The Zoom IPO - Acquired  ## Metadata - Author: **Acquired** - Full Title: The Zoom IPO - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/5b00d548-dbb7-4272-b679-907eb89dc7ac ## Highlights - Zoom: The Early Days Key takeaways: • Zoom was founded in 2013 and their product, zom, was released two years later. • The product worked and people loved it. • Zoom saw an increase in business because of this. Transcript: Speaker 1 Wen, we heard it directly from the early customers, an and when we came across zom, this was back in 20 13, that's the first time that we came across the productzom. And we came across the company because a personal need that i had, being from argentina, i tried every technology to stay in touch with friends and family. And there's te big difference when you're trying to transact, and when you're trying to build a relationship with technology. When you're transacting, then you can deal with issues, even though it is frustrating, you just deal with them because you want to get to the end of the transaction. But when you're trying to build relationship, if the technology doesn't work, then that's detrimental to that relationship. So that's why i felt i was not staying in touch with my friends and family, because i dreaded those communications. And that's when i started trying every technology. And in 20 13, i tried zom, and it worked. Speaker 3 And this was very early in the life of zoom, but two years after the company was founded, but during first year of its operationye a few months after they released the product. Speaker 1 And we not only experienced that the product worked, but then after having those first initial calls with my friends in argentina, i started getting random invas from other people In argentina for zom calls. So it not only worked, but people loved it, and they started sharing that with their friends. And that was delightbul moment when we said, there's something here. ([Time 0:15:59](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d9acf4a7-ee54-44a4-a467-ff7299371888)) - The Rise and Fall of Cisco's Vp of Engineering, Eric Schmidt Key takeaways: • Eric saw the potential for Cisco's communication and collaboration platform and wanted to rearchitect it. • They didn't let him, because they were obsessed with other products at the time. • Eric eventually left and started his own company, which has since been successful. Transcript: Speaker 2 We've already talked a little bit about eric's background and what makes him special, but this is, he saw all the things that were broken with in cisco, and he to sisco senior leadership And said, i want a re architect how we do our communication and collaboration platform as v p of engineering here within sisco, and build this product rigt. They didn't let him, because they were obsessed with these were the days of fido yammer and a jive, and sisco thought the future of enterprise collaboration was pace book for workd i Like zuma as a bit cutten. But anyway. So in june 20 eleventh, eric finally the company. He's forty one years old at this point. Right after he leaves, a whole cadreo, basically, anyone who had ever worked with eric immediately gives him money, just blank check to back him to work on whatever he's going to do. ([Time 0:21:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d08d2a85-69b9-4aca-9bd8-ea9a38e7ef9d)) - The Changing Role of the Enterprise in the Product Development Process Key takeaways: • A big change that many big incumbents missed was the purchase process for their products. • Webek got started selling to customers because they had high price points, and they just needed the product to be "ok". • With the rise of the consumerdriven economy, happiness has become more important than compliance with product standards. Every interaction with a customer can now lead to lost business. Transcript: Speaker 1 I think a big change that a lot of thise big incumbents missed was the purchasing a process for this product. When webek got started, and you talked about it earlier, were selling to i t because they had very high price boins, and they just needed i t to be ok. They didn't need i t to be happy. They just wanted i t to be ok with whatever product they were selling. And it was more about ye were complyant, were secure. We check all this boxes. If you'll use us, hate it, who care? We're just going to make sure that we cover your back and that we check all the boxes. Speaker 3 Classic enterprise offwer is the user is not the buyer. Correct? Speaker 1 That changed overtime with sanse and this frimu models. The end user became the buyer, and then the purchasing decisions got decentralized from just pure it to the end user. And then i t needing to manage, i mean, the c i o now needs to manage all the applications that people are buying independently. And that's why happiness matters a lot more to day than it did ten or 15 years ago. Because now every interaction can lead you to lose a customer. Early on, if you just took the c i o on a big trip and fancied dinner and the wehappy with you, that was totally fine, even if the end users hated your products. ([Time 0:26:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f8b6325b-b790-4f52-8e99-146709798ca7)) - The Importance of Forty-Five Minutes in Business Meetings Key takeaways: • Eric, the founder of zom, believes that the best business meetings are 45 minutes long. • Zom allows users to record and share messages with others, for free or for a fee. • There are some use cases for zom, such as when someone is recording a message for a business meeting. Transcript: Speaker 1 I mean, eric spent a lot of time in the space, so he knew the stats, and he knew tha most productive business meetings were forty five minutes long. So that's why forty minutes was im number. And we still have a lot of people using zom for business and using the free version. And as you said, they get access to the full product. They get to experience in full experience, and then we see them. They use it for forty minutes, they drop and they start anewminig. And we're totally fun with it. We just want people to use it, and if they can't pay, they can use it for free. And if they want to pay, they can remove thati mean, that restrictiony, it'ss such a smeltling. Speaker 3 I think tis demonstrated such a great understanding of like, the customer and customer needs, ye, and and the business model, like, when you have a business that requires a network Effect to work, like video conferencing, it is, it provides a ton of value to do it with at least one other. It provides literally zero value to do it alone. Speaker 1 And so providing a if if youare using zom by yourself, you have bigger problemsa ha, ha, ha, ha, haha, mental is ot to be some use case. T forty five ha aha, a ha, ha, people are recording messages with zom there are some use cases. Speaker 3 You may dout about the manbut but the idea that like to take advantage ([Time 0:35:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c90d4401-7c49-4e92-b378-e80e2d1517a8)) - Zumi Po: The Underdog Story of a Startup in the Valley Key takeaways: (* There is a lot of bias in venture investments, and companies are looking for the next big thing., * There are often big changes in the market that incumbents miss out on, and this leads to replacement cycles., * At zum, the senior management is focused on building from within, and this is a philosophy that is reflected in the company's approach to recruitment.) Transcript: Speaker 1 I also feel that there's a lot of bias when it comes to venture investments. And people are looking for the next artificial intelligence, block chain, power, whatever. And there'r some basic buelding blocks that go through those renewal pases. Saram and what sals fors dead was not a new technology. It was a new way to deliver an existing technology. Same thing for zom. So there're a lot of existing markets that go through replacement cycles, especially when the incumbents miss out on the big changes in the market. When it was the last time that you heard someone say, i love emal on the way things are being handled? Speaker 2 Or, i low you forainger sees an end here, or i lavh see a ram. Speaker 1 There're a lot of those cor building blocks that are going to go through big transformations. An if the incumbents don't see it, other people are going to take advantage of that. Speaker 2 Well, before we wrap up with the zumi po i want to build on what we were just talking about a minute ago, and the underdog status of you of eric. Can you talk a little bit about both the senior management itself at zum and the philosophy? I mean, unlike i would imagine a lot owell a lot of companies in the valley, and a lot of companis emergence, works with eric talks a lot about, you know, they don't really recruit super star outside xec to come in to zum. They build from within, and who are who are hungry, who have the capacity to learn. ([Time 0:50:07](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3c67344b-10a3-44fa-884a-9a7438de8e47))