Mitch Holyoak -- Promoted to Head Up Sorenson Media's Salt Lake Office

Today, we at Sorenson Media announce that online video expert/pioneer Mitch Holyoak has been promoted to head up our Salt Lake City office, which acts primarily as our development nerve center for our core compression, Squeeze Desktop, and Squeeze Server products and technology.

Mitch has seen it all at Sorenson Media -- and has been with the company throughout all of its various incarnations since the late '90's.  First, as a core codec technology company.  Then, and until late 2005, Sorenson Media was primarily focused on the VRS business -- "video relay services" (live video communications) for the hearing impaired and deaf community.  Sorenson Media, during this time, made hardware boxes and operated services for such live communications.  The vast majority of Sorenson Media's assets were spun out in late 2005 in what to this day is the largest private equity deal in Utah history.  It was a massive success for all -- and Mitch was in the thick of it.

After this spin-out, Sorenson Media eventually became the company that it is today -- focused on developing and offering the broadest range of high quality and flexible video workflow/transcoding solutions.  The remaining assets of the company were augmented by a new significant investment in R&D led by Mitch.  In other words, Sorenson Media essentially was a new VC-styled start-up beginning in 2008; our new management team -- including myself -- came on board in very early 2009 to lead this start-up.  Mitch has been my "go to" guy on the core development side ever since.

Mitch is undoubtedly one of the foremost experts in video compression/encoding/transcoding in the world today.  He has lived, eaten and breathed this "stuff" longer than just about anyone.  He is rock solid.  He is dedicated.  He is a man of his word.  He is quiet.  He is thoughtful.  He is humble.

He is an all-around great guy.

It is an honor to work with him -- and this feeling is shared by literally everyone at Sorenson Media.

I congratulate him -- well-deserved; long overdue.

Patents -- THE Topic in Tech This Week

All eyes in tech this week will be watching the epic court-room patent battle that begins and has the real (not exaggerated) potential of disrupting the global mobile market.  It is Goliath v. Goliath(s).  In this corner, we have Apple.  In the other corner, we have the challenger -- Samsung.  And, all over the ring is Google.

Apple, in essence, claims Samsung (via Google's Android O/S) ripped off the overall iPhone experience, as well as the iPhone's form factor itself.  Samsung has countered with patents of its own.  Google itself is not sued in this one, but may as well have been.  Its overall mobile strategy is at stake.

With patent trolls proliferating in the world of tech -- and dampening innovation -- is there really a point in multi-billion dollar tech behemoths battling each other?  Apple, of course, has $116 BILLION in cash right now, and Samsung just finished its best quarter ever.  Apple and Samsung are THE 1-2 punch in the mobile world.

My prediction?

If the case does not settle -- which it will not (at least for a while) -- the court will find a way to be practical and toss it out.  It will ultimately overlook the precise details of the actual patents at stake and do what Judge Posner has done -- chide both sides.

Brightcove/Zencoder -- My Thoughts

Big news yesterday in the online video transcoding market in which we play -- 10 person cloud transcoding start-up Zencoder is being acquired by recently-public online video platform grand-daddy Brightcove for $30 million.  Not sure whether this is an all cash, all stock, or combination of both deal.

First, congratulations to both Zencoder and Brightcove.  I know both companies well -- and respect them.  Jon Dahl, co-Founder and CEO of Zencoder is a good/smart guy -- and, he is a fellow Minnesotan, so that only adds to the equation.  President David Mendels of Brightcove also is a stand-up guy and is a seasoned savvy executive.

What does this deal demonstrate?  Here are three things:

(1) video encoding/transcoding is increasingly critical in this increasingly multi-screen world; optimized video transformation is essential by a broad swath of companies;

(2) video workflows are increasingly moving to the Cloud, including video encoding/transcoding, for all the reasons about which I have previously written;

(3) video encoding/transcoding is hard, very hard; even online video experts Brightcove felt it important to look outside of themselves for increased horse-power and expertise.

Amen to all three.  These are three themes with which we violently agree here at Sorenson Media.  That's why we have expanded our desktop video encoding dominance ("Sorenson Squeeze") into the enterprise with Cloud and hybrid Cloud solutions.

