When listening to music with friends, people often face an age-old problem: the fight for rights to the aux cord.
In December 2019, UNC students Galen Krugly and William Cahan realized that the classic debacle was an opportunity to revolutionize the way people listen to music in shared environments.
Now, almost two years later, the duo plans to launch an app to solve this, called Aux.
“There’s music overhead 90 percent of the time when you’re out and about,” Krugly said. “Why aren’t we providing a platform to allow people to take control of these listening environments?”
Krugly described Aux as a “music passport,” that assesses user data from Spotify and Apple Music. The app uses artificial intelligence and music refinement features to build a collaborative playlist for anyone connected in the same listening session.
College parties and road trips aren’t the end game for Krugly and his team – they see Aux as a technology to help people customize every listening environment, from Starbucks and gyms to workspaces and Ubers.
“We want to essentially eliminate the idea of having to think about what music to play,” Krugly said. “Why are we leaving it up to chance when music is something that has such big potential to increase or decrease your experience somewhere?”
While the Aux team had the outlines of a plan, they needed support. They met their mentor, Igor Jablokov, through the Carolina Angel Network, a group of angel investors that help back UNC's entrepreneurs.
Jablokov said he leads a venture-backed artificial intelligence company. His last startup was Yap, Amazon’s first AI acquisition that gave rise to Alexa. He helps Aux with the full spectrum of business, including fundraising preparation and product direction. He said he sees potential in the personalization and customization that Aux offers to users.
