Tuesday, January 26, 2016

35 Million Reasons To Say Thanks

I’m currently airborne – somewhere above the mid-west. I’m the most reflective at 35,000 feet, sitting in seat 12C surrounded by strangers – a space I’ve become increasingly accustomed to over the past 4 years as co-founder and CEO of Vidyard.

I feel excited. Tomorrow (today) we’re announcing a milestone – our $35 million Series C financing led by Michael Brown, Sanjiv Kalevar and Roland Anderson at Battery Ventures.

I’m thinking back to nearly 5 years ago – once again at 35,000 feet – on my voyage to participate in Y Combinator’s summer class of 2011. A time when I could only dream of the growth, learning and experience I’ve had since that absolutely instrumental journey in my professional career.

That said, rocket ships don’t have rear view mirrors. And while the fall of nearly–every-single-year since YC has been marked with a milestone in the shape of a larger financing – I can’t help but think about how far we’ve yet to go.

At the end of the day, I’m grateful and excited. The way I see it, there are three groups to thank, inform and speak candidly to at this inflection point. I’ll do so now in no particular order:

Customers

Thank you for your support. Without your consistent utilization and feedback on software that we’ve designed and built for you – we would not be able to announce this milestone today.

With this infusion of capital and experience from Battery Ventures, we’ll be increasing our investment into our “Customer Experience” team by orders of magnitude. This is inline with our commitment to “Helping you drive revenue through the use of online video” and your success is, without a doubt, our success long term. To this point, our only corporate value is to “win with experience” and if we don’t succeed in this accord, let me know. The CE team is currently staffing up and is dedicated to helping you drive more value out of both your investment with Vidyard and video.

Furthermore, we believe that you’re our best product managers. While we can’t address every piece of feedback we receive day-to-day, it’s our responsibility to react to your wants and pair them with a long-term vision for business video in order to deliver what you absolutely need.

To this point, it’s clear to us that video is eating the world. Cable-cutting, Facebook, Snapchat, and Youtube are leading the charge with consumer video and this, without a doubt, means that current and especially future demographics expect to sell and be sold to with video. If the delivery of a video is “the next best thing to being there in person” and we deliver detailed analytics with respect to the viewer’s attention span (digital body language) I’m sure you can only imagine the impact we can have on your sales organization; from first day to first close and beyond.

We want to help you make every second count. We’re going to enable your entire organization with video.

Once again – thank you for your business and support. We Vidyardians get out of bed every day because of you!

Vidyardians

To the brave and honorable Vidyardians and your families – I am grateful and proud of everything you’ve accomplished from the day you first walked into our home. Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning of time, have just joined or are walking through the doors of our new space 6 months from now – welcome to the rocket ship (notice the lack of rear-view-mirrors?).

You’ve likely read our cultural document and understand that with fast-growth often comes high-stress. That said – I assure you (from experience) that being a part of this team should be one of the best and most fulfilling working experiences/opportunities you’ll have.

This job is what you make of it and our culture is your responsibility. Speak your mind, be reasonable and most importantly understand that we/you don’t know what we/you don’t know.

Together, we’re going to enable the entire world with video.

Investors

I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with such an experienced group of operators, the best of the best in SaaS with a penchant for taking companies to IPO and beyond.

We’re at a very nascent stage with a long way to go. I’m honored to be a part of your journey and I know we’re going to have fun along the way.

Welcome to the BOD, Michael Brown (and crew)!

Together, we’re going to build an incredible company.

For those interested in further details on the financing and what it means for the market, here’s a short list of some of the related resources and coverage in the media:

Thanks,

Michael Litt

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