My Top 10 EXCLUSIVE CEO Interviews of 2014 - Digital Media Companies/Execs You Need to Know

Long-time readers of my blog know that I have a long-running EXCLUSIVE Q&A series with CEOs of some of the most innovative digital media companies that I believe you should know.    I "hand pick" them -- and believe their stories are both interesting and instructive.  My series is called "5 Questions with ...." -- and each exec answers the same questions in their own words (and with real insights you won't find anyplace else).  2014's list is impressive -- with most execs and companies achieving significant strategic milestones during the year (including major M&A and financings).  Coincidence?  I would like to think not!

In any event, for your reading pleasure, here are my Top 10 "5 Questions with ... “ exclusive interviews of 2014 -- as measured by you, my readers:

(1) Stephanie Horbaczewski, CEO/Founder of StyleHaul -- sold her leading fashion-focused MCN to Euro-based RTL Group in Q4 for a deal that values the company up to $200 million.  That buys you a lot of style.  And Stephanie has it.  And now, a lot more of it.

(2) Colin Digiaro, President of Woven Digital -- just recently closed a major $18 million Series A round of financing.  Significant cash to accelerate its reach to its target core young male Vice-like audience.

(3) John West, CEO/Founder of Whistle Sports -- this leading sports-focused MCN also just recently closed a major round of financing -- $7 million -- with British mega-media company BSKYB.  Expect much more to come in 2015.

(4) Jack Conte, CEO/Founder of Patreon -- another featured company that successfully raised significant capital -- $15 million to be exact.  Based in the Bay Area.  Focused on the arts -- and financing through crowd-funding.  A different kind of crowd-funding.  Subscription-based.

(5) Oscar Hoglund, CEO/Founder of Epidemic Sound -- one of my favorite CEOs on this list.  Based in Sweden.  Serial entrepreneur who has been serially successful.  And, tackling (successfully!) the white hot issue of global music rights for our borderless digital video world.  Coming soon to the States.

(6) Jocelyn Johnson, Founder of VideoInk -- my favorite new "must read" publication -- exclusively digital video-focused.  Very LA (because that's where most of that digital video "action" is ...).  Am proud to be a regular contributor.

(7) Dmitri Williams, CEO/Founder of Ninja Metrics -- LA-based analytics company born, bred, and run by PhDs.  A different "take" on ad-tech.  Gaming-focused.  Highly respected.  Closely watched.  We at Manatt Digital are investors.

(8) Nicolas Gonda, CEO/Founder of Tugg -- another "share economy" company that is focused on solving the financial realities of indie visionaries, but this time on the movie/video side (as opposed to Patreon which is largely, though not exclusively, music-focused).

(9) Sean Wycliffe, CEO/Founder of Dealflicks -- love the problem this company is trying to solve -- filling empty movie theater seats via efficient "real-time" pricing.  Makes sense.  Let's see if 2015 brings in real dollars.  The opportunity is now.

(10) Phil Shalala, CEO/Founder of Krush -- a social media marketplace focused on action sports and street-wear -- empowering emerging artists and brands to market their passion projects.

2014 -- a banner crop of innovative CEOs and digital media companies.  Honored to have this kind of access to real innovators.

Stay tuned for an equally impressive list for 2015, as the VC world increasingly focuses on the disruption, opportunity and power that is "digital."

5 Questions with Dealflicks CEO Sean Wycliffe -- My Exclusive Q&A

Here is the perfect exclusive CEO Q&A for SXSW -- with Sean Wycliffe of digital media/tech company Dealflicks based in the heart of Silicon Beach.  I met Sean at the recent DEW Conference in LA after hearing significant buzz about what he/they are doing.  And, I believe deeply in the market opportunity here -- filling empty seats at movie theaters (i.e., addressing excess capacity) via strategic discounting in which everyone wins -- the movie studio, the theater owners, and the consumers.  Apparently I am not alone -- the company has had no problem finding sources of capital.

