HeartByte

What do they actually do

HeartByte (branded as Storio) runs a live web app that helps people write and publish fiction and interactive visual stories. Creators use an AI co‑writer to brainstorm, outline, expand chapters, and polish dialogue, then assemble scenes with a no‑code editor that supports branching choices, character art, backgrounds, music, and sound effects. Finished works can be published to Storio’s site as playable visual stories or audiobooks (homepage, tutorial, interactive intro, Itch.io listing).

The platform is free to use when authors publish on Storio; the team notes a contact‑only option for private use without publishing. Current features include importing existing drafts for AI continuation, asset generation/import (character images and voices), automatic audiobook creation for published chapters, and community discovery via leaderboards and contests (FAQ, community). Early users are hobbyist writers and visual‑novel creators; the company is an early‑stage YC W24 startup (YC page).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Hobby fiction writers publishing shorts or serial chapters: They draft slowly, hit writer’s block, and spend a lot of time on revisions. They want help brainstorming, outlining, and polishing prose to ship chapters faster (homepage, tutorial).
• Interactive/visual‑novel creators without coding, art, or audio skills: Turning a script into a playable visual story is technically hard and asset‑heavy. They want a no‑code editor and built‑in asset/voice tools to cut production time (interactive intro, Itch.io listing).
• Authors with existing drafts seeking fast continuation/adaptation: They need a tool that ingests their text and continues in their voice without forcing publication or losing control; they also want clear data‑use rules (FAQ).
• Creators who want audiobooks or voiced multimedia stories: Audio production is costly and complicated. They want auto‑generated narration and character voices to publish audio without studios or editing skills (community, homepage).
• Independent creators focused on audience growth and monetization: Discovery is hard and revenue tools are fragmented. They want platform discovery and access to upcoming monetization pilots/revenue share (community, FAQ, YC page).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Personally recruit 10 hobby writers from founder networks, YC contacts, and active writing Discords/Reddit; offer white‑glove onboarding and import help to get their first published stories and testimonials live (tutorial, FAQ).
• First 50: Run a themed writing contest promoted in r/Writing, writing Discords, and on Itch.io; guarantee site features and free audiobook/asset generation for winners, and funnel entrants through onboarding that shows how to turn text into playable stories (Itch.io listing, community, interactive intro).
• First 100: Test low‑budget TikTok/Reddit ads with short creator clips (speed before/after, playable snippets), add referral credits for reader growth, and invite high‑engagement publishers into monetization pilots while tightening onboarding (one‑click import, templates) (homepage, FAQ).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Counting end‑consumer spend, the relevant content markets are ebooks (~$18B), audiobooks (low‑to‑mid tens of billions globally in the near term), and interactive fiction/visual novels ($1.4–$3.8B), implying a multi‑$10B opportunity, with overlap across formats (ebooks, audiobooks, interactive fiction, alt est.).

Bottom-up calculation:

From the creator side, start with large creator pools (e.g., millions of self‑published titles annually on KDP and large creator/reader communities like Wattpad/WEBTOON), assume a reachable subset of active creators and an annual ARPU for tools/services to size direct creator‑tools revenue, and cross‑check against the self‑publishing/creator‑services market (~$12B) and growing AI‑in‑media spend (KDP scale, Wattpad/WEBTOON MAUs, self‑publishing services, AI in media).

Assumptions:

• A minority of KDP/Wattpad/Webtoon users are active, paying creators; estimate the reachable creator base as a subset of these ecosystems.
• Annual ARPU for creator tools/services in the ~$100–$300 range, with additional upside from marketplace fees and revenue share.
• TAM framing avoids double‑counting consumer content spend; it focuses near‑term on creator‑services and tools rather than retail content revenue.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Sudowrite: AI‑first fiction writing assistant for brainstorming, outlining, and revising prose; overlaps with Storio’s co‑writer but lacks an integrated no‑code visual‑novel editor, asset/voice generation, and in‑platform publishing/discovery (Storio).
• NovelAI: Longform AI story generation plus image generation (anime/art style); overlaps on text+image creation but not Storio’s branching editor, audiobooks, or publishing community (Storio).
• AI Dungeon / Latitude: AI‑driven, playable text adventures and user scenarios; competes on interactive AI stories but is gameplay‑first vs. Storio’s creator‑focused publishing stack for visual novels and audiobooks (Storio).
• Episode Interactive: Large mobile platform for choice‑based visual stories with built‑in audience and monetization; strong distribution but lacks AI co‑writing, on‑demand asset/voice generation, and a browser‑based multimedia editor like Storio’s (Storio).
• Twine: Free, open‑source tool for branching interactive fiction; overlaps on basic no‑code authoring but has no integrated AI assistant, asset/voice generation, built‑in audiobooks, or platform discovery (Storio).