9th October 2024

I had this idea the other day, eventually I want to build a tool that allows you to practice interviews for a job using real-time voice API that was just launched last week by OpenAI.

As I work in HR / Recruitment for a big technology company, I see everyday how good interview preparation makes the biggest difference. Being able to practice interviews many times over in a realistic environment would be absolutely fantastic. It can also help as a tool for social mobility.

That’s when I had this idea: what if there was a tool that could help you practice for interviews in a way that felt super real? Imagine having a virtual interviewer who could ask you tough questions and give you honest feedback. You could try out different answers, see what works and what doesn’t, and get better and better with each practice session.

I also really want an opportunity to use the new Realtime Voice API but the costs are so high, I’d prefer to start validating in a cheaper way. I had the idea when I saw the costs of the new Gemini model:

This makes the cost of a text-based interview (as an example) ridiculously cheap. I asked it to work out my costs (bare in mind voice API is 0.30$ per minute of conversation).

Meaning I might even by able to do a lifetime plan for this product, which I think is the preference. If APIs were my only cost I could do 1000s of interviews before reaching my break even of $50.

With this in mind here is my plan:

1.) MVP 1: Using Gemini 8b flash – cheap as possible, simple as possible (this idea exists but I want to build the bones) try and charge $20 for lifetime plan.

2.) Content strategy, launch TikTok career tips etc, drive traffic to MVP

3.) Collect feedback here while it’s cheap

4.) Fork above to build a real-time voice API version – much more expensive

5.) Keep step 1 as a (small) loss-leader

Collect emails for step 1 to launch step 4.

I’m still in the early stages of planning this, but I’m really excited about the possibilities.

It would be awesome to create something that could help people feel more confident and prepared for interviews.

I would like to gift a load of free tokens to underprivileged users of the tool too.

This might be kids locally etc. I could fork this many times as many free tools.

End (9th October 2024: 4:52pm). – I will update again next time.