The boring PowerPoint presentation is a staple in most offices, but Reston-based VideoBlocks wants to change that. The stock media startup is rolling out a new VideoBlocks Enterprise service aimed directly at replacing Shutterstock as the go-to source for stock images, audio, video, and virtual reality media.
"We want to be wherever content creators are building something new," VideoBlocks CEO TJ Leonard told DC Inno in an exclusive interview. "When we think of our vision of the future, we see creators inserting content right into where the process is taking place."
The idea for an enterprise service was there from the early days of the company, but it was often on the back burner while VideoBlocks added audio, 4K and eventually 360 degree video and virtual reality. But, the potential for enterprise services was tempting enough that Leonard ended up taking over the CEO role from Joel Holland, who became chairman, with a focus on building up that enterprise side of the business.
"It needed more attention so we formally created a group to go out and create enterprise products. It's less driven by geography and more by use case," Leonard said. "We started smaller, pricing it out, but now we're ready to go bigger."
The list of clients already signed on for the $10 million worth of material includes some big names like BuzzFeed Motion Pictures and Vistaprint, with more to come according to Leonard. The company raised $8 million a little over a year ago, but Leonard said current revenue is keeping up with growth so far and the addition of the new platform means that VideoBlocks won't need to go after new investment. He is hoping to expand the 70-person team by another 15 or so, however.
Though the prices for Enterprise won't be the same as the $149 yearly subscription for unlimited downloads that is currently offered, Leonard sees what his team is offering as more than just another Shutterstock or Getty Images that is really only affordable to the bigger firms.
"We want to be wherever content creators are building something new."
"Everyone is on a budget and we needed to address that. We wanted to be more affordable and simpler so we based our pricing on the licenses," Leonard said. "You get what you need as you need it. We'll have a platform specifically for large enterprise clients. That will have digital asset management platform for their stuff too. Everyone will have the media they need, when they need it."
