Co-Founder, ClipShack
www.clipshack.com
Got a cute, momentous or in some way remarkable piece of video you want to share with friends and family, or perhaps with the world?
ClipShack, co-founded by Cynthia Francis, is shooting to do for video-sharing what sites like Ofoto and Snapfish did for photos, and make it easier for consumers to share video clips with one another.
With more video-taking capabilities popping up on tech gadgets, Francis is banking that her company is in the right business, with the right technology, at the right time, and predicts that video-sharing Web sites will soon be all the rage.
High Drama or High Tech?
“For the last 10 years, I’ve been really interested in the intersection between media, drama and technology. I have a degree in the dramatic arts and dance from the University of California at Berkeley, have been a performer, director and arts administrator. In the early 90s, I became captivated by what was happening with computers and how they were beginning to shape not just the tech world, but also the media world.”
Businesses Tackle Digital Video Problem
“In the late 90s, marketing departments within large companies began to face new issues presented by digital video, image and audio files. There was a realization that they have to have ways to manage digital video – not to just stick it somewhere, but to effectively reuse elements.”
Riding the Internet Rollercoaster
“I was working with one of the early leaders in the media management space, Cinebase, which then merged with another company and became eMotion. I was there for four years and was chief marketing officer. It was the heyday of the Internet boom in 2000, and we raised $34 million in Series B funding. Things were great right up to the point where the bottom fell out of the market in 2001. We downsized dramatically and I eventually left to start my own consulting firm (helping corporate and Internet clients to manage digital media).”
Suddenly, Everyone’s Making Movies
“What became clear is that there was a huge opportunity around personal media. Personal video now is so prevalent… you can capture it with your cell phone, still camera, digital video camera. You can view it on your cell phone, BlackBerry, you’ll be able to look at it with your iPod.”
“But not a lot of sites out there allow for sharing or managing video. Video is hard. The files are big. If I want to send you a QuickTime movie, I have to assume you have a QuickTime Player and if not, I have to show you how to download it. (ClipShack) transcodes all the video into a movie (.flv file) that can be viewed by anyone who has (Macromedia’s) Flash Player. Almost all new computers, and those from the last 2-3 years, have Flash Players.”
Showing Off
“People who are not tech-savvy want to upload their video to a Web site using a simple USB connection. They want to put in descriptions. They want to be able to say ‘This video is private,’ or allow friends and family to see it, or ‘I’m a total exhibitionist and want to show (the video) to the world.’ And people who are comfortable online want to add video to their blog or have a place to look at other public clips. Anyone can comment on clips and have an interaction with one another – ClipShack is very much an interactive community.”
Are Video Services The Next Big Thing?
“Our expectation is that video services are on the edge of taking off… lots of companies want to provide these capabilities to their customers, but they don’t want to have to figure out how to do it. So providing video sharing to Internet content providers, hardware makers, that’s part of our business plan as well. The question is how soon will they want it and where will they fall on the build-versus-buy continuum?”
To Boot-Strap or Not to Boot-Strap?
“My partners and I made a conscious decision to bootstrap (ClipShack) through our consulting company. 2002 and 2003 were tough years to get venture financing, and for friends and family who lost their shirts when the bubble burst. We had people tell us, ‘Oh, don’t bootstrap. Investors like to see that you got a round from friends and family.’ But if you don’t have people in your life that are accredited investors… people with over a million dollars not connected to their daily living expenses, then you’re out of luck. And most people don’t have that.”
Want Money? It’s Often Who You Know
“We’re pursuing an angel round that will lead to Series-A financing and have been blessed with our association with the Women’s Technology Cluster in San Francisco. They’ve provided mentors who have helped us immensely. We’re talking to everyone, listening to everyone’s advice and putting it in the hopper to make a final decision. If you don’t talk to everyone and network aggressively, don’t count on getting funded.”
Surviving a Setback
“One of the early companies I was involved with back in 1996 was The Content Group. This San Francisco firm was a services company that saw the opportunity for digital media management before many others. As a member of the executive team, I put a lot of my own money into the company, yet it failed to get financing. I lost a tremendous amount of money at the time. I was devastated. My father’s comment to me was, ‘You’re in your early thirties and at the right time in your life to make this mistake.’ A lot of parents wouldn’t have looked at it that way. Since that time, I have been far more conservative in terms of what I do with my money and other people’s money.”
Wanting to Control Her Own Destiny
“I was born in California in the East Bay, near Walnut Creek when it was still a creek and a bunch of walnut groves. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, with five of us growing up. My father was a scientist and engineer. At one point my father’s company was going to be sold, so a small group of employees got together inside the company and decided to buy it. I saw my father take a leadership role in the company and it was significant for me to watch him control his own destiny in that way.”
Family Time
“I’m going to finish this interview with you and then I’m going to scoop ice cream at a 4th grade social. Then I’m going to work on my investor presentation. Then I’ll pick my kids up and keep working this evening. We’re a family of five, so our spare time is spent on things that interest us. We all enjoy theatre quite a bit, and we live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so we’re outside a lot. On a totally personal level, I study hula.”
How Drama Has Helped Her in Business
“There’s part of my life where I’m in front of potential investors, and they need to know I’m confident, smart, have a handle on my market, and my financials are strong. That’s a big piece of who I am and a role that I play. But I also have twins who are turning 11 and so there I’m just Mom and looking at what a birthday party for them should be. Theatrical training helps me to move from one role in my life to another more easily.”
Greatest Success
“The ability to recognize the market opportunity (for a video sharing community) and take this moment in time to leverage it. This isn’t the direction my partners and I set out to go in when we started the company in 2003. We were originally positioned as a business-to-business play, but in November, we said ‘Holy cow, there is a tidal wave coming (in the consumer space).’ Now we’re in the right place at the right time.”
Greatest Challenge
“Even with more than 10 years of technology experience dealing with video, video is hard. We’re making decisions regarding what length of video people are going to want to view, and making sure we’re being prudent about understanding consumer needs and balancing that with technical realities.”
Words of Advice: On Self-Financing Your Business
“Always know what your limit is and don’t move it. At the beginning, you say, ‘I’m willing to put $20K into this or I’m willing to go from an $100K salary to a $40K salary’ for a certain time. And at the end of that time, unless your pipeline to success is so obviously right there, you have to know when you’re going to wash your hands and walk away. If you don’t, you’ll end up overextending yourself.”
Words of Advice: On Raising Money with VCs
“You have to go in through an introduction. Don’t send your business plan blindly to venture capitalists. (Funding) happens because you’re at a party and someone says, ‘You know what, my friend’s brother works on Sand Hill Road, and he might be interested in what you’re doing. You want his e-mail?’ Some of our best conversations with VCs have come through direct connections from the WTC (Women’s Technology Cluster). Some of our best introductions have come through teenage relatives who are putting out the word and getting people interested in the company.”
Recommended Resources
“The Women’s Technology Cluster. Also the Small Business Association in San Francisco has been great for us. The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs has a great site.”