Good work gentlemen!

In Honor of My Father, Denes Csathy -- London Olympian, 1948

My father, Denes Csathy -- greatest man I have ever known.  Plain and simple.  No flash.  All substance.  Suffered a lot.  Overcame it.  Accomplished great things.  Lived life.  Appreciated life.  The full spectrum.

Most of all, he was a great dad.

Indulge me in this post.

What prompted me to write this -- my first formal tribute to my father -- is that we are on the eve of the opening ceremonies for the London Olympic games.  And, my father, Denes, also participated in the Olympic games in London.  The 1948 London Olympics -- for the Hungarian pentathlon team.  (This, on the right, is his official identification card as a "competitor" in the 1948 London Olympics.)  Very few, if any, people ever knew this about my father amongst those with whom I grew up -- because my father never trumpeted himself.  He was far too humble.

My father -- who passed away way too young in 1991 -- was a quiet, brilliant, devoted man.  He and my mother, Eva, left everything behind (including their families) to escape Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Russian occupation.  They literally crossed the border -- by foot -- in the middle of the night amidst gunfire.  They did this for all the reasons you hear about in the Hollywood movies -- to create a new, and better, life for their eventual children.  But, this was for real.

I am a direct beneficiary of this, of course.

Denes had an extremely challenging life, apart from the Revolution itself (as if that were not enough).  He was paralyzed for nearly one year for extreme war injuries from a grenade.  He was later taken by Russian/Stalinist occupiers and left for dead for 5 years in a notorious Hungarian concentration camp called "Recsk", where he was tortured and saw friends killed.

Yet, my father never complained about any of this to me -- in fact, he chose not to discuss any of these things.  (And, regrettably, I never asked enough questions growing up ....).

Instead, once he reached the new land (first Canada, then the US -- Minnesota of all places!) -- he focused on constructive/productive things.  He focused on his passions.  He focused on building his family.  He focused on building his business.  He was a brilliant mechanical engineer and designer.  Through pure raw intelligence and drive, my father ultimately built a highly successful industrial business -- called "Deltak" -- that was largely built around the several patents he developed.  Seriously brilliant!  That's what he was!  He didn't do it for the money.  He did it because he loved it.  He worked hard.  Very hard.  But, this was never "work" for him.  It was his passion.

Yet, despite the challenges he faced in building and expanding this business, family ALWAYS came first.  And, FAMILY was his deepest passion.  I remember him always saying, when asked, that his family was his greatest "accomplishment."  This was not talk.  He lived it through his actions.

I have vivid -- very vivid -- and fond -- very fond -- memories of my father NEVER missing dinner with his family.  NEVER missing any of my myriad activities -- from band concerts, to track meets, to basketball games, to whatever else I next cooked up.  He was ALWAYS there.  And, ALWAYS proud.  He placed no overt pressure on me -- he simply instilled in me, and my wonderful siblings (Eva and George), good old-fashioned values of respect, authenticity, dedication, tenacity and hard work.  All by example.

It is not surprising that my sister, Eva, is a chemical engineer and my brother, George, is a pathologist.  Both accomplished professionally.  But, more importantly, both accomplished in all of those other more eternal values.  If nothing else, the Csathy clan is authentic.  In case there were ever any doubt about that, just meet our mother, Eva.  Family first.  Always has been.  Always will be.

My father suffered greatly, once again, at the end of his life.  He suffered a major stroke in 1985.  And, he never recovered.  He was partially paralyzed.  His brain was never the same.  Yet, his spirit and love were.

The biggest tragedy in my life is that my father never met my wonderful wife, Luisa.  He never met our wonderful kids, Hunter (girl, 12 -- going on 15), and Luca (boy, 9).  He died in 1991 -- I met Luisa in 1993.  Two years.  Two ships ....

Denes Csathy.  Great man.  Great life.  He lived it all.  He experienced (and built!) great wonders.  He suffered great pain.

He is incredibly loved ... and he is undoubtedly still with us.  I can tell you a story about that some time ....

