SoundFocus
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
SoundFocus was a San Francisco startup building personalised audio technology for the hearing impaired. Founded in September 2012 by Alex Selig (who grew up with hearing loss) and Varun Srinivasan — they met at Microsoft — it launched an iOS app that ran a one-minute hearing test, identified the frequencies the user struggled to hear, and rebalanced music playback from iTunes and Spotify accordingly. The app was downloaded more than 150,000 times. The company graduated from Y Combinator's Summer 2013 batch and raised $1.7 million in seed funding from Kapor Capital, Y Combinator, VegasTechFund, OVO Fund, RTA Capital, Garry Tan, Alexis Ohanian and Harj Taggar. In October 2014 it announced its first hardware product, the Amp: an intelligent iPhone speaker case with microphones and personalised sound profiles, aimed at music, calls and TV.
02 / SoundFocus FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
The company ran out of money. Co-founder Alex Selig said a critical investment fell through at the beginning of 2016, forcing SoundFocus to seek immediate alternatives; when additional investment was not forthcoming, it tried to find an acquirer to fulfil its hardware pre-orders. After months of negotiation, a letter of intent from a potential acquirer fell through at the final stages, leaving the company with no option but to file bankruptcy, retire the Amp and wind down the entire business in May 2016.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Alex Selig and Varun Srinivasan found SoundFocus in San Francisco in September 2012 to help the world hear better.
- YC and launch
Graduates from Y Combinator's Summer 2013 batch; launches the hearing-personalised music app.
- Seed and hardware
Raises $1.7 million in seed funding in February 2014; announces the Amp intelligent iPhone speaker case in October 2014.
- Bankruptcy
In May 2016 SoundFocus announces it is filing bankruptcy, retiring the Amp and winding down the entire business after a critical investment fell through and an acquisition deal collapsed at the final stages.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Founded September 2012, San Francisco, by Alex Selig and Varun Srinivasan.
- 02
YC Summer 2013; $1.7M seed funding (Feb 2014).
- 03
Oct 2014: announced Amp intelligent iPhone speaker case.
- 04
May 2016: filed bankruptcy; retired Amp; wound down entire business after investment fell through and acquisition LOI collapsed.