Chris Savage

And after digging into it, it seemed like it was this confluence of different things. It was broadband internet and open source tools to do the encoding of the video. And everyone had Flash in their computer. And as we looked into this, Brian and I started realizing, like, wait a second. There shouldn't just be one company that could figure this out. Anyone could do this.

And after digging into it, it seemed like it was this confluence of different things. It was broadband internet and open source tools to do the encoding of the video. And everyone had Flash in their computer. And as we looked into this, Brian and I started realizing, like, wait a second. There shouldn't just be one company that could figure this out. Anyone could do this.

It's actually open source things. And so that got us riffing on ideas for what this company could be. Started very close to where I came from, which was going to be a filmmaking competition website. And then very quickly, we realized, okay, we don't have connections to brands and all these other things. And it evolved from there. But that's what got us to start.

It's actually open source things. And so that got us riffing on ideas for what this company could be. Started very close to where I came from, which was going to be a filmmaking competition website. And then very quickly, we realized, okay, we don't have connections to brands and all these other things. And it evolved from there. But that's what got us to start.

That's right. Yeah, we won an Emmy, and... The thing that was so interesting about that was I was involved in a movie that was winning film festivals and people didn't seem to care. It was not what I thought the reception would be. And at the same time, actually, I saw this competition that was for a movie. It was called Slither, I think.

That's right. Yeah, we won an Emmy, and... The thing that was so interesting about that was I was involved in a movie that was winning film festivals and people didn't seem to care. It was not what I thought the reception would be. And at the same time, actually, I saw this competition that was for a movie. It was called Slither, I think.

And basically, they said, we're going to release a bunch of footage from this movie. Anyone can edit it into a trailer. And then we're going to use the best trailer as the trailer. And I remember seeing this competition thinking, oh my gosh, if I win this competition, it's probably going to be better for my career than the feature length documentary. You get like 25 grand if they use your thing.

And basically, they said, we're going to release a bunch of footage from this movie. Anyone can edit it into a trailer. And then we're going to use the best trailer as the trailer. And I remember seeing this competition thinking, oh my gosh, if I win this competition, it's probably going to be better for my career than the feature length documentary. You get like 25 grand if they use your thing.

And I was like, well, that's amazing. And being able to say you did a national ad, that would be incredible. And so it was this weird thing of this online filmmaking competition. This was a one-off where like, this would be better for my career than the feature documentary. And that was what made us think something really big could be happening here.

And I was like, well, that's amazing. And being able to say you did a national ad, that would be incredible. And so it was this weird thing of this online filmmaking competition. This was a one-off where like, this would be better for my career than the feature documentary. And that was what made us think something really big could be happening here.

And that was enough to start, which was the important part. But it was not an overnight success. We started and then pivoted and pivoted and pivoted and found our way to what the beginnings of what Wistia is today. But yeah, it was that understanding and this counterintuitive idea of maybe online will really democratize this. And it totally did. It just took a lot longer than we thought.

And that was enough to start, which was the important part. But it was not an overnight success. We started and then pivoted and pivoted and pivoted and found our way to what the beginnings of what Wistia is today. But yeah, it was that understanding and this counterintuitive idea of maybe online will really democratize this. And it totally did. It just took a lot longer than we thought.

We started on this idea of the competition website, and we quickly realized we needed a two-sided market. To make it a real business, we'd have to have a lot of people who wanted competitions. And then we'd also need a lot of filmmakers to do the creation of the content. Well, which brands do we know? Well, we don't know any of them. We're just out of college. Are they going to talk to us?

We started on this idea of the competition website, and we quickly realized we needed a two-sided market. To make it a real business, we'd have to have a lot of people who wanted competitions. And then we'd also need a lot of filmmakers to do the creation of the content. Well, which brands do we know? Well, we don't know any of them. We're just out of college. Are they going to talk to us?

And so pretty quickly, we're like, this is not a good idea, actually. This is a bad idea for us to do. But we got off of that idea. And then we went towards our next idea, which was, well, let's still help filmmakers. Maybe what we can do is just help them get their video online, help them build a portfolio.

And so pretty quickly, we're like, this is not a good idea, actually. This is a bad idea for us to do. But we got off of that idea. And then we went towards our next idea, which was, well, let's still help filmmakers. Maybe what we can do is just help them get their video online, help them build a portfolio.

This is an idea that makes a lot of sense because there's been a bunch of companies that have done this successfully. We started doing it. We built a portfolio builder. We built the video hosting part of it. And then we launched it and started trying to get people on it. We got maybe like 500 active people using this thing. Which at that time, again, I thought we'd be doing this for six months.

This is an idea that makes a lot of sense because there's been a bunch of companies that have done this successfully. We started doing it. We built a portfolio builder. We built the video hosting part of it. And then we launched it and started trying to get people on it. We got maybe like 500 active people using this thing. Which at that time, again, I thought we'd be doing this for six months.

I thought it would go viral. Side note, we did some side projects that did go viral. So we had actually experienced that. And this was not viral. This was like slow, steady, getting more people on there. And we started thinking we need to make money because how are you supposed to survive? We didn't raise money at this point. And my co-founder and I are like a year out of college when we started.

I thought it would go viral. Side note, we did some side projects that did go viral. So we had actually experienced that. And this was not viral. This was like slow, steady, getting more people on there. And we started thinking we need to make money because how are you supposed to survive? We didn't raise money at this point. And my co-founder and I are like a year out of college when we started.