The London Olympics.  Especially poignant for me.  Especially reflective.  Especially meaningful.

(PS -- as indicated above, I have never previously written a tribute about my father.  It is amazing how easily this all flowed ... cathartic ... thanks for indulging ...).

Catch Eric Quanstrom LIVE on Larry Jordan's Show TONIGHT

Internationally renowned digital media consultant and overall online video guru Larry Jordan hosts a highly respected and followed weekly podcast called "Digital Production Buzz."  Sorenson Media's very own COO, Eric Quanstrom, is one of Larry's guests tonight -- discussing overall video workflow issues -- and solutions.  I have worked with Eric for over 5 years -- believe me, he knows his stuff.  And, this WILL be informational -- it will NOT be an info-mercial for Sorenson Media.


Catch him in the third segment of Larry's show tonight -- which starts at 6 pm PT (9 pm ET).


Among other plaudits, Larry has over 35 years experience as a television producer, director, and editor with national broadcast and corporate credits. He's also a member of both the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.  

Sorenson Media -- 5 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Noms (& 3 Wins) Last Year -- This Year?

It's that time of year again (already) -- online video industry leading pub Streaming Media just opened up nominations for its annual coveted "Readers' Choice" awards.

Last year, Sorenson Media was nominated for more categories (5) -- and took home the prize in more categories (3) -- than ANY other company, big or small (including the most coveted of all -- "Best Online Video Technology Company").  In fact, we have won Readers' Choice awards 5 years running.  This is a badge of honor we hold dearly, because it is the actual users of our products (and competitor online video products) who decide who is the best.

Last year, we were nominated in the following 5 categories:

(1) Best Online Video Technology Company -- which we won
(2) Best Encoding Software (under $1,000) -- which we won for "Sorenson Squeeze"
(3) Best Cloud Encoding/Transcoding Service -- which we won for "Squeeze Cloud"
(4) Best Encoding Software (over $1,000) -- nominated for "Squeeze Server"
(5) Best Online Video Platform -- nominated for "Sorenson 360"

This year, the categories are virtually identical.

So, nominate using this link (and submitting multiple nominations for multiple products).  Be sure to use the "Encoding Software (Desktop)" category for Sorenson Squeeze -- and "Encoding Software (Enterprise Grade)" for Squeeze Server.

Let the fun begin ...

SS Coachella -- Am There! YEA(Sayer)!

Ahh yes Goldenvoice (actually, behemoth AEG) -- your beyond-successful "Coachella" music festival is not just the same old Coachella anymore.  Now, "Coachella" has become a full-on brand -- and AEG is clearly intent on extending and milking that cash cow for all it's worth.  

Exhibit A -- the "SS Coachella Music Festival at Sea."  I had no idea this was happening until early last week -- but, yes, AEG has created a mini-Coachella that leaves the desert and, instead, sails into the Caribbean in December.  I stumbled upon this under-reported development via Twitter last week and, to my surprise, found the entire coachella.com website devoted to the new experience (it isn't anymore).  I turned to my wife, Luisa, and said -- "we are in!" (and she gamely said, "of course," because she knew that I wouldn't take "no" for an answer).  AEG simply had me at "hello" -- flying to Miami, leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, sailing to the Bahamas on a luxury cruise liner, and listening to live music the whole way.  What's not to like for a passionate music fan and long-time attendee of Coachella and other music festivals?  

For me, the line-up itself is not the draw -- there are no "A" players.  I mean, come on -- "Pulp" is the headliner?  But, then again, Yeasayer will play, as will Warpaint and Grimes (among others).  For me, the overall EXPERIENCE is the draw.  Despite all of my travels, my wife and I have never been to Miami.  Never been on a cruise.  And, there has never before been an SS Coachella music festival at sea.

Surprisingly, the SS Coachella has not yet sold-out.  I had expected it to sell out within minutes when tix went on sale this past Saturday.

So, will AEG/Goldenvoice succeed in its attempt to take desert music to the high seas?  My guess is an absolute "yes."  The massive company is absolutely committed to the "Coachella" brand.  And, it is using this new event as a trial balloon to learn -- and then expand even beyond that.

