Cardboard

What it does

Cardboard is an agentic video editor that runs entirely in your browser. Instead of manually cutting and arranging clips, you describe what you want—e.g., "Cut a 60s brand film from the VO and the site b-roll"—and Cardboard watches your footage, finds the best moments, assembles a rough cut, and offers refinements like a 30s cutdown for LinkedIn. It can also reframe videos for different aspect ratios (vertical, square, landscape) while keeping the important action in frame, find specific moments across hours of footage using natural language queries (e.g., "the moment we hugged"), and generate animated captions in multiple cinematic styles. Additional features include translation and dubbing, audio cleanup, volume leveling, color grading, background music, and export presets for various platforms.

Who it is for

Cardboard is designed for creators, marketers, and anyone who needs to produce polished videos quickly without deep technical expertise. The interface is prompt-driven, making it accessible to users who may not be familiar with traditional timeline-based editing. It also supports real-time collaboration, allowing teams to share projects, leave comments at exact timecodes, and edit together without version sprawl. The pricing starts at $32/month, suggesting it targets professionals and small teams rather than casual users.

Why it matters

Video editing is notoriously time-consuming, especially when dealing with large amounts of footage. Cardboard's agentic approach reduces the process from hours to minutes by automating the most tedious parts: watching clips, identifying highlights, assembling a rough cut, and applying polish. This can significantly speed up workflows for content creators, social media managers, and marketing teams who need to produce multiple versions of a video for different platforms. The ability to translate and dub videos also helps reach global audiences without re-recording.

Launch signal

Cardboard launched as part of Y Combinator's W26 batch, which provides some validation of the team and product direction. The product is already live with a functional website and pricing page, indicating it is beyond the idea stage. However, no specific launch metrics, user numbers, or revenue figures are available from the provided sources.

Brand and naming

The name "Cardboard" is simple and memorable, evoking a blank canvas or raw material that can be shaped into something finished. It positions the product as a lightweight, accessible tool—contrasting with heavy, complex editing suites. The tagline "Edit videos in minutes, not hours" directly addresses the core value proposition. The brand voice is confident and direct, using phrases like "Your AI director" to personify the technology.