Today we’d like to introduce you to Bettina Hein.
Bettina, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Back before Pixability, when I was fresh out of the University of Constance, I helped found a company called SVOX. If you’re reading this on an Android, then your device’s text-to-speech technology is built on SVOX technology. The company was later sold to Nuance Communications for $124M. After studying at MIT as a Sloan Fellow, I saw that digital video technology was about to change the world. So, I founded Pixability to simplify digital video for marketers.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Entrepreneurship is never an easy road. I founded both SVOX and Pixability during major downturns (the dot-com bubble in 2001, and the Great Recession in 2008), making it difficult to get funding and make a splash in sluggish markets. Having two children while leading a startup is no laughing matter, either.
Over the life of Pixability, we’ve had to adapt our business to fit what the customers wanted. We started out as a video production shop, which evolved into a YouTube marketing company when we saw marketers needed help understanding this new digital video platform. Then, we started building technology to help brands and agencies get more out of their YouTube advertising. Now, our technology maximizes the performance video advertising across the major video platforms — YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Spotify.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Pixability – what should we know?
Our company builds video advertising technology to help media professionals connect with the right consumers on the right platforms at the right time. Our customers rely on our technology and expertise to achieve their marketing goals across social video platforms — whether that’s increasing product or brand awareness, or encouraging a viewer to make a purchase, we help them do it right.
I’m most proud of our people — we’re the elite of the elite in ad tech. The team is highly-collaborative, hard-working, and driven. We put everything we have into this company, and as our customers know, it shows. Beyond what we’re building, one thing that sets Pixability apart is how women are represented in leadership roles. I’m proud to say that 50% of our leadership team is female — that’s far and above the standard in tech.
How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc?
I’m numbers-oriented to the core: after all, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. My personal yardstick for success is in how many jobs I’ve created. And good jobs at that — to me, it’s imperative that the work my employees do gives them meaning. My goal is to create 5,000 jobs — enough to employ the equivalent of my home town’s population (Bad Nauheim, Germany). By my last estimate, I’ve created roughly 800 jobs. We’ve got ways to go, but I’m confident we’ll get there.
Contact Info:
- Address: 77 North Washington Street,
- Website: pixability.com
- Email: info@pixability.com
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
