The Interface

What do they actually do

The Interface runs a gated web studio where users can start a live “call” with cinematic AI characters that respond in real time. The product highlights include live voice interactions, the ability to record and share moments from sessions, and characters that unlock story arcs that evolve over repeated visits theinterface.com.

The product is in early access with a request-only signup instead of an open consumer launch. The company is a YC-backed startup (Summer 2025) and is publicly hiring for growth, AI, and rendering roles, signaling a small, iterative team moving toward a broader launch theinterface.com, YC profile, Growth role.

Under the hood, the team emphasizes real-time multimodal interaction with low-latency voice and behavior, and real-time visuals/animation to make characters feel expressive and “cinematic.” Current hiring points to work on voice pipelines, personality/memory systems, lip-sync, shaders, and rendering pipelines to improve responsiveness and visual quality Founding AI Engineer, Founding Rendering Engineer.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Short-form social creators (TikTok/YouTube/Reels): They need fresh, eye-catching content that looks polished but can be produced quickly. Hiring talent or doing VFX is slow and costly, and they want a simple way to record live interactions and export clips fast.
• Indie filmmakers and web-series producers: They want consistent character performances and personalities across episodes without repeated casting and scheduling. They need a faster, cheaper loop to iterate on dialogue, visuals, and story arcs.
• Narrative game designers and interactive storytellers: They need believable, real-time characters that react to players without building complex AI and animation stacks. They want tools for prototyping branching stories and persistent memory without heavy engineering.
• Community and creator managers (Discord/TikTok/Reddit, streamers): They need reliable, repeatable experiences that keep audiences engaged and generate shareable highlights. They want controllable characters that can host events, react live, and produce clips for discovery.
• Brands and experiential marketers: They need standout, on-brand interactive experiences that feel personal but are faster and cheaper than custom AR/film builds. They want a controllable character system that can run live, capture highlights, and scale across campaigns.

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

• First 10: Personally invite 8–12 trusted creators and community leads for 1:1 onboarding, co-produce a few clips per creator, and iterate based on detailed feedback theinterface.com.
• First 50: Run a paid 4–6 week “creator residency” with 15–25 micro-creators and seed communities on Discord/TikTok/Reddit via a light-touch onboarding playbook and referrals Growth role.
• First 100: Open a controlled invite wave with self-serve templates and tutorials, and run 4–6 brand/agency pilots to generate case studies and a public showcase, using creator clips/testimonials as primary acquisition creative.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Initial TAM sits at the intersection of creator tools for short-form video, indie/streaming-first production, and interactive brand experiences. Near-term demand is driven by creators seeking fast, high-quality character content and brands exploring interactive campaigns.

Bottom-up calculation:

If 50,000 creators globally pay $20–$50/month for access and export tooling, that implies $12–$30M ARR. Adding 1,000 brand/agency campaigns annually at $5k–$20k per campaign adds $5–$20M. Expanded scenarios (e.g., 200,000 creators) could push ARR toward $50–$120M, before enterprise licensing or rev-share models.

Assumptions:

• Pricing in the $20–$50/month range for creator-grade access/export features.
• Reachable creator base of 50k–200k who regularly publish short-form video and adopt new tools.
• 1,000 annual brand/agency campaigns at $5k–$20k for interactive activations and content production.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Character.AI: Consumer AI character platform with voice and “Character Calls,” enabling live voice conversations with AI characters—relevant for real-time interaction and content capture Character Calls, Voice FAQ.
• Inworld AI: Developer platform/SDKs for real-time, conversational AI characters (STT/LLM/TTS, lip-sync, Unreal/Unity), widely used for NPCs and interactive media Gaming & media, Runtime.
• HeyGen: AI avatar video creation (and interactive avatars) used by creators and brands for quick, polished content; less narrative memory focus but strong on scalable avatar production AI video avatars, Interactive avatars.
• Soul Machines: Enterprise-focused “Digital People” for real-time, face-to-face brand and customer interactions; studio tools for building interactive, emotive AI agents Studio.
• Fable Studio (Showrunner): Creator tool for generating AI-driven animated shows and scenes—used to produce episodes from prompts; adjacent to AI-native media production Showrunner.