illustration: Danielle Grinberg
A month before the pandemic hit the United States and quarantine began, a startup social networking app called Clubhouse emerged on the scene. The invite-only platform is a form of talk radio in which conversations take place in rooms hosted by moderators and disappear when chats are over. You can’t message or email from the app. The goal is to listen, chat, and maybe learn something.
One year since its launch, Clubhouse now hosts over 10 million users whose conversations can range from how to raise venture capital for startups, to which comedians are overrated. Recently, the app was valued at $4 billion.