On with the questions ...

(1) What is the reason your company exists (and what problem(s) are you looking to solve)?

Dealflicks exists to get butts in movie theater seats. 88% of movie theater seats are empty, in fact, 95% of seats are empty after opening weekend. This is a major problem for theaters in the US and abroad. Since theaters generally rely on the marketing conducted by studios to promote their own films, there haven’t been many (if any) cost-efficient, effective solutions for theaters to target empty seats. Dealflicks solves this problem by only selling inventory that our theater partners designate as ‘hard-to-fill’, the 88% empty seats.

(2) How are you different from your competitors?

There aren’t any direct competitors, but we do have many companies that are close to us. Traditional online movie ticket providers (Fandango/Movietickets.com) have been very successful over the years, but they only sell full-priced tickets and charge convenience fees. As a result, they mainly focus on show times that are in high demand, so Dealflicks is complementary to their service. Daily deal sites do offer deals for movie theaters here and there, but it’s difficult to make sure that theater-goers use these vouchers for empty-seat show times vs. popular show times. Also, some retailers such as Costco sell discount tickets for certain large theater chains, but these offerings are intermittent and require advanced purchasing. Also, from the theater’s perspective, this method doesn’t allow the targeting of empty seats.

(3) Why will you succeed (and what is your single most important ingredient for success)?

We’ve been able to have success over the past 1.5 years since our launch because of our relationships with exhibitors. Unlike many others, we really focus on this aspect and build long-term, personal relationships. Our business development team travels the country (see http://pando.com/2013/05/13/startup-hustle-why-two-men-decided-to-sleep-together-in-a-van-for-months-on-end/) and understands the needs and issues of each individual theater. Also, we have some great technology. There are many complex back-end solutions that we’ve implemented, and we recently launched our API (see http://developers.dealflicks.com) which allows other apps/websites to white label and sell Dealflicks’ inventory directly within their app. In fact, this is the first open movie ticketing API in the history of the US :)

(4) What makes you unique (and what do you enjoy most outside of building your business)?

Lol, a few things :) I’ve had a weird last 12 years: As a freshman at UCB in 2001, I experienced 9/11 just a month after school started. I somehow ended up getting involved in the pro-America movement (see http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,181582,00.html). Shortly after, my brother and I started a long-distance door-to-door sales, then I bought a Porsche, dropped out of school, and moved to LA when I was 19. By age 21, my brother and I grew the business to over $1M in revenue, and we bought a $1.2M home in San Juan Capistrano (I also bought a Ferrari 360). I thought I was going to be a billionaire, until the long-distance company we contracted went bankrupt in November 2004. We lost everything (well, I did keep the Porsche), and we started over selling refurbished cell phones. I struggled quite a bit in 2005, and I believe God used that experience to reach me. I joined a two-year, full-time ministry program with my church, grew in character, and then went back to UCB in summer 2008. I ended up doing well this time around, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in Economics. I then had the idea for Dealficks after I graduated in early 2011.

The short story: I love skiing, basketball, watching movies, and eating great food. I haven’t drank alcohol since 2004, I’m a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, I’m now engaged to my beautiful fiancé Channchi, I’m almost vegan again (I was vegan for 1.5 years in 2006/2007), my brother and I founded/run a non-profit now called Project Pueblo, and I spend a lot of time hanging out with my family. I’m also Bangladeshi (not too many of us in the states :)

(5) What digital media trend is most interesting to you (and what is the least)?

I’ve always been interested in the trend of alternative content in movie theaters. While it’s just starting, made possible by movie theaters’ recent conversions to digital projectors, I can’t wait for the day when major sporting events like March Madness, the Superbowl, etc. are ‘playing in theaters near you’.

In terms of the least interesting media trend to me, hmm, maybe any trends involving second screen stuff (I don’t really personally use second screens because I don’t have a TV in my apartment :)