SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

He Can Get You 100,000 Quality Live Viewers Instantly, Ep 294: Eddie Vaca

17 Jun 2016

19 min

3581 words

2 speakers

17 Jun 2016

Audio

Description

Eddie Vaca. Eddie's the founder of Amp Live, a company that can generate thousands of online viewers for your live event. Eddie worked for Youstream before deciding to take over the online live video space on his own. Listen in as Nathan and Eddie talk selling your first company, generating 300,000 viewers for a 20-minute show, and why live video is taking over the internet. Famous 5 Favorite Book? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things What CEO do you follow? — Jack Dorsey and Gary Vaynerchuk What is your favorite online tool? — Grope bots Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? —You can't do it by yourself. Surround yourself with great people. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:30 – Nathan's introduction 01:48 – Welcoming Eddie to the show 02:08 – Eddie created his first digital publication aged 24: it was an action-sports lifestyle publication that was published via DVD 02:45 – AOL bought it for $25k 03:20 – Eddie's embarrassed about the price now - but it was a small win that got him some momentum 03:45 – Got involved in a digital out-of-home screens business 05:12 – Moved to Youstream aged 30 to learn everything he could about digital online 06:08 – Youstream raised around $60 million and sold for around $120 million - why didn't it sell for more? 07:30 – "Video is huge - it's taking over the internet. And live is everywhere." 08:04 – "The biggest problem people see today is that driving live channels outside of sport is really tough. Amp Live helps people move into those channels." 09:10 - Amp Live is largely bootstrapped. Have raised a small friends-and-family round of $100k 09:40 - Revenue in 2015 was $1.3 million. Generates revenue by "selling eyeballs" 10:15 – Charges broadcasters to generate viewers for an event 10:50 – Customers include Martha Stewart, Microsoft, runways shows for New York Fashion Week…"If it's live and it's video, we want to be in there." 11:58 – Generated 300k viewers for a 20-minute runway show 13:30 – Aiming to make every broadcaster a direct distribution partner 14:05 – Hoping to make around $3.9 million in 2016 14:44 – Connect with Eddie on Twitter or visit Amp Live 16:20 – Famous Five 3 Key Points: Video is taking over the internet. Live video is going to be the next challenge. Not everyone ends up on TechCrunch, selling their first company for millions. Be proud of the small steps you take and the gradual successes you build up. Surround yourself with amazing people and help them to grow. Resources Mentioned: Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Chapters

1. What is the main topic discussed in this episode? 2. What inspired Eddie Vaca to create his first digital publication? 3. What is the significance of live video in today's digital landscape? 4. What challenges does Amp Live address in the live video space? 5. How does Amp Live generate revenue from live events? 6. What strategies does Eddie use to attract viewers for live shows? 7. What are Eddie's revenue projections for Amp Live in 2016? 8. How did Eddie's experience at Ustream shape his career?

Featured

Nathan Latka

Eddie Vaca

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 15.768 Nathan Latka

This is The Top, where I interview entrepreneurs who are number one or number two in their industry in terms of revenue or customer base. You'll learn how much revenue they're making, what their marketing funnel looks like, and how many customers they have.

Chapter 2: What inspired Eddie Vaca to create his first digital publication?

16.268 - 19.391 Nathan Latka

I'm now at $20,000 per top. Five and six million.

19.411 - 24.056 Eddie Vaca

He is hell-bent on global domination. We just broke our 100,000-unit soul mark.

24.076 - 27.54 Nathan Latka

And I'm your host, Nathan Latka.

Chapter 3: What is the significance of live video in today's digital landscape?

27.52 - 35.487 Nathan Latka

Okay, Top Tribe, this week's winner of the 100 bucks is none other than Derek Roddenbeck.

Chapter 4: What challenges does Amp Live address in the live video space?

35.988 - 52.744 Nathan Latka

He is an artist and he's looking to increase his revenue. If you want your chance to enter and to win 100 bucks each Monday on the show, simply subscribe to the podcast on iTunes now and then text the word Nathan to 33444 to prove that you did it.

