Techcrunch40 People’s Choice Award
Hi everyone, it’s
I’ve just returned to NYC and unpacked my stuff from the exciting trip to TC40. What a perfect ending, receiving the prestigious People’s Choice Award!
I have in front of me the last chip that Kaltura had received, which I ended up keeping since it was handed a few seconds after the deadline. It was that of evangelist, entrepreneur, investment banker, and venture capi
When Mike Arrington grabbed me to the side and told me that we had won I thought of our hard working team and how much they deserve this sweet reward. Truthfully, the same goes to everyone else on that demo pit floor and to all other companies that didn’t even make it there. Had it been a TC700 I’m sure we’d have seen a lot of equally promising stuff.
Who is to tell who would be a sizzling success? It’s black magic after all. But…I guess that if I had to take a chance…I would bet on the site that got the vote of the people. Isn’t the unbiased voice of the crowd a better indicator than the pickings of a handful of judges? Time will tell.
Here are five reasons why I think we rock:
1. Wiki meets Youtube. Kaltura is situated on the crossroad of two Internet mega trends – collaboration/peer-production and user generated rich media. Imagine the hidden potential behind their convergence! Some say ‘text is dead’ and that rich media is replacing it. If so, isn’t it time that the collaboration be extended to include it?
2. Groups. Internet users are already segmented into countless affinity groups and social networks, small and large. There are only a few applications however that cater to these groups. The internet was once about monologues, then dialogues, and now it should be about group ‘trialogues’ or about creating swarms of participation. That’s exactly what Kaltura enables!
3. Distribution. Distribution. Distribution. Kaltura isn’t trying to reroute the entire internet to Kaltura.com. We appreciate that most people want to ‘create together’ in the comfort of their group’s current place of gathering. Our widget strategy therefore is aimed at distributing our solution into our users’ existing blogs and social network pages. The same holds when operators of other websites license, customize and integrate our technology into their own site, empowering their users to ‘create together’ in the context of their current offering. True, eventually Kaltura.com strives to become a repository of collaborative rich content, but the use of our collaboration tools can and should happen anywhere and everywhere else.
4. Leaning Forward. Maybe 1% of the users of typical UGC sites contribute content. We strive to get more people to ‘lean forward’ by having a ‘group-leader’ entice the rest to participate…A band inviting their fans to create a clip. A family member inviting his relatives to create a family video. A friend inviting his pals to create a group greeting. A traveler inviting his travel buddies to document their trip. More people participating means more people viewing and a richer and more diverse outcome.
5. Tower of Bricks. I like watching kids play. Deep inside it’s just what grownups want to do too. They start by each playing with their own toy, later they swap, and eventually share and play together. When they do collaborate, it’s easier to get them to achieve a specific predetermined outcome, like assembling a puzzle. It is only at the latest stage that they huddle together to do something completely creative. Something that has no rules nor predetermined outcome. Something subjective and creative. A Kaltura.
What do you think?
I invite you to share with us your general thoughts about our site, as well as specific feature feedback and requests. To be able to best serve you, we must truly ‘create together’. Please send your suggestions and recommendations send it via the Contact Us page or through our Support Forum. Either way, we really want to hear it and promise to get back to you promptly.
Till we meet again,
Ron
