Vidsaga, Started as Stagephod.com – a marketplace to hire video creators for India in Apr’ 2015. Revamped to Vidsaga.com – a global market place in Jul’2018. It is a global B2B marketplace with decision making tools and expert guidance. We are publishing an interview with Mr. Nikhilesh Tayal, Founder & CEO, Vidsaga:
Q.: Please tell us about the founders
Ans: I always wanted to combine Technology, Entrepreneurship and Video Creation but did not know how? After failure of my first startup – I started doing theater (which I used to do in school and college). This was circa 2014 and Youtube was picking up and many people were making content for Youtube.
I also thought of making a short film. While making that film, what I realized is that – filmmaking is very much like an entrepreneurial activity.
So, I decided to start a blog to feature prominent filmmakers. While interviewed 200+ of them, one thing which came across common was – they all needed work opportunities so that they can monetize their talent.
At the same time some of my startup fiends approached me that they were looking for video creators to create videos. That time I realised that I have unknowingly built the supply side of the marketplace.
So, I converted that blog into a marketplace – Stagephod.com.
We ran this marketplace for about 3 years and realized that this is a global opportunity and needs more specific approach.
We then revisited the problem and revamped it to Vidsaga – a global marketplace with more technical features/ tools. Now we have video creators registered from countries like Columbia, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc. And we are getting video requirements from USA, UAE, Singapore, Afghanistan etc.
Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Ans: The idea is to help Organizations across globe to create videos easily, quickly and at the right price by connecting them with right video creators, enabling them with decision making tools & video specific project management tools.
At the same time, help video creators (like animators, editors, production houses etc.) across globe to get global work opportunities. Video Creation is highly unorganized B2B service industry across globe. Our intention is to disrupt Agency model with Technology + Community + Content.
Q.: Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Ans: Google Seacrh volume of keywords like:
Video production company, video production services, video production house, explainer video company, video production agency, online video maker + 2700 others have a global search volume of 21million +.
Average ticket size is $1000. The Global enterprise video market will reach $46.63 Bn by 2022. The global enterprise video market is expected to expand at a CAGR of approximately 16.20%
- https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/07/28/1064042/0/en/Global-Enterprise-Video-Market-Will-Reach-USD-46-63-Billion-by-2022-Zion-Market-Research.html
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/10/18/digital-video-marketing-is-a-135-billion-industry-in-the-u-s-alone-study-finds/#50787c6ed4dd
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160926005923/en/Global-Digital-Video-Content-Market-Generate-USD
Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
Ans: Vidsaga is a global B2b marketplace for video creation. Our intention is to create a platform where we can help Organizations with – Price Transparency + Online tools + Domain Experts’ help + Super easy process so that video creation becomes super simple for them.
We first started as Blog to feature prominent filmmakers and built the supply side. Then we converted it into a Marketplace for India. After working for some time we pivoted to managed marketplace and later after working for over 3 years we revamped it to Global market place with video specific solution.
Q.: What is your USP?
Ans: Our USP is that we are solving specific video creator hiring and video creation challenges.
Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have at least one of them signed up?
Ans: The assumption is that Organizations have a tough time in hiring a video creator
Our target markets are:
- Organizations – Startups, SMBs, NGOs, Real Estate companies, Educational Institutes, Jewellers, Digital agencies, Corporate (for digital videos))
- Video Creators – Production Houses, Animators, Editors
- Currently 1200+ have used the platform
Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: I had to shut down my first startup. We were doing good. We were growing slowly but making progress. Then I started observing that some startups are growing fast, they are raising money which we could not. And suddenly my slow growth mindset vanished and I started comparing myself with others. This made me realize that my startup did not have the potential and started to shut it down. 3 moths later, we got an investment offer. In the spur of moment I lost my 3 years of hard work. So, I now try not to compare with others plus if things do not go well, I try to survive that phase.
Q.: How are you pricing the Product? Explain your thought process.
Ans: Sure. Our revenue model is:
- From Video Creators – Subscription Plans For Lead Buying
- From Organisations – Commission from foreign clients
- Online Video Tools – Premium Subscription
- Website Ads – Film festivals, Stock footage websites, Casting agencies, Location, Equipment providers etc.
Q.: How did you get your first customer?
Ans: We have captured initial users through digital marketing. Google Ads is the more reliable and effective source so far for us. Apart from that, we have got traffic through Content, LinkedIn marketing, Facebook startup groups and direct traffic through SEO.
Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: We are a bootstrapped startup.
Q.: Is there any interesting success story? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans: We got our first customer when we were least expecting it. He came, liked the solution and bought the package without any questions asked. This usually do not happen. We have not even tested our payment gateway by then (As I said we were not expecting at all)
Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product/service leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: The big picture is that we can become a large ‘global’ online video platform
Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in details:
Ans: Sure. Following are the details:
- 1200+ Leads Generated
- 120+ Videos Campaigns Created
Prominent Clients:
- Shell
- Hindustan Times
- Carlton Luggage
- BookMyShow
- Rs. 1 Cr+ – Revenue
- 240+ – Video Creators from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Srilanka, Cambodia, USA
Q.: What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
Ans: The major insight which we have is that we can not treat “Video” as just another freelance service. It is unique when it comes to its creation and Organizations has its own set of challenges when it comes to vendor hiring.
When it comes to Video Creation (and video creator hiring), most of the Organizations face following challenges:
- What is Video’s estimated price
- How to define scope of the video project based on their business objective
- How to efficiently manage the project
- How to ensure committed quality/ deliverable
Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles.
Ans: I am single founder. We have 2 key people in our team.
Prachi Jain – She is a Digital Marketing Specialist and back bone when it comes to our latest ‘Global Video Marketers’ community building initiative
Q. : Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: Our competitors are:
- Generic marketplaces like – Fiverr, Upwork, etc.
Pros – Access to global video creators
Cons – Not a video specific solution - Video Creation marketplace – 90seconds.com
Helps large Organizations with video creation with the help of online tools.
But is not useful for Small and Medium Organizations as it does not solve decision making and price identification problem. - Media/ Ad agencies
Pros – Get things done
Cons – Very expensive (10x of the actual cost) - DIY Online Animation Video making tools
Pros – DIY
Cons – Very limited use case
Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months?
Ans: Currently we have taken this initiative to create a ‘Global Video Marketers’ community’ – https://www.vidsaga.com/category/video-marketing-influencers/. The idea is to a community space for Video Marketers to engage in meaningful discourse, help and learn from other video marketers. We want to grow this community apart from our usual revenue and no. of users target.
Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: Starting up is more punishment than glamour. If you want to settle down in any point of life – don’t startup.
But if you want to re-invent yourself in 2-3 years time, then entrepreneurship is the only option we have.
Q.: Any other information you would like to share?
Ans: I do not know if this is relevant or not but still sharing it. One interesting insight we got is that Video buying is very much similar like car buying. Car – a complex identity with multiple complex elements. Buyer doesn’t have any idea about these elements and at last she buys based on some insignificant feature.
Similarly video has multiple technical/ creative elements about which buyer doesn’t have much idea and she ends up selecting a video creator based on some reference or insignificant element.
This insight actually helping as to draw parallels from Car-tech industry and helping us solving the problem for Video industry.
I have written my complete story at https://www.vidsaga.com/startup-video-company-story/
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Thanks Nikhilesh. Best wishes!
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