All I know is that this will be an incredibly memorable event ....

(One more thing -- Customer Support "watch":  the folks at AEG overseeing the event gave me stellar customer support and were incredibly helpful and responsive; after I booked, I realized that I was near the front of the ship -- and was told by the cruise liner that it would be better to be in the mid-section; so I reached out to the SS Coachella cruise directors and they accommodated.  BRAVO!)

To "Freemium" Or Not To Freemium, THAT Is The Question!

Yesterday, I read a controversial blog post by Rags Srinivasan on Gigaom -- titled "Freemium Has Run Its Course."  "Freemium," of course, refers to the business model used by many online/tech companies in which customers are given a choice of using either a "lean" free product or a more "sophisticated" feature-rich paid version of that product.  (The free version is intended to entice a broad swath of customers to try the product, so that some meaningful percentage of those free users ultimately upgrade to the paid version in order to get more of what they want.  In this way, the free version is properly considered to be a marketing expense).

In any event, Rags obviously chose his "Freemium Has Run Its Course" all-or-nothing conclusive title to (1) induce readers (like me) to read his post among the other billions of posts yesterday, and (2) generate lots of passionate responses from those readers (like me) who were baited by the title.  Bravo Rags!  Check and check!

Now, let's cast aside Rags' blogging tactics (which I commend, by the way, because he succeeded in creating this dialog which is much of the point anyway) and, instead, focus on the substance of his post.  Certainly, as Rags himself concedes in his own comments, the question "To Freemium or Not to Freemium?" does not intelligently lend itself to one black and white one-size-fits-all answer ... except for one ... and that is, "Well, it all depends ...."

Here are just some considerations/guidelines/reality checks on whether a Freemium model is right for you and your business, based on my experience with several companies that have effectively used it (including both former companies SightSpeed (consumer-focused video chat) and Musicmatch (consumer-focused online music software and services)):

(1) at the risk of stating the obvious, freemium rarely, if ever, is the right choice for products that target enterprise customers.  Enterprise products, if worth their salt, offer compelling value to customers based on significant (and frequently massive) investments in R&D.  Enterprise products generally offer significant depth for the target niche market -- a market willing to shell out significant cash if convinced of the value proposition.  And, in these cases -- in Rags' own words -- "You do not have to be ashamed of making a profit."

We fall into that camp at my company, online video technology leader Sorenson Media, in which we have invested tens of millions of dollars over the years to develop differentiated and proprietary professionally-focused video solutions.  We don't employ a freemium model.

But, we do offer the freemium model's cousin -- i.e., "Free Trials" -- as an integral part of our business model (and, importantly, to facilitate pure customer satisfaction).  Free trials -- in which we offer prospective customers the full paid product for a limited period of time -- are a frequently used enterprise-focused tool so that those prospective customers can see the product benefits first-hand before they drop down a chunk of real meaningful change.  If an enterprise customer-focused company is confident that its products offer meaningful and valuable benefits, then the free trial is frequently the right thing to do.

(2) Based on the discussion, and by implication, the freemium model is primarily a consideration for consumer-focused products and services.  That fit the bill for the consumer-focused online video chat and music products of my two former companies SightSpeed (acquired by Logitech) and Musicmatch (acquired by Yahoo!).  And, in the consumer case, the answer most definitely is not black and white (I again refer you back to the comments in Rags article which sufficiently detail some of the considerations).

One significant consideration of whether the freemium model is right for you is whether the "network effect" is important to your overall customer experience -- i.e., a critical mass of customers.  In the case of SightSpeed -- i.e., a consumer video chat application -- we employed a freemium model not only to monetize via the upsell, but even before that to propagate our video chat application outward as much as possible (and with the least amount of friction) in order build adoption and a directory of users.  The more users, the more utilitarian and compelling the overall customer experience.  Without users, after all, there would be no one to call!

So, "To Freemium Or Not to Freemium" is a question properly asked as you build your overall consumer-focused business and business model.  And, there are no absolute answers here.

On the other hand, Rags' title -- "Freemium Has Run Its Course" -- is just a tactic used to get you to really think through the issues.

