Victor Riparbelli

Do you not pay attention to competitors? Of course you pay attention to competitors. And now we have lots of them, right? I think it's great to have someone to kind of play ball against to some extent. One of the interesting things about Synthesia is that when we raised our A to B to C round, it was very much a secret how fast we were growing and how much people loved the product.

A lot of people looked at us from the outside like, oh yeah, there's like a few people in learning and development and training that thinks it's like a cool thing to spend time on making these AI videos, right? And what we actually saw from the inside was holy shit, this is huge. And training and learning was the first market we targeted, but this is clearly just the beginning.

A lot of people looked at us from the outside like, oh yeah, there's like a few people in learning and development and training that thinks it's like a cool thing to spend time on making these AI videos, right? And what we actually saw from the inside was holy shit, this is huge. And training and learning was the first market we targeted, but this is clearly just the beginning.

A lot of people looked at us from the outside like, oh yeah, there's like a few people in learning and development and training that thinks it's like a cool thing to spend time on making these AI videos, right? And what we actually saw from the inside was holy shit, this is huge. And training and learning was the first market we targeted, but this is clearly just the beginning.

But from the outside, it looked like, oh, it's just like cute UK company doing these avatars. It's kind of fun, but like most people probably don't use it for anything else than just like making a fun video for their mom. And so for many years, we had the market to ourselves. And then slowly people started to realize that, okay, actually this is maybe not just like a flash in the pan cool demo.

But from the outside, it looked like, oh, it's just like cute UK company doing these avatars. It's kind of fun, but like most people probably don't use it for anything else than just like making a fun video for their mom. And so for many years, we had the market to ourselves. And then slowly people started to realize that, okay, actually this is maybe not just like a flash in the pan cool demo.

But from the outside, it looked like, oh, it's just like cute UK company doing these avatars. It's kind of fun, but like most people probably don't use it for anything else than just like making a fun video for their mom. And so for many years, we had the market to ourselves. And then slowly people started to realize that, okay, actually this is maybe not just like a flash in the pan cool demo.

Maybe there's something real under the hood. And so we started getting a lot of competitors. We have one particular competitor that, I mean, literally verbatim copied our mission statement, like everything I say. They like just copy everything that we do.

Maybe there's something real under the hood. And so we started getting a lot of competitors. We have one particular competitor that, I mean, literally verbatim copied our mission statement, like everything I say. They like just copy everything that we do.

Maybe there's something real under the hood. And so we started getting a lot of competitors. We have one particular competitor that, I mean, literally verbatim copied our mission statement, like everything I say. They like just copy everything that we do.

They know who they are. But they copy everything that we do from the way we talk about the product, we talk about the market. And of course, that's annoying, right? But that's capitalism. That's good. And then eventually, you start to learn from your competitors. They do something right. They do something wrong. And it's actually very helpful.

They know who they are. But they copy everything that we do from the way we talk about the product, we talk about the market. And of course, that's annoying, right? But that's capitalism. That's good. And then eventually, you start to learn from your competitors. They do something right. They do something wrong. And it's actually very helpful.

They know who they are. But they copy everything that we do from the way we talk about the product, we talk about the market. And of course, that's annoying, right? But that's capitalism. That's good. And then eventually, you start to learn from your competitors. They do something right. They do something wrong. And it's actually very helpful.

It's really difficult to pioneer space because you have no feedback loop except for whatever you do and how the market reacts to that, right? And seeing what competitors are doing and seeing what works and what doesn't work is extremely powerful. I think for us, at least, that's been a very powerful thing for us the last 12 months.

It's really difficult to pioneer space because you have no feedback loop except for whatever you do and how the market reacts to that, right? And seeing what competitors are doing and seeing what works and what doesn't work is extremely powerful. I think for us, at least, that's been a very powerful thing for us the last 12 months.

It's really difficult to pioneer space because you have no feedback loop except for whatever you do and how the market reacts to that, right? And seeing what competitors are doing and seeing what works and what doesn't work is extremely powerful. I think for us, at least, that's been a very powerful thing for us the last 12 months.

I think the reason that we had a massive re-acceleration in the second half of the year, and a big part of that is actually because our competitors did a whole bunch of marketing for the category. We clearly had the superior product. So that actually helped us quite significantly. I don't think you always have to be the first to do something.

I think the reason that we had a massive re-acceleration in the second half of the year, and a big part of that is actually because our competitors did a whole bunch of marketing for the category. We clearly had the superior product. So that actually helped us quite significantly. I don't think you always have to be the first to do something.

I think the reason that we had a massive re-acceleration in the second half of the year, and a big part of that is actually because our competitors did a whole bunch of marketing for the category. We clearly had the superior product. So that actually helped us quite significantly. I don't think you always have to be the first to do something.

If you're good at being a fast follower, that's also very powerful. It's a different way of running the company when you have a lot of feedback signals in the market around you. But it's much more fun. And I think it helps you get to the right answer for your customers much faster, which ultimately is the most important thing.