A Q&A with Viewbix co-founder and CEO Jonathan Stefansky. The Tel Aviv, Israel–based company was founded in 2011 and recently raised $2 million in Series A funding. Investors include Canaan Partners and Longfellow Venture Partners.
SUB: Please describe what Viewbix is, and the value proposition you bring to interactive video and analytics.
Stefansky: Viewbix provides a powerful yet simple to use platform that allows companies to turn video viewers into action takers. Companies are spending a lot of time and money creating videos, but the big question remains—how is this helping my business? Is the video driving user engagements? Leads? Sales? By allowing companies to add calls to action and apps with their videos, Viewbix provides a solution to drive engagements, sales and leads. We also provide a detailed analytics suite that gives companies a view into not only how many people are watching their videos but much more advanced data like clickthroughs, sharing information, app usage and more.
SUB: Who are your target users?
Stefansky: Our primary target market are small and medium-sized businesses who are using video. However, we also offer an enterprise solution for larger companies as well.
SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?
Stefansky: The biggest competitor we face is the status quo—companies who think that putting a generic video player on their site is solving their video needs.
SUB: What differentiates Viewbix from the competition?
Stefansky: In addition to allowing companies the ability to add calls to action and apps with their videos, which no other solution provides, we also enable sharing of that Viewbix, so companies can drive engagement, leads and sales from Facebook, Twitter, smartphones and tablets.
SUB: What was the inspiration behind the idea for Viewbix? Was there an ‘aha’ moment, or was the idea more gradual in developing?
Stefansky: Viewbix evolved from a previous company we were working on which was focused in the interactive video space for ads. We realized that the huge number of SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses), 8-10 million in the U.S. alone, who were using video to help their business were largely being ignored and would benefit greatly from a simple to use yet powerful video solution that would really help their business grow.
SUB: What have the most significant obstacles been so far to building the company?
Stefansky: I think the biggest obstacle we face is recruiting the best talent out there. We are very picky in terms of who we hire. We want our company to only be stocked with ‘A’ players and sometimes it’s hard to recruit that talent to a startup. However, our recent funding from a top notch VC like Canaan Partners has really helped validate the company and solved that problem.
SUB: You recently raised $2 million in Series A funding. What are your plans for the funds? Stefansky: There are two main uses for the funds: additional headcount and increased spend on our customer acquisition efforts.
SUB: Do you plan to raise more outside funding in the near future?
Stefansky: Not in the immediate future.
SUB: What are your goals for Viewbix over the next year or so?
Stefansky: We want to significantly grow our customer base and continue to build out our platform. There are lot of really exciting developments from a business development and technology rollout to keep an eye out for.
Viewbix – www.viewbix.com