In this way, perhaps Rags will lead you to ultimate riches ....

... pretty clever, eh?  (okay, not so much ....)

Giving Tree Movement -- Events Foster Solutions to "Race to Nowhere"

I have previously written about non-profit organization Giving Tree Movement -- earlier this year, I wrote about the organization's inaugural event in Rancho Santa Fe, California.  

Last week on July 18, Luisa Csathy (pictured standing on the left), Founder & Chief Inspiration Officer of Giving Tree Movement, held the organization's third major event in the Ranch.  Luisa moderated a parent focus group that featured nationally-known experts Susie Walton (Founder of Indigo Village -- seated on the right) and Tami Walsh (Founder of Teen Wisdom -- pictured seated in the center).  A select group of parents from the Rancho Santa Fe area were invited to attend this latest event -- I was one of the fortunate few to be one of them.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that I am married to Luisa -- that gives me special access to her events.  And, although I may be somewhat biased, I can tell you this -- Luisa is the real deal -- she is a quiet confident force who already has made a meaningful difference in lives all around us.   

Luisa's Giving Tree Movement (GTM) is a non-profit organization she started in 2011 to offer families solutions to today's issues and pressures from within the four walls of the home and through community support.  She founded GTM after seeing the problems and pressures families (and especially teens) face exposed in the film "Race to Nowhere." Those same themes are evident in the best-selling book "The Price of Privilege."

Luisa's latest GTM event followed her earlier GTM event in April at the Rancho Santa Fe Inn, which was titled "Finding Your Passion," and which featured international best-selling author Janet Attwood (author of "The Passion Test").  Csathy's inaugural Giving Tree Movement event was held at the Inn earlier this year in February, featuring not only Atwood, but also Walton, Walsh and Bobbi DePorter (founder and CEO of internationally known "Quantum Learning Network").

Essentially, Luisa's powerfully confident personality has attracted an all-star line-up of experts committed to giving parents, teens and kids tools to enable them to "succeed."   In Luisa's view of the world, "success" means that our kids learn to live meaningful, purposeful and authentic lives.

Amen to that!  (Pictured above from left to right relaxing after the event -- Leonora Langs, "Room to Read Foundation; Luisa Csathy; Tami Walsh; Susie Walton).

YouTube Now Pays $100M+ to Content Creators -- Now THAT's Real Cash!

Yes, the headline is true -- premium video content can, in fact, monetize online!  (Which is something I have always felt, by the way, as long-time readers know.)  YouTube is a leader in showing how, which may be surprising to some.

According to Google SVP Nikesh Arora, thousands of content partners each now generate in excess of $100,000 annually -- that's over $100 million, to you and me.  And, according to TechCrunch, over 1,300 clients attended YouTube's recent digital "upfront" -- i.e., its event to woo marketers to shell out big bucks.  That's 1,300 more ways to add to these coffers.

This is yet another data point demonstrating that the tide may be turning in the online monetization game via a combination of ad revenues, subscription revenues, and on-demand payments.  And, this also importantly means that YouTube is increasingly becoming a home for premium video content.  In other words, YouTube is not just for cute cuddly kitties anymore.

Premium video creators.  Here's your bottom line.  The more access consumers have to your premium content, the more potential ways you -- the content creator -- have to get your content seen, heard, and ultimately paid for.

Carpe Dollar-em.  Seize the opportunity!  Seize the cash!

Autodesk Goes "Social(cam)" -- The Power/Promise of Mobile Vid Sharing -- Yeah, We Got That!

Another important announcement yesterday in the world of online video -- mobile video sharing in particular.  Autodesk -- a leader in development and 3-D rendering software for video pros -- just acquired start-up Socialcam (a company with only 4 employees).  If you don't know Socialcam, you should.  Socialcam is one of many app developers focused on becoming the "Instagram for video", but its pedigree is different.  And, get this -- Autodesk is paying a whopping $60 million for this tiny company (4 employees) that builds essentially an app (of course, it is not "just an app" -- it is the most popular app on Facebook right now).

