How a survey, a script and a phone camera became a video CV product.
Banana soup never left the bowl. Present.me did.
A video lets a job seeker show personality in a way a written CV can't. The problem was that most people aren't video producers: no script, no camera skills, no idea where to start. Plenty of job seekers were locked out of a tool that could genuinely help them.
So I designed a process. You answer a set of survey questions about yourself. Your answers are turned into a script. Then your phone shows you that script as a teleprompter while the camera records you reading it. Out the other end: a slick video profile, plus a written CV and your own profile page to share.
I'm an inventor, not a developer, so I commissioned the build. The Ministry of Social Development piloted it with job seekers, and that pilot brought in over NZ$200k - enough to cover the build cost. The product washed its face.
Government work goes through RFPs: they say "this is what we want" and people tender for it. I wanted the idea protected before I showed it around, so I filed for a New Zealand patent, starting with a provisional application in December 2020, naming me as the inventor. It never became a granted patent, but the idea went on the record while I was out pitching it.
You can still see present.me and my own video profile made with it. The other yarn on this site is the banana soup story.
We can talk ideas all day. But if you want to talk money, let's talk execution. That's how a concept starts earning its keep.
Email bo@bonanasoup.com or call +64 21 426 344. The first day is free.