Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Savage.
Chris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Wistia began as a two-person operation based out of a not-so-spacious bedroom in Cambridge, MA, and over the past ten years has grown into a business with over 80 employees and 350,000 loyal customers. My co-founder and best friend from college, Brendan Schwartz, and I started Wistia because we wanted to break into what we saw as the next big thing: video. A friend who worked at a medical startup bemoaned the complicated process of video sharing, and our first task as a team was finding a solution. We started as a service that offered private video sharing and have since grown and expanded into video hosting and creation.
Has it been a smooth road?
No. And I’m envious of any company that had a “smooth road” to drive on as they grew.
Things that were incredibly hard include: finding our first customers, uncovering viable marketing channels, getting pricing for the product right, convincing early investors to sign on, figuring out how to build a product that is simple for new customers, but powerful enough for existing customers, hiring great people, balancing building for existing customers with building for new customers, making payroll when sales were slower than expected, figuring out how to position ourselves against a company like YouTube, saying ‘no’ to big deals that were the wrong fit, letting go of customers who were bad for the company, killing products that were sort of successful but weren’t taking off, and a whole lot of other struggles.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Wistia – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Wistia is a video platform that allows business teams, including marketing, sales, HR, customer support, and more, to harness the power of video with our hosting, creation, and editing tools. We offer advanced features like in-depth analytics, heat maps, and more to provide insights into how your video content is performing. We also integrate with a number of leading marketing platforms like HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot. Most recently, we launched Soapbox by Wistia, a free browser-based screen and webcam recording solution that empowers everyone, regardless of skillset, to quickly and easily create beautiful, shareable videos.
As a company, we’re super proud of the amazing team and unique culture we’ve built here over the years. We believe that if you can find a way to make the work you’re doing more fun that you’ll be able to do it for longer, and better. We always aim to put our company culture first, which I think sets us up for success in a unique way. Fostering a strong company culture is incredibly hard and takes a ton of vigilance, but it’s always worth it in the long run. It keeps us feeling happy, motivated, and inspired, and even shines through in our brand.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I grew up in a family full of tech fanatics – my father helped start the computer science program at Brown University and my brother worked at Microsoft for several years. As a result, I’ve always followed trends in technology, so I have them to thank for solidifying me as an early adopter from a very young age.
And obviously I never could have done any of this without Brendan Schwartz, my co-founder. We’ve been in this together since the beginning and there is absolutely, no way I could have ever gotten anywhere without his partnership.
Above all, Wistia would not be what it is today without our amazing team; we have an incredibly strong group of ambitious team players who are all super passionate about what they do. That’s one of the many advantage of building a business from the ground up. Every person we’ve brought on has played a part in taking us to where we are today.
Pricing:
- Wistia offers a number pricing options so that everyone can find a plan that meets their business needs. Packages range from a freemium model to a pro plan at $99 a month, to a premium offer that varies based on individual requirements.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wistia.com/
- Instagram: @wistia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wistia
- Twitter: @wistia
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/1316084/
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