Why?  Because Autodesk is the latest much larger fish to recognize that there is serious gold in "them thar hills" of consumer video sharing.  After all, each of us has an HD video camera in our pockets virtually all the time (in the guise of an iPhone or Android smart phone).  Autodesk smartly wants to be ahead of the curve in tapping that largely-untapped-to-date market opportunity, which I believe ultimately will be massive.  After all, nothing is like video -- you are literally capturing priceless moments in time that still pics can't match.  And, Autodesk believes it has a unique story to tell here -- offering its professional filters, among other things, to make the vid sharing experience potentially more compelling than others.  In the words of Socialcam's CEO Mike Seibel, "We'll take the best of what the pros have and be able to bring those tools to everyday people."

But, in the words of Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, video is "hard."  Very hard.  Scratch that.  Very VERY hard.  Autodesk is banking on the fact that Seibel and his team have figured out all of the heavy lifting.  And, it is an impressive and experienced team.  They are, most definitely, video experts with a rich pedigree.

We respect that, because we here at Sorenson Media know how uniquely complex that video animal is -- nay, have internalized this -- and have solved these "hard" problems for over a decade.  As just one example, we have powered all video sharing on memory-sharing giant Shutterfly for over two years now. 

Further, and less public, we already have built and proven out a full consumer-focused mobile, and private (secure) "store and share" eco-system.  And, we come to this consumer video "store and share" game with literally scores of years of directly relevant online video experience that is tough to beat.  We know the hard problems -- we have felt that pain -- and we have worked through that pain to solve the vast majority of them.  

Video is a very different animal than photo sharing for many reasons -- including both (1) the sheer size of data, and (2) the complexity of doing it "right" (i.e., retaining HD video quality and optimizing video delivery to any device in our multi-screen world).  Speed of sharing (uploading the video, transcoding the video, delivering the video) and doing that all "right"(i.e., not dumbing down the HD video quality) are extremely difficult challenges to solve.  Fast file uploading is essential, as is world-class transcoding.  And, let's not forget a key ingredient emphasized by Autodesk -- professional filters.  We have those in spades -- it is one of our core competencies here at Sorenson Media.  That, together with other patented technology, is part of our "special sauce" to make every single video look as good as possible.

We feel we may uniquely have all the other ingredients necessary to make consumer video storing and sharing a drop-dead easy and compelling experience (we were the first video technology behind Apple QuickTime, Macromedia/Adobe Flash, and YouTube after all).  That's why Shutterfly trusts us.  That's why significant others are interested in our consumer-focused private mobile video "store and share" solutions.

And, make no mistake, consumer video sharing will become a massive business -- so long as it is easy and so long as the video looks really, really good ....

One final post-script -- let's not forget that mobile video sharing is not just for consumers.  Think of the applications for business and the enterprise.  For entertainment companies, add critical security layers -- among other things -- and, bam!, you have a true mobile digital dailies solution.  Yeah, we got that!  For ad agencies, same thing -- review and approval, bam!  Yeah, we got that!  Want to add in locked down education-based sharing?  Well, you know the drill by now ....

Bravo Autodesk and Socialcam.  You are smartly early here to tap this overall mobile vid sharing  opportunity.  Others are surely watching you.  And others will surely follow suit ....

S.S. Coachella -- Music Festival at Sea ... Sea-riously

I first thought this was a hoax ... but looks very real.  Coachella has just shipped out of the desert and onto the high seas.  Music fans, this looks incredible -- here's the proof -- here's the link.  This December ....

Newly Enhanced Sorenson 360 -- An OVP Like No Other

I am proud to report that we here at Sorenson Media have made some significant enhancements to "Sorenson 360", our differentiated online video platform (OVP).  Most significantly, we now have integrated our unique "Review & Approval" workflow features directly into 360 itself to enable the most efficient and streamlined video collaboration workflows.  And, existing users of 360 get all of this power for no additional cost (that's the beauty of being a SaaS customer).

Click on this link for the official press release that gives all the detail you could ask for.

