Narrative

What do they actually do

Narrative makes an AI‑assisted video editor and a developer API that ingest raw footage, index it so users can semantically search scenes and objects, and auto‑assemble rough cuts that export to standard NLEs like Premiere. The product is used by editors, agencies, and production teams; pricing includes a visible Pro plan at $100 per project (up to 10 hours of raw footage) and an enterprise tier. The company advertises faster‑than‑real‑time processing and SLAs for larger customers (site, API examples, pricing, LinkedIn workflow note).

Next, they’re turning the editor’s core capabilities into composable APIs—search, stitching/rough cuts, multi‑object tracking, video Q&A with timestamped citations, and cross‑video memory/persistent IDs—while adding enterprise features like unlimited storage, priority queues, SLAs, and custom model training so teams can build automated video pipelines on top of Narrative’s infrastructure (API examples, pricing, YC listing).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Professional freelance editors and post houses: They spend many hours scrubbing raw footage to find moments and assemble rough cuts, which slows delivery and increases billable time; they want faster selects and exportable timelines (site/API examples, pricing).
• Creative agencies producing ads and social content: High volume of short projects makes manual clip selection and timing a bottleneck; they need repeatable automation for selects and stitching to speed drafts (site, YC listing).
• Sports teams and broadcasters: Identifying plays, players, and highlights across hours and multiple cameras is labor‑intensive; they need multi‑object tracking and cross‑video search to scale highlight creation (API examples).
• Event producers and wedding videographers: They return with large, disorganized footage libraries and need quick highlight reels without days of manual selects; automatic indexing and rough‑cut generation reduce that time (site, LinkedIn).
• Internal video/ML teams at larger companies: They don’t want to rebuild large‑scale indexing, search, and persistent identity systems; they need reliable APIs, SLAs, and support for custom models at scale (site, pricing).

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

• First 10: Founder‑led outreach to freelance editors, small post houses, and event videographers with free or discounted pilots and hands‑on onboarding; use live demos and screen‑recorded walkthroughs to prove time saved and gather testimonials (site/API, pricing).
• First 50: Partner with busy agencies and post houses; publish short case studies and demo clips showing reduced manual scrubbing; add one‑click Premiere export/integration and a referral credit to turn early users into repeat customers (API examples).
• First 100: Run pilots with sports and event production orgs that showcase multi‑camera highlights and cross‑video search; convert to paid with simple SLAs, custom training, and dedicated onboarding by a small sales/CS team (API examples, enterprise pricing).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Core, directly addressable market combines video editing software (~$2.29B, 2024) and post‑production services (~$36.0B, 2024), totaling ~$38.3B worldwide (Straits Research, BusinessResearchInsights).

Bottom-up calculation:

Narrative sells software/API that substitutes for editing labor and software spend; summing 2024 editing software ($2.29B) + post‑production services ($36.0B) yields ~$38.3B in practical TAM where buyers can replace hours or license tools (Straits Research, BusinessResearchInsights).

Assumptions:

• Narrative can address both software budgets and portions of editing/post service spend where automation reduces labor.
• Figures use 2024 estimates; currency and methodology differences across reports are accepted at face value.
• Upstream production budgets and ad spend are excluded to avoid double counting and reflect direct, near‑term TAM.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Runway: Web‑first AI video studio with an editor and developer API for transforming/generating video; overlaps on creative automation and embeddable APIs for pipelines (Runway product, API).
• Descript: Transcription‑centric video/audio editor with strong AI assists and integrations; competes for editors/agencies wanting fast rough cuts inside a single editor (tour, API).
• Google Cloud Video Intelligence: Cloud APIs for large‑scale video indexing, object/shot/transcript extraction; competes on infrastructure for enterprise search and programmatic metadata at scale (product).
• WSC Sports: Sports‑focused platform that auto‑analyzes live broadcasts to create personalized highlights for leagues/broadcasters; overlaps on multi‑camera highlights at scale (platform, clients).
• Veritone (aiWARE): Enterprise AI platform for ingesting/indexing A/V with governance and workflow automation; competes for large customers seeking turnkey video‑AI infrastructure (aiWARE, Discovery).