I am happy to say that the first Founders Roundtable event went extremely well. In the end we had 11 participants ranging from startups, VC’s, and industry executives and the feedback that I have received has been extremely positive.
The beauty of the roundtable approach is that it lends itself to having a frank and laid back discussion as opposed to a formal format with a Q&A. At the roundtableeveryone was able to jump in and ask probing questions and follow up questions as needed. I had the privilege of moderating the first event and led off with the question of “How has the current landscape of online video evolved?”
The roundtable touched on a number of topics from video distribution- how it has picked -up over the past year and that more and more people are viewing videos online; staffing — how to find the most qualified person for an open position, the difficulty of sifting through the hundreds of resumes; CPM’s – what are the going CMP’s and what they will be in the future, Copyright and legal issues — distribution of videos, copyright infringement; Marketing – how to acquire users, marketing budget; Social Media — how they are embracing various methods to promote their brand and word via Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, etc.
It was interesting to see the dynamics between the executives from Google, HBO, and MTV as they were curious to hear about each others strategies on marketing, retention, revenue, and other topics. I was surprised that none of the founders or executives knew each other, it just goes to show you how big the industry is in general and in NY specifically.
As you can see many things were touched upon and the above list does not really encompass the entirety of the conversation. What I did take away from the conversation is that each company is coming into its own right and carving their niche. Partnerships are integral to their success and each company is reliant on ways to signing up partners so they can distribute their content or bring on partners that generate content. From the industry executive side they were excited to see how innovative the companies are and amazed to see the challenges that they face from building and leading a company to profitability.
Overall, it was a successful event and from what I have been told by the participants they expect some deals to happen from the roundtable. To me that is what I consider a successful event. Most of all I want to thank all the particpants for attending and making the event successful, it was a pleasure to meet everyone.
On that note I have already started working towards the next event which will be on September 30th and the focus will be on Social Media.
Details will be coming shortly.
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