the gym, while driving and while cooking at home.  This is time video cannot replace. I expect in the next 5 years to see a 50% growth in this space compared on 2019 stats” says AudioTilly co-founder Lloyd Jacob commenting on the growing popularity of audio content

    If you’d  like to  be part of AudioTilly’s beta users and get free conversions for up to 10 articles for 1 year, email at support@audiotilly.com and mention this article

  • 10 LinkedIn Techniques For New-Age Job Seekers

    LinkedIn has been a great platform for offering jobs to millions of people around the world and has a great user base globally. Founded in May 2003 by Reid Hoffman, it’s main aim is professional networking. It creates an Eco system in which a person seeking job posts up his or her CV and an organization looking for a employee posts up offers for jobs. This platform has benefited many people around the world and provided them with a better life. LinkedIn Profile Optimization is very important to get the job a person wants.

    Nowadays, it has acquired a good hold in the global market and having a good CV has become a competition. People have to present themselves as a brand now with what great features they can provide to the companies. Developing maximum amount of skills and keeping up to date is a necessity now. Personal branding is one of the most important aspect of developing a good LinkedIn Profile.

    LinkedIn has been having a good hold in the market
    LinkedIn was launched in 2003

    Let us look at some of the most important steps which will help us to give the LinkedIn profile which you deserve.


    Everything you need to know about LinkedIn Marketing for your Startup
    LinkedIn is a social networking website that serves as a hub for people toconnect with employees, colleagues, clients, potential customers, strategicpartners and other professionals. It is widely used by people across the globeto seek job employment and is, therefore, home to several recruiters. …


    1)Having The Right Profile Picture

    First impression is the last impression, as your profile picture plays a key role in presenting your profile to other people. It is very important to have a much professional kind of picture for your LinkedIn profile optimization. It should be a recent photo, and should have 60 percent of your face and should be in a formal dress with a smile on your face.


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    2) Background Photo

    This is the second thing where the eyes of the people will go after your display picture. It should be eye catching and should describe what do you really like and what are the things which matter to you.It will help in creating a small portfolio for you that what kind of person you are. It should not be glamorous or too casual. It should be a normal photo but yes a memorable one so that it sticks in the mind of the other person.

    Steps to get noticed

    3) Networking

    Networking is one of the easiest way to grow up your profile and help it being catch up by the eyes of the companies. You just have to synchronize your profile with your email id. This will enable a feature in which you can connect with the people in your contacts through other networking sites such as Facebook, or the people in your phone address book. This will help in reaching out to maximum number of people in a very efficient way.It will help in the optimization of your profile in a larger way. Apart from this you should also try to get into the meetings and have conversations with the people you are connected with. It’s a small process which will help you to be up to date and have a great reach among other people.

    LinkedIn helping millions of people get jobs
    Sample LinkedIn profile

    4) Adding Relevant Skills

    One of the fastest way to add skills to your profile. Just identify within yourself what you are good at and add those skills into your profile. Adding skills helps to provide a better description to your profile in your Summary and Heading. The important part is to add the most relevant one. Long list of any skills which are not related to your profession or what your profile looks like then it won’t help you finding a good job. Upload few but relevant skills and filter out the unnecessary ones.

    5) Passion For Learning

    Whenever a course is completed on LinkedIn Learning it gives an option to add the course to our LinkedIn profile. It is a great way to boost up the profile by adding certified course. It gives an assurance of completing of that course under a supervised professional and will help you create a good CV.

    6) Sharing Content Through Feed

    After having a good network among different users on LinkedIn it is very important to have an active profile. By sharing relatable and relevant content on your profile it will help you boost up your profile and its reach. People will write their views on that ask you to share yours, this will create an environment which will show your activeness on your feed and what is your thinking abilities and processes.

    7) Adding Comments

    Sharing content is a great part and is the most important one, but adding comments to it works as an advantage. When you share something and add comments to it that how you feel about that particular post or feed it will help in creating an image on on your profile and how is your thought process and what is your knowledge about that content. It will also help you become more curious to learn things and what is the interested field you want to go in. Optimizing your profile with these small changes can help you grow a much recognizable profile in the near future.

    8) Following Influencers

    Influencers who have make a great impact in the field you want to pursue will help you to shape up your path and give a definitive path to it. Following them will help you provide with so much knowledge about your field. What are the dos and don’ts in your field and what are the future aspects for you as an individual. It plays a key role in getting a better knowledge of your required field.

    9) Taking Skills Assessment Tests

    Skills Assessment is an online test which will help you to get to know that how much you really know about your field and the skills you have filled in. It will also provide you with a result which will help you to know what is your strength and weaknesses. People having their skills verified by these Skill Assessment tests have a greater chance to get hired in their distinguished field of interest.