Even before adding this new significantly differentiating "Review & Approval" functionality, Sorenson 360 stood apart from all other major OVPs in our humble opinion.  Two primary reasons: (1) quality -- put simply, our brand is known for enabling the highest quality video, and Sorenson 360 harnesses the full power of our award-winning Squeeze engine; and (2) workflow -- Sorenson 360 integrates seamlessly into Squeeze itself, adding another publishing destination from newly encoded jobs (in addition to all major CDNs, YouTube, etc.).


Now, for the first time, Review & Approval requests can also be generated solely through Sorenson 360 itself and now support exists in the 360 API for ANY asset type (we call this Abstract Asset IDs-- which means that we can support multiple files of a video-- any/all of the stages of a video's lifespan-- which would include Source, Mezzanine (Editing--ProRes, DNxHD or Archive--high-bitrate H.264, MPEG-2 or JPEG2000), Adaptive Bitrate or other final delivery (MP4, Flash, etc) formats). 


We also offer APIs at an even higher level of Review & Approval (for the media and entertainment business, as an example), which includes fan-out encoding with Adaptive Bitrate (Apple HLS), ALE edit metadata inclusion with videos, overwhelmingly tight security controls, playlist and commenting options -- all these features compete strongly with any of the services that currently ONLY do this as standalone companies (such as Pix Systems, Wiredrive or Aframe).


Finally, we are currently working with some of the biggest names in video on initiatives for Mezzanine delivery of premium content from content partners (read: any major studio, advertisers or content producers who'd have their content delivered by these OTT (Over-the-Top) services).  These are "partner" deals, as we are tuning our transcoding software to comply specifically with the preferred intermediate (or Mezzanine) format supported by these firms.


All in all, we think this is big news.  But, hey, who cares what we think (seriously)!  Let us know what you think.  Contact our Sales and Support teams (you can find those links on our Sorenson Media site).  Let ME know what you think.  Send me a direct email at ceo@sorensonmedia.com


Happy video encoding, publishing, management and delivery!

NEW Green Day -- Video

Always cause for celebration -- new Green Day finally hits.  Here it is ....

10 Keys To Entrepreneurial Success

[Earlier today, Ooyala's CEO Jay Fulcher wrote a compelling guest post in TechCrunch about keys to building a successful company from the ground up.  It is worth reading.  Jay got me thinking back on my views on the subject -- and, voila, here they are.  Here is one of my posts from a couple years back.]

I frequently am asked by entrepreneurs what I believe are the most critical ingredients for success.  I recently wrote about past success (experience) being a predictor for success.  But, how does that help the first-time entrepreneur?  Here is my "Top 10" list that applies equally to first-time and long-time entrepreneurs and early stage companies:

(1) obviously, a strong idea.

(2) the right place at the right time (read the book "Outliers" in this regard).

(3) a talented and committed team.

(4) passion, dedication, and tenacity ("never say die") -- I am very old school this way, because I have seen this work time and time again; never underestimate the power of passion and tenacity.

(5) focus, focus, focus!  (don't try to do too much -- otherwise you will fail; pick one thing and be the best).

(6) adopt a partnership strategy and partner wisely (to accelerate growth by leveraging the strength of your partners).

(7) be extremely disciplined and conservative in your spending (the era of spending your way to profitability is, correctly, long past).

(8) be fearless and don't be afraid to fail -- but, if you do, "fail quickly", learn from that failure, and correct your course (an essential part of being an entrepreneur is the freedom to experiment and move nimbly, more quickly -- embrace that freedom, so long as it is consistent with #5 above).

(9) be transparent with your team; share information; communicate frequently; be a cheerleader and pump them up; have fun!  (the life of an entrepreneur -- yes, it is frequently stressful and is not for the faint of heart; but, think of the freedom and the impact you and each of your team members have on a daily basis?).  You are frequently the underdog -- but being the underdog is a lot more fun; and underdogs can -- and do -- frequently win.

(10) measure EVERYTHING!  Detailed metrics and analytics are absolute necessities, they are not luxuries; if you can't measure it, you can't fix it.  You should know everything about your users, and you should be able to measure sales and other success metrics on a live basis.  

I learned these basic lessons over several years and after leading several companies -- and after having made several mistakes -- and after experiencing what has worked time and time again.