Hello from the other side
Let me get right to it: we are excited to announce that Showyou has been bought by Vevo, the online music video giant with over 12 billion monthly views of its music video and entertainment programming.
This is a big step for us. When we first launched Showyou in the spring of 2011, we had one simple goal: to give people on smartphones and tablets better and easier ways to find and watch the videos they love. We iterated constantly and worked hard to improve the app and service over the following years. We’re proud Showyou was featured in best-of lists from Apple in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and that it was consistently included in various “best apps” lists from leading tech reviewers at The Verge, TechCrunch, Wired, ABC News, and the Huffington Post.
In 2014, we expanded our horizons and began work towards a second crucial goal – to give creators and artists better ways to make money with their fans, and while remaining respectful of their fans, through the Showyou apps and services. We set about making Showyou a platform, not just an app.
We launched a pilot effort with two subscription channels from Above Average and IndieFlix in late 2014 . We spent most of 2015 expanding that platform and had just launched a wave of new tools this past July when we began talking to Erik Huggers and his team at Vevo and realized that we were looking at the world the same way and shared many of the same goals.
It’s obvious that how we find and consume entertainment is drastically changing. We now take it for granted that we get to watch what we want, when we want, on the device we want. But the shockwaves from that change are still rippling out and rumbling through the media ecosystem and will for years to come. Some old services are crumbling, and Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Amazon have become daily habits for tens of millions of people.
In many ways, we are still at the beginning of this shift. It’s a bit like a game of musical chairs, with only 4 of 10 chairs filled. Vevo has the rare opportunity to contend for one of remaining slots, to become one of the services millions of us use everyday. That got our attention. We’re excited for this next chapter, and the opportunity to work with the Vevo team to build great products that reach huge audiences around the world. Thanks to Erik and everyone on his team for that.
One of the very best things about startup life is the chance to work on products you’re proud of, and to be surrounded by people you respect and trust and enjoy. I can’t finish this post without a word of thanks to all of them.
For me, that starts with Toni Schneider. I met Toni 9 years ago having just moved from London to San Francisco, when I knew only a couple of people here and when all I had was an idea on a piece of paper. Toni provided good counsel and calmness and generosity at every step of this journey. He helped us to turn nothing into something, and led us to the best investors an entrepreneur could ever want, the team at True Ventures. Huge thanks to Phil Black, Jon Callaghan, Jim Stewart and the talented and generous team at True for their counsel, friendship and support.
It was my good fortune that I got to start the company with two talented and very dedicated co-founders, Scott Persinger and Spencer Miles. Kyle Kingsbury, Taz Patel, Kate Imbach, Hasan Adil and Ben Kim made essential contributions at key points. Janet Hall, my partner in life as well as this adventure, was the best volunteer COO any startup could ever want and made sure everything ran smoothly. And I was lucky, happy and proud to call Andy Forssell my boss the last twelve months. His guidance and leadership was essential in this this final phase.
To the Showyou team continuing on with Vevo – Phil, Justin, John, Grant, Zack, and Dugan – it’s been a real pleasure building Showyou with you and I’m excited we get to continue making products together. Let’s go build something great with our new colleagues at Vevo.
Onwards,
MH
Showyou 