    10) Sharing Media and Marketing Collateral

    The marketing collateral that are produced for the business by ourselves can help us getting a better profile and moreover a better opportunity for a good job. Case studies, research papers and other contents like these can help you create a good profile. It will help others to know that how passionate and committed you are to your work.

    Conclusion

    So, these few simple and easy steps can be a boon for you and can land you up on the job you want. Creating a LinkedIn profile is an easy job and getting noticed on it is not a very difficult task. With growing competition and current situation people are looking forward to these sites only. Applying and going for a job interview will be avoided as for the safety concerns and it is the right thing to do. More organizations will look up to these platforms for the hiring processes and you can land up in a great job through some easy steps.

  • 10 Things Company Must Do After Lockdown Gets Over

    History is a good indicator of our future. But only if we learn its lessons because it is important to understand that this pandemic is one which has changed our lives and businesses maybe for the better, in every area irrevocably. we are going to learn things that the company must do after this lockdown gets over as deep down its clear that  Corona has successfully taken over our lives.

    To get back to your 9 to 5, we should learn that there has to be a new normal and we have to adapt ourselves and the workplace to it. The Chain of lockdown has disrupted our work-life in a way we have never seen throughout the globe. And its seen that the majority of people around the world are working from home, daily wage workers and those in industries where remote working isn’t possible are facing the bad consequences of it.  Employees who have the privilege to work for home, the idea of going back to work in their company could be a little daunting and out of their current daily tasks.

    COVID-19 at workplace.
    corona at workplace

    Getting your businesses up and it should run smoothly simultaneously like earlier times could be like at your wit’s end for a company or business.

    The way companies do businesses has advanced over the last decade. We always knew that flexible home working, using digital technology, was possible. Some firms have been using Microsoft teams, Zoom and Skype to conduct online meetings for years. In my honest opinion, what COVID-19 has done is just shown to us that we no longer need expensive land space in premium-priced cities to be effective or efficient. the bonus of no travel, closed offices and buying essentials means shows that we are also helping the nature.

    Since COVID 19 has been a great leveler for everyone and its list of effects stands to be devastating.


    Also Read: Dealing with Biggest Issue of CoronaVirus

    it had affected our bodies, workplaces, and even the biggest of the world. Nobody expected it! That such a teensy weensy virus can make a big menace on such a large scale and so quickly, that we have to eventually change our lives, habits and daily rituals.

    For several years we have heard voices about the coming financial crisis, but the direction it came from makes our eyes wide open. Indices of major Stock Exchanges, such as Nasdaq, are falling even by 9% in a single day. Investors are panicking, Many make haste decisions have been made due to emotional toll. And now it’s so crystal clear that the world is struggling with a crisis, forcing us to make changes for which we were never prepared for as in-person, companies, or organizations.

    Output Of Major Industries  Reduced Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic:

    output of major industries have reduced due to corona virus
    effect of covid-19 on industries

    • Airlines and Hotel industry: between 70-75%

    • Auto and advanced industries: 50-60%

    • Construction and Real estate: 50%

    • Consumer and Retail: 20-25%

    • Chemicals: 15-20%

    • Textiles: 50%

    • Freight and Logistics: 40-45%

    • Metals and Mining: 35-40%

    • Oil and Gas: 20-25%

    • Power: 20-25%

    • Agriculture: 15%

    • IT services: 10-15%

    • Pharma: 10-15%

    • Telecom: 0-5%

    “Most industries will need to reactivate their entire supply chain, because the impact of Coronavirus was different in scale and timing in various countries across the world,” says Yogita Tulsiani, Co-founder, iXceed Solutions. “Leaders must, therefore, reassess their entire business system and plan for contingent actions to return their business to effective production at pace and scale,” says Tulsiani. “But the problem will become more complex as winter will bring new problems for many countries,” she says. “In my opinion, pay cuts, layoffs, deferring bonus in the payout, deferring salary payment is very much being implemented by many organizations,” she adds.


    Also Read: What New Innovations will Come after COVID-19 Pandemic?


    Now the biggest question is:  Can their company stand at par with its previous productivity and a return to rehiring and training  OR  Will more companies move towards remote working?

    COVID-19  in The Workplace

    Due to the proximity of employees in workplaces, employers must consider the risks posed by the virus and the legislative obligations as employers. On any day they run the risk of their employees, business associates, and even clients who are infected with the virus bringing it into the workplace.

    post covid-19 effects on companies 2020
    post corona effects on company

    Occupational Health and Safety Obligations of an Employer

    Section 8 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”) obliges every employer to take reasonable measures to provide and maintain a safe working environment that does not pose a risk to the health of its employees. This obliges the employer to:

    • take steps to eliminate or mitigate any hazard or potential hazard, before resorting to protective equipment;
    • provide information, instructions, training and supervision that may be necessary to ensure the health and safety of employees at work;
    • enforce such measures as may be necessary in the interests of health and safety.

