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Congrats Randall! If you can answer, I'd love to hear a bit more about the unknown-guy-vs-major-broadcaster relationship :) Did you have any issues as such a sm

by jlees 13y ago

Congrats Randall! If you can answer, I'd love to hear a bit more about the unknown-guy-vs-major-broadcaster relationship :) Did you have any issues as such a small company dealing with a big giant like CNN?

randall 13y ago
So just like any company, the bigger your price, the more people who have to sign off. So given that we're really really inexpensive compared to most other companies, it's actually really easy for us to get spun up inside most broadcast companies. CNN was a total non-issue. We showed them a demo at a conference, and then it was just a matter of getting the actual "button pressers" ready to use it on TV. Really simple. Typically, we can just work with an individual production team, show our vision (the vision helps a lot. People love that we're not just hackers, we're broadcasters too) and get on the air really quickly. CBS, for instance, had a production team for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And the day before, they called us so they could use our system to get Instagram photos on the air. Normal broadcast procurement processes are like 6 weeks minimum. Most local broadcasters are in "station groups", and sometimes when we get presented to the higher ups, it's a less-than-pleasant sales cycle because they do things the old way. (a billion meetings, back and forth on contracts, etc.) For the most part though, we're able to avoid that headache. Does that answer your q? I think you were one of the first people I showed the prototype to at startup school a few years ago, so it's fun to talk about how far it's come since then! :)
- jlees 13y ago
  Thanks for the detail! One of the folks I'm working with is having trouble banging their head against a big co, but it's good to hear you didn't have such issues. Hadn't thought about it in terms of price, beyond individual budget expense caps... Awesome to see how far it's come, yeah!

by jlees 13y ago

randall 13y ago

So just like any company, the bigger your price, the more people who have to sign off. So given that we're really really inexpensive compared to most other companies, it's actually really easy for us to get spun up inside most broadcast companies. CNN was a total non-issue. We showed them a demo at a conference, and then it was just a matter of getting the actual "button pressers" ready to use it on TV. Really simple. Typically, we can just work with an individual production team, show our vision (the vision helps a lot. People love that we're not just hackers, we're broadcasters too) and get on the air really quickly. CBS, for instance, had a production team for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And the day before, they called us so they could use our system to get Instagram photos on the air. Normal broadcast procurement processes are like 6 weeks minimum. Most local broadcasters are in "station groups", and sometimes when we get presented to the higher ups, it's a less-than-pleasant sales cycle because they do things the old way. (a billion meetings, back and forth on contracts, etc.) For the most part though, we're able to avoid that headache. Does that answer your q? I think you were one of the first people I showed the prototype to at startup school a few years ago, so it's fun to talk about how far it's come since then! :)

jlees 13y ago
Thanks for the detail! One of the folks I'm working with is having trouble banging their head against a big co, but it's good to hear you didn't have such issues. Hadn't thought about it in terms of price, beyond individual budget expense caps... Awesome to see how far it's come, yeah!