We live busy lives in today’s age, trying to strike a balance between work, school, hobbies, self-care, and more.
Often, we allow social connections to fall by the wayside. But connecting with others is more important than you might think.
Social connection can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy, and improve our immune systems. By neglecting our need to connect, we put our health at risk.
This last year, we’ve seen massive social media influencer growth illustrating the need for human connection, entertainment, and education since people can’t go out like they used to.
Influencers inspire and motivate us to change something in our lives or to rethink our behavior. They also draw our attention to issues that demand attention, like ocean pollution, online bullying, voter fraud, and gender rights.
Some teach us life skills or hacks, like how to take care of our skin, create the perfect morning routine, or make a Thanksgiving meal in 30 minutes or less.
Influencers can also use their reach to address critical issues in politics or business, network with other influential people. And sometimes—a quick chat with one of our favorite influencers is all we might need to give us the insight or inspiration we need.
What if we told you there was a way of connecting fans, clients, influencers, and professionals for private one-on-one video calls?
Our founders, Ted and Diane Cohn, created Wildeye to connect everyday people with the world’s influencers and professionals, creating access for people who might not otherwise connect.
By sharing our story with you, we hope to inspire you to join our community and become a part of a growing movement, connecting influencers with fans worldwide.
Making Human Connections a Reality
The inspiration for Wildeye came from both founders. Ted had been looking to start a more conventional human connection marketplace before Covid.
“As an introvert, working as a software developer for 16 years remotely on and off, sometimes that got lonely,” said Ted. He was looking for ways to increase his social capital and connect with mentors to help level-up his career.
Simultaneously his wife, Diane, a budding YouTuber, noticed that many creators had hundreds of fans asking questions that went unanswered, with some offering to pay to speak with them.
“One of my viewers asked to pay to speak with me about a topic of my expertise, real estate,” said Diane.
They had a lightbulb moment, and Wildeye’s BidToTalk was born.
BidToTalk is a marketplace where you can bid or pay for private video calls with influencers.
Influencers, athletes, professionals, and personalities can auction specific time slots for video calls to the highest bidder, or they can charge a fixed fee to speak to fans during the time slots they publish on our platform. Our technology handles search, bidding, scheduling, payment processing, security, and video calls.
Our primary purpose is to connect you with those you admire for potentially life-changing conversations.
It’s a win-win for everyone. Influencers get a new stream of income to help support their work, and you get the incredible opportunity to speak directly to those who inspire you.
At Wildeye We’re a Team of Visionaries and Inventors
Our founding team has more than 50 years of combined experience in software development and digital marketing for some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. We have the knowledge, connections, and drive to deliver a superior product, experience, and results.
Ted Cohn, CEO, CTO and founder has 30+ years of experience in consumer software development and worked for Steve Jobs at NeXT. He’s developed cutting-edge products for numerous companies, including Apple, Barnes & Noble, Ugobe, and has been awarded ten patents.
Diane Cohn, President, CMO, and Founder has 20+ years of digital marketing experience for luxury brands, including corporate communications at Apple and digital strategy at Chase International. She’s also an emerging YouTube influencer with over 800,000 views.
Both have a proven track record of achievement in developing consumer products, sales, hiring, vision, and ability to execute. Together they bring core competencies in technology, marketing, and leadership to our team.
To Our Future
There are over 3.8 billion social media users worldwide, including 38 million influencers, so the market opportunity is vast.
By focusing initially on influencers, we expect to leverage the network effect as they promote availability to their thousands to millions of followers with custom BidToTalk links that bring buyers to our marketplace.
Our plan is to develop and grow a thriving, global marketplace that helps people discover and connect for life-changing conversations, promoted via digital marketing campaigns, podcasts, video, content marketing and advertising.
We’ve already begun a direct influencer outreach program working with an established influencer marketing and talent agency to help kickstart marketplace growth.
Your Chance to Participate
Help us connect millions of busy influencers to billions of fans looking for inspiration.
Related: Why TikToker Kristin Farina Can’t Wait to Use BidToTalk
We are currently running an equity crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder, and we’re excited to be able to offer a platform facilitating meaningful conversations that change lives.