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Is there any industry Mark Cuban will not get in? He, along with a co-founder, are creating an app that some conclude may compete with Clubhouse.

Mark Cuban is getting in on the audio and podcasting hype. Alongside co-founder Falon Fatemi, he’s planning to launch Fireside, a “next-gen podcast platform” that facilitates live conversation, according to an email sent to possible creator partners seen by The Verge. The app idea is similar to the buzzy live audio startup Clubhouse, except with the ability to natively record conversations. A source close to Fireside says the app plans to launch publicly this year.

The startup is still seemingly in stealth mode. It’s unclear when it was founded, but job postings went live as early as September. Fatemi left Node in August, saying at the time that she would be moving on to a “new venture.” She hasn’t listed Fireside on her LinkedIn yet. Cuban and Fatemi previously collaborated on Node, with Cuban investing in the product. His co-founder status on Fireside brings him back into the audio space. He and Todd Wagner famously sold internet radio company Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion in 1999 to Yahoo.

The Verge

Facebook is also getting into the fray.

Facebook is reportedly throwing its hat in the ring to compete with Clubhouse, the buzzy social app based on audio chats.

The social media giant’s employees have been ordered to develop a product, known internally as Fireside, that’s similar to Clubhouse, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. An invite-only social media app, Clubhouse has been attracting more attention after high-profile tech executives including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk made surprise appearances on the app. Clubhouse lets you create online spaces to group chat with multiple people about a variety of topics. 

CNET