When the roadmap didn’t work, he listened instead.
Michael Hoffman didn’t leave law school to chase tech hype. He left because building things with people sounded more interesting than arguing about contracts. That instinct still drives everything he does.
Today, Michael is the founder of Gather Voices, a software company helping organizations collect high-quality user-generated video—at scale. The company’s tools let anyone record polished, branded content on their own device or at live events, without needing a camera crew or an editor.
But Gather Voices didn’t start as a startup. It started inside an agency.
“Clients were coming to us saying, ‘We love those $50K videos you made, but now we need 100 scrappy ones—fast,’” Michael says. “That shift toward authenticity over polish was the signal.”
He tried to force his production team to go faster. Couldn’t scale it. Then he realized the tools already existed—everyone had a camera in their pocket. What didn’t exist was the workflow.
So he built software that walks users through recording exactly what a company needs: lighting, audio, permissions, editing, branding, publishing—all handled in one place.
“We weren’t trying to be a video tool,” he says. “We were trying to solve a communications problem. Video just happened to be the best medium.”
And then came the twist. Michael wanted to stay lean, scalable, software-first. But customers kept asking: “Can you just do it for us?” So they did.
Now, their fastest-growing product is an on-site capture service that uses a kiosk-style setup to record dozens of high-quality videos in a single day at events. It wasn’t in the roadmap—but it solved the problem better than the original idea. So they ran with it.
“We didn’t want to be a service business. But our customers needed that version of the solution. So we made it work.”
That mindset—build what works, not just what scales—goes way back for Michael.
Before Gather Voices, before the agency, before the software, he was part of a venture studio model that launched a dozen startups in six years. Some won. Most didn’t. He learned from both.
“It was the early internet. The vibe was: rules don’t apply. It was chaos. And it burned me out.”
So he pivoted. Started a consulting firm. Let revenue buy him time to think. Then, a decade later, the idea that became Gather Voices presented itself—and he went all in.
Now, in a world obsessed with AI-generated everything, Michael’s building on the exact opposite thesis: “We believe the most valuable content still comes from real people telling real stories. That’s what moves the needle. That’s what builds trust.”
He’s not anti-AI. He uses it every day to optimize workflows and scale editing. But the end product? That still needs to be human.
“We’re on Team Human,” he says. “That’s our edge.”
And it’s working.
Gather Voices is growing. Their positioning is sharp. Their product is simple, useful, and rooted in real-world customer feedback—because it was built by listening. Not guessing.
Michael’s not chasing virality. He’s building a business that helps other people tell the stories that matter most.
That’s what being underestimated looks like.
Want to chat and see if we're a fit? https://www.thrivers.co/check-the-vibe
