Clubhouse essentially lets users host their own online radio shows.
The audio-only app Clubhouse, designed as a virtual conference hall, generated huge buzz during the peak of the pandemic and received a $4 billion valuation earlier this year. In the months that followed, this enthusiasm seems to have cooled.
Clubhouse chief executive Paul Davison said Wednesday in an interview with Emily Chang on Bloomberg television that the red-hot start could be a drawback.
“Boy, I think we grew pretty fast earlier this year,” Davison said, speaking from a conference hosted by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “What we really want to do is take that path of steady, gradual growth. is on.”
Bloomberg reported in April that Twitter Inc. was in talks to acquire Clubhouse for $4 billion. Later that month, the company raised a new round of funding led by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, giving it a similar valuation – quadruple the level Clubhouse had received in January.
Clubhouse essentially lets users host their own online radio shows. Listeners tune in to hear interviews or panel discussions and can participate in live chats. The platform has garnered presences from major names in technology and other fields, including Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk and Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg and inspired copycat apps.
At times, Clubhouse has fought over police misconduct on the app, criticizing that it was not doing enough to root out antisemitism and other problems.
Even when the company launched its app on the Android platform in late spring — a complement to its iOS service — it was seeing a slowdown in downloads. Davison said Clubhouse’s rapid growth “really stresses our system,” prompting the eight-person company to hire it quickly.
He said that now there are around 80 employees in the club house. Davison also said that “paying the producers is something we absolutely should be thinking about.”
Asked if the company could see a drop in users when people return to normal lives, Davison said he sees opportunity in listening to people as they travel.
“We’re finally at the point where we can take a breather and really focus on the long-term, focused on steady growth,” Davison said.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
.