    An employer is further prohibited from permitting a person to enter a workplace where the health and safety of such a person is at risk, in terms of the General Safety Regulations published under the OHSA.

    An employer may require its employees to undergo medical testing for COVID-19 where:

    • the employee has recently traveled to an area in which COVID-19 is prevalent; and/or

    • the employee has had recent contact with persons traveling from an area in which COVID-19 is prevalent; and/or

    • the employee exhibits symptoms consistent with the known symptoms of COVID-19.


    Also Read: 10 ways Startups should be Prepared for the Coronavirus Crisis


    The Following Factors that Workplaces need to consider:

    • Organizations need to track workforce productivity and the ability to work remotely in real-time
    • Companies need to make sure that the employees scale up key enablers
    • work protocols (roles and responsibilities, decision rights, issue management)
    • processes (communications, workflow)
    • technology (network bandwidth, virtual private network [VPN], collaboration tools, video conferences, security)
    • people management (health tracking and support)
    • Companies should establish periodic calls to employees to track deliverables and productivity

    Tips Company Should Deal with Pitching Demands

    plans for companies to meet demands after lockdown gets over
    plans for companies after lockdoen gets over
    • Encourage regular hand washing
    • Perform routine environmental cleaning
    • Encourage Sick Employees to Stay Home
    • Talk with Employees about Travel Plans
    • Increasing online penetration
    • Precautionary measures such as increasing store cleanings
    • Encouraging safe distancing among employees
    • Reopen offices with fewer employees
    • Not reopening underperforming workforce
    • Making a rooster plan so that alternative employees come to alternate days.
    • Taking  forced leave
    • Employer should  compel an employee, whom he reasonably suspects of having COVID-19, to medical testing
    • Employer should  dismiss an employee who has contracted COVID-19 based on medical incapacity
    • Sick leave entitlements

    Open Dialogue with Employees

    Employers need to know how to decrease the spread of acute illnesses like coronavirus and lower the impact of COVID-19 in their workplace and share plans with their employees.

    open dialogue with employees
    open communication

    Plans should identify and communicate their objectives, which may include one or more of the following:

    • reducing transmission among staff
    • protecting people who are at higher risk for adverse health complications
    • maintaining business operations
    • minimizing adverse effects on other entities in their supply chains

    It’s important, now, that whatever we do should include: virus severity, the impact of the virus on employees that at higher risk of infection, and possible increased number of employee absences.

    Go-To Tips for Employees Getting Back to Work After Lockdown

    • Energize the body
    • Ensure voluntary physical distancing
    • Take care of workplace safeguards (masks, sanitizer, etc.)
    • Maintain your aura
    • Conserve mental energy
    • Find meaning in work — societal, organizational/corporate, client/target, team, and personal
    • Focus on solutions
    • Set positive aspirations
    • Stay focussed
    • Build relationships
    Employees Getting Back to Work After Lockdown
    tips to deal with corona virus

    There’s a saying that the problem could be any big but it always comes with a solution and hence, it’s us who have to find it. For a company to bring on a new normal it has to work smartly. And, I don’t know if this could create a make-believe situation but there is a way:

    Remote Work — A New Way of Work

    Remote work stands not only for the benefits associated with the involvement of employees, their lower rotation, but also great potential for development. It’s an open-end opportunity to redefine what cooperation between a company and an employee is. How your team works depends more on them, and how you present them with priorities and goals can help them find the best solutions. The goals must be mutual, set, and specified. Thanks to this your team’s motivation to implement them will not decrease because they will know what they’re striving for. If people work together, aiming for one goal, they share responsibility for the project.

    Remote work is also an opportunity for other ways of accounting for work, not necessarily for hours worked, but for results. The times when you have to sit in the office to finish the required 8 hours full time are over. This also gives more and more opportunities for businesses that can optimize their costs. You don’t need to maintain an office, equipment, buy coffee, and take care of fruit Thursdays. Just invest in tools that facilitate online work, and there are more and more of them of high quality.


    Also Read: List Of Companies Hiring Amidst The Coronavirus Pandemic

    A study five years ago showed a 13% increase in productivity when working from home. The reasons stated were the reduced number of breaks and sick leave. Not only work from home, but work from anywhere in the world is gaining more and more votes. By giving employees more freedom, limiting negative practices such as micromanagement, we allow people to grow and release their potential. With greater freedom comes greater responsibility and with it even greater employee involvement in what they do. This is confirmed by the State of Remote Work 2019 report prepared by Owl Labs. According to it, mobile workers with a 13% higher probability won’t want to change jobs for the next 5 years. This is something worth investing in!

    Be ready for an operational shock!

    So, take care of them and prepare yourself to go back to work once the lockdown ends with a clear mind full of determination!