Jun 21, 2021
Jon Dahl is the Co-Founder and CEO at Mux, where he builds
software to help online video get better. Before that, he was
Co-Founder of Zencoder, and then VP of Technology at Brightcove,
two pioneering companies in the world of online video. Mux is
building the future of online video infrastructure. They started
off by building Mux Data, a best-in-class performance analytics
tool that’s trusted by developers at companies like Vimeo,
Robinhood, CBS Interactive, Discovery, PBS, and TED. Billions of
monitored streams later, they launched Mux Video, a simple API for
video hosting, encoding, and streaming. Take any video file or live
stream and make it play beautifully at scale on any device, powered
by magical-feeling features like automatic thumbnails, animated
GIFs, and data-driven encoding decisions.
Some of the Topics Covered by Jon Dahl in this Episode
- What Mux is
- How Jon got interested in video
- Jon's experience building his previous startup, Zencoder
- How Zencoder got acquired and how they made the decision to
sell
- Leaving Brightcove and why Jon started Mux
- The video industry landscape and building Mux
- Early consumer research and customer feedback
- Why they started with data analytics and then added the video
streaming layer
- How they approached early customer acquisition and growth
- Growing and strengthening their reputation and expanding
sales
- How the COVID-19 pandemic led to unexpected accelerated
growth
- Video as a part of the creator economy
- How they scaled up the team during COVID and accidentally
becoming a hyper growth startup
- Recruiting as a function of growth and in-house versus external
recruiters
- Mux's hiring process
- Fundraising for Mux and why they ended up raising more than
they originally planned
- How the video industry has changed, where it's going, and the
role Mux hopes to play
- What's next for Mux and opportunities in the landscape of the
video industry
- What fuels Jon today
- What keeps Jon sane as a founder
- The importance of finding meaning outside of your startup and
work
- Jon's advice for early stage founders
- The importance of scaling yourself and having a growth
mindset
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