7 Inspirational Media Startup Success Stories

FREMONT, CA: Every startup begins amidst a set of challenges. Vision and the courage to face those challenges are the common attributes that guide new undertakings during tough times. The media sector is not an exception to these attributes. Here are some of the startups in the media industry that have been through an exciting journey.  

 •  Taboola

Taboola is a content discovery platform that suggests video and other content to the users based on the content they are currently viewing. It has a forward-looking approach to democratizing recommended content by empowering the end-users. Taboola’s journey started with the common problem of not finding anything relevant while browsing through an endless number of programs on the TV. Being a young engineer, Adam Singolda decided to do something about the above problem. He created software that discovered the relevant content based on the viewer’s tastes.

•  Cie

Cie creates innovative digital solutions and acts as an innovation lab for several prominent global brands. It offers a platform to develop and convert potential ideas into new technology ventures. Cie team comprises of funders, dreamers, builders, and accelerators. However, the common bond that connects the various stakeholders is a passion for developing businesses that can transform the world in great ways.

• Leaf Group

Leaf Group develops platforms from its marketplace collection (Society6 and Saatchi Art) and media (eHow and LIVESTRONG.com) properties. It builds enduring, creator-driven brands that are exclusively targeted to the audiences in large and growing lifestyle categories, which includes wellness and fitness, and art and design. The firm commenced operations in April 2006 as Demand Media and hasn’t looked back ever since then.

•  Verizon Media

Verizon Digital Media Services is an end-to-end digital media platform that can prepare, supply, display, and enable the monetization of online content. The company offers the foundational components in the apps, websites, and OTT video services for several best publishers across the globe, media companies, and enterprises. The journey began in 2013 when Verizon acquired two renowned technology companies and started to transform the way the world experiences media. By integrating upLynk’s patent-pending video encoding technology with EdgeCast’s content delivery network (CDN), Verizon created an integrated platform developed on top of one of the world’s largest existing networks.

• Kaltura

Kaltura offers an open-source video platform for publishing, managing, and distributing video content. Kaltura has built specific features and functions according to the needs of various sectors such as enterprise, education, and media. Currently, it is being used by 300,000 enterprise, education, and media organizations with the likes of Bank of America, Harvard, and HBO. Kultura has recently raised $25 million, which depicts the potential of targeting several niches simultaneously. However, the platform does not target any niche randomly. Instead, it aims to select a few key niches and master them.    

• Fullscreen

Fullscreen is a social content company that offers creative, strategy, and marketing services for both talent and brand clients and enables them to engage, grow, and monetize their social audiences. It started in 2011 and assisted some of the earliest YouTube stars in growing their fan bases and getting brand deals. Currently, Fullscreen offers expertise in entertainment and creative, a huge data set, and its technology to help the talent and brands build an active and engaged audience base. It focuses especially on younger generations that gravitate toward social media.

• Freckle IoT

Freckle IoT helps companies to analyze the effectiveness of their advertising. The company offers insight on campaigns across all forms of media and matches the data with in-store visits using proprietary technology. The current CEO, Neil Sweeney, founded freckle IoT in 2014. It has offices in NYC and Toronto.

 For any successful entrepreneur, the must-have trait is the passion for perseverance. The path to be taken is not always easy, but only the ones with determination and courage will survive and succeed. And, the only way to develop such winning traits is to focus on the vision and values that lead to success.