Synthesia

Praktika used Synthesia avatars in 2022 to make users feel watched by someone. The 2022 web version paired pre-recorded Synthesia avatars with hundreds of copywriter-written conversation trees, so the avatar reacted to users and they felt they were talking to a person.

The avatars were built to lower speaking anxiety, not for marketing. In onboarding, the fear of speaking to another human was one of the most clicked options. The avatars did not need to be perfectly human, and a Pixar-style look avoids the uncanny valley. Quote: "It was never with marketing or distribution in mind."

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Praktika built on the edge of the technology before it was ready. Praktika began prototyping in 2021, launched web versions in 2022 with Synthesia avatars and hand-built conversation trees, and shipped a rough app in mid-2023. Believing models would improve, they built customer understanding, go-to-market and conversational UX knowledge early, and later reached $50M ARR with almost half a million paying subscribers.

They still hold hundreds of 2022 customer interviews that say what users say today. Quote: "Build on the edge of technology."

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