Chapter 5: How does Amp Live generate revenue from live events?

53.164 - 57.308 Nathan Latka

Again, text the word Nathan to 33444.

Chapter 6: What strategies does Eddie use to attract viewers for live shows?

57.288 - 63.985 Nathan Latka

Good morning, Top Tribe. You are listening to episode 294. Tune in right early tomorrow morning to hear from Aman Advani.

Chapter 7: What are Eddie's revenue projections for Amp Live in 2016?

64.225 - 83.527 Nathan Latka

He's an MIT grad who's reinventing clothes. He's raised $7 million and over 500 grand on Kickstarter. Top Tribe, good morning to all of you guys, especially you early birds who are playing this, what, 4 or 5 a.m.? Is that what you guys are doing these days? Crazy. Anyways, you're going to love our guest today. His name is Eddie Vaca.

83.547 - 103.753 Nathan Latka

He started his first digital publication at 24, which sold to AOL and Time Warner. He then ran a global network and ad operations for RMG Networks, which built digital out-of-home networks for New York Times, Delta Airlines, and 24 Hour Fitness. He then went on to Ustream, which just recently sold to IBM for $130 million to build their live video distribution product.

104.154 - 122.334 Nathan Latka

He broke off of Ustream and recently started AMP Live. Eddie, are you ready to take us to the top? I am, Nathan. Thank you for having me this morning. This is great. Well, first off, you've had a lot of success. How old are you? I am 35. 35. Okay. I love that. So take us back real quick. This is self-serving because I'm thinking about digital publications right now.

122.696 - 126.428 Nathan Latka

At 24, what was the digital publication and what'd you sell to AOL on Time Warner for?

127.42 - 130.824 Eddie Vaca

Um, that's actually really, that's a great question.

130.844 - 132.345 Nathan Latka

It wasn't like a porn publication, was it?

133.046 - 154.172 Eddie Vaca

It was not. It was actually, it was an action sports lifestyle magazine, uh, that we quickly started, uh, publishing via DVDs. So instead of doing a traditional, you know, a hardback or paperback magazine, we decided to make it digital, put it all on DVD, do very interactive, uh, remote control interactivity with it. And that's what we did.

154.292 - 158.459 Eddie Vaca

So it was one of the first of its kind, but that's what we're doing digitally.

158.559 - 159.64 Nathan Latka

How old were you when you sold it?

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Chapter 8: How did Eddie's experience at Ustream shape his career?

281.447 - 295.588 Eddie Vaca

So they're using it for internal communications. They're using it for just ease of use in McDonald's. Instead of changing out menus every quarter, they can change it out instantly. It's all done digitally now.

295.668 - 300.595 Nathan Latka

So if you were bullish on that, help me understand the psychology of why you decided to jump out and go to Ustream.

301.435 - 322.381 Eddie Vaca

I always knew that I wanted to get back into owning my own business and do it in video. So I saw the video wave coming, working from a digital publication into digital at home video was that next wave. And I needed that experience. So I went and I learned everything that I could about the video space and online.

322.621 - 325.705 Nathan Latka

What year was that? And how old were you when you went to Ustream?

325.685 - 331.656 Eddie Vaca

Oh, geez. I was 30 years old when I went to Ustream. I stood there for a couple of years.

332.136 - 332.697 Nathan Latka

Okay.

333.058 - 334.501 Eddie Vaca

Yeah, I was there for a couple of years.

334.821 - 356.202 Nathan Latka

And they raised... So I'm going to try and back into this. They raised, I believe, somewhere around $60 million. And I believe their exit was for something like two times that. Now... if the investors had even a small liquidation preference, a 2x liquidation preference, my gut tells me the founders and other folks on the cap table really didn't make much if they were common stockholders.

356.442 - 367.926 Nathan Latka

Usually, you want to see an exit for 10 times, obviously, what the investment was. So, my question was, if that's all factually correct, I don't know if it is, correct me if I'm wrong, but if that is factually correct, why didn't Ustream sell for more?