Throughout the year, Lalawag will be interviewing some of the most innovative and exciting startups from the LA area in our ongoing feature series, “LA Startup Spotlight.”
David Kaiser is a graphics and video animation industry veteran with resume stops at NASA (!), Macromedia (creators of Flash), and Navisoft (acquired by AOL). He’s founded seven startups including the aforementioned Navisoft and RespondTV. Currently he’s focused on running the show at Coincident TV as CEO.
Pitch us your product/service in two sentences.
Coincident TV offers an interactive video software suite that allows content creators and distributors to easily design, manage, and measure interactive video engagements across all digital platforms.
Valley Girl’s new interactive video experience is a great example of the seamless integration of video interviews with social media plug-ins, popup links to related videos and web sites, and other related content such as contests and ads – and it’s pink!
What made you decide to focus your company on that product?
Despite the explosive growth in online video, today’s web viewing experience remains virtually unchanged from its earliest incarnations – a static web page with a video player occupying some of the real estate. Our platform turns web pages inside out by making the entire web accessible from inside the video player including social links, interactive ads, ecommerce, games, deep information and related video. The result is broader reach for brands and deeper engagement for viewers. We wanted to create this unique platform to allow content creators to host videos in multiple locations, tie into their existing ad service, plug into existing social media initiatives, and playback in an environment that is visually consistent with the web site’s branding.
What market opportunity are you addressing?
During the first six months after the initial product launch, Coincident TV focused largely on media and entertainment companies and established partnerships with Fox TV, MTV Networks, and Fox Sports, among others. The technology has huge potential in corporate and education markets as shown by applications already launched with Audi (product launch for new Audi R8 sports car) and IgoUgo (leveraging video for travel planning) as well as broader-based consumer applications like Valley Girl. Valley Girl’s interactive video experience is the first video blog site that includes a Coincident TV interactive video experience. The unique blend of personality and technology invites new people to engage with tech companies, much like Coincident TV brings interactive video content to online consumers.
How big is your team?
20 team members
How did your company get its initial funding? How much funding do you currently have?
As the company is privately funded, the specific numbers are confidential.
What made you want to start your own company?
What made me start Coincident TV was the realization that people now surf the web while watching TV and video content. I thought it would be better if they could do that from within the video, to learn more on the topic, see related content, buy related products, and share with their community. This was the inspiration for development of the Cue Point Language (CPL) which is the foundation for the Coincident TV product suite.
Has your company ever had to pivot? If so, what was that like?
Startups mini-pivot every few weeks! Some times you can find yourself pivoting twice in one day!
The company is pivoting this year from the media and entertainment industries to other market sectors that can benefit from interactive video platform tools. We start by leveraging existing colleagues and contacts to develop meaningful relationships where we can provide value to the end users and develop specific applications for those market sectors.
How do you deal with competition? Do you keep tabs on other companies that are doing similar things?
By being inspired. First you have to make GREAT products that come from a a vision, not market research or studying competition. That said, yes, we stay current on what’s happening in interactive video to keep up with potential collaborators as well as new technology offerings.
What are the hardest and best things about being an entrepreneur?
The hardest thing is how quickly things change. And people – people are always hard [to deal with]. The best thing is the flexibility and speed of a start-up to develop your products and respond to feedback in building a company that delivers value to our clients.
Describe your company’s culture.
Hip, creative, flexible, responsive, fun, driven.
What’s one of your most successful decisions?
When John [Lennon] met Paul [McCartney], he had to decide if he would share the glory for the good of the band. I’m John, and Bruce [Schwartz, Co-founder and CTO of Coincident TV] is Paul.
Where have you struggled? What’s a mistake you’ve made that you think other entrepreneurs could learn from?
Terminate people sooner. If you are wondering….you are already avoiding dealing with it.
Who are your three most influential entrepreneurs?
Jim Clark, Ivan Sutherland, George Balanchine.
How do you define “failure”? What is your idea of misery?
Failure is “failure to address.” If you tried and you failed….so be it. It happens. But if you failed because you could not make up your mind, or that you did not try something – that is real failure. Nothing at work is real misery. Nobody goes to jail; nobody goes to the hospital.
How do you define “success?”
I really like working with groups of smart people. I love to see people adapt my ideas and make their own. Good artists borrow; great artists steal.
What are your next goals? (Either for the current product or for the company as a whole)
The goal for 2011 is market expansion – both taking the current product and services to additional markets including education, online commerce, and corporate applications as well as expanding out to a broader base of Authors who can create, publish, and share interactive video content with our tools.
You can follow Coincident TV on Facebook here and on Twitter (@Coincident_TV)
