[1] The company was founded in 2012 by chief executive officer Freddie A. Laker, and privately launched its mobile app in alpha in February 2013.

[citation needed] Guide is a visual newsreader app for personal computers, mobile devices and Smart TV,[2][3] which uses text-to-speech and avatar technologies to turn text-based online news, blogs and social media updates into video content.

[8] Guide allows users to choose from three different virtual news anchors in the base application,[9][10] and the company has stated it will offer additional avatars and newsroom backgrounds for purchase.

It raised $1 million from investors including Sapient, the Knight Foundation, MTV founder Bob Pittman, founding Google team member Steve Schimmel, and actor Omar Epps.

[3][6] In February 2013, Guide was one of 65 companies out of 500 applicants selected to demonstrate its app in the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Accelerator in Austin.