Kite helps startups create Apple-style launch videos in minutes.
We take a screen recording of your app and turn it into a stunning launch video–no experience required.
👋 Hey Product Hunt!
Derek here, co-founder at Kite.
We're excited to share our alpha version with the world!
💨 TLDR: Kite helps software companies create Apple-style launch videos in minutes. We take a screen recording of your product and turn it into a stunning marketing video–no experience required.
🥲 The Problem
Using video to show off your product is critical. Most users prefer video to text content, so most social media algorithms boost it heavily.
The thing is, making great software marketing videos is *really* hard, even in 2023. Let's face it–a lot of software just…isn’t that engaging on its own, especially in a static screen capture.
Plus, launches aren’t just one and done. You’ll keep relaunching your startup forever. Every little feature release is an opportunity for a mini feature launch video. (Shoutout to some companies that crush it with feature launch videos: Brex, Vercel and Framer).
Most existing solutions do too much or too little:
- Simple screen captures work great for internal communication or quick demos, but aren’t designed grabbing attention externally, and tend to all look the same (Scrolled tech Twitter lately...?)
- You can cobble together powerful videos tools (After Effects, etc), but you’ll probably spent way longer than you’d like, end up with a janky result, and feel like you should have earned a film degree by the end. (My cofounder and I have been pulling out our hair making launch videos for over a decade 🙃)
- Or, you can do what many companies eventually do: hire a video creator (contractor, agency or full time). Tech companies spend thousands and thousands of dollars on marketing video creation. (We know, we’ve talked to your video people!)
🪁 The Solution
Our goal with Kite is to help any software startup create studio-quality marketing videos–no studio required.
We start with screen capturing your product. It’s easy–if you can take a Loom, you can take a Kite (fly a Kite..?).
Then we turn it into a ridiculously professional video, semi-automatically.
- Show off your app on the screen of a 3D device model (like a laptop) to show your software in context.
- Kite will automatically move the camera around to follow the action and highlight the features your cursor is interacting with.
- Add animated text (kinetic typography) with two clicks.
- Sync it all together to the beat of a music track from our music library
- Can’t quite picture it? Check out the launch video above! (made with Kite)
🛣️ Roadmap
The goal is to make Kite more comprehensive and automatic with each update. We want to abstract away all the hardest parts of making great videos, and give you all the cool stuff you see in big co marketing videos for free, so can let your creativity run wild. We've only been at it for two months, but there's a lot coming!
- AI-assisted editing
- Smoother auto animations, more customization
- More text effects, 3D devices & backgrounds
- Mobile videos & USB screen capture
- Custom cursors
- Premium music library
- Designer templates
- Narration / voice overs (AI or human)
- Windows support
- Integrate and revamp features from our previous product, MockRocket.io
🔮 The future
- We think the web is a more engaging place when everyone can create great videos and we're excited to help create the next generation of AI-first video tools. We're starting with software launch videos because it's an area we know well, but we're not stopping there. Stay tuned!
Try out our alpha build for Mac OS: https://kite.video
You can use the entire product for free, just upgrade to remove watermarks.
This week only use coupon code HUNTERS50 for 50% off all plans for at least a YEAR!
Send us feedback, bug reports and questions! (Shoot us an email at support@kite.video if you need any help!)
Happy flying!
Derek
Kite (YC S23)
🪁🪁🪁
Thanks for removing the pain from making launch videos. It’s the last thing I want to do for launch day. I love that there’s a Mac app too. Great work guys!
This is a game changer for any startup or maker that wants to showcase their product. Major props to the Kite team. Excited to use this in my next launch.
Nice. Kite looks like my cup of tea.
I currently use Camtasia (a personal preference since 2013), but I've always wanted something like Kite to create quick product intros instead of depending on AE. Screen Studio is nice, but I need something more capable yet not too complex. Kite's offering (according to your website) hits the sweet spot.
I tested the app. But my base model Mac mini (M1) can't run Kite smoothly.
Is there a minimum requirement when it comes to RAM?
Please don't spec shame me.
@migy Hey Mighil, co-founder here. Thanks for trying it out!
There's a lot we still need to do to make the app have better performance. But it's also possible you're running into a bug because we haven't tested on Mac minis yet.
I'd love to learn more about the issue and how we can make Kite perfect for you. Hit us up at support@kite.video.
In the meantime we have a large backlog of performance related features we're cranking through. Thanks for being an early adopter on the Alpha release!
@migy Just following up. We looked into the issue today and found a memory leak. If you refresh or restart the app things should be improved. Keep us updated if you run into anything else!
One of the most useful and well-executed apps I've used in a long time. Easily 10xes my marketing efforts / saves thousands of dollars that I would have had to pay to a custom motion graphics designer 🚀
Love the idea! This would have been great for some of my previous app launches.
Honestly, this sets a new bar for product launches. With a tool like this, no one has an excuse for a poorly made launch video. Looking forward to seeing your success and seeing other other products with better launches thanks to Kite!
Kite