

Videopixie (YC S11) Launches To Create A Marketplace For Video Editors - tomsaffell
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/19/yc-backed-videopixie-launches-to-create-a-marketplace-for-video-editors/

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callmeed
If the videopixie team is listening, you should really go after the wedding
photographer market. Consider the following:

\- Most DSLRs shoot video now

\- Most brides want photos + video but don't want to pay 2 separate vendors

\- Most photographers don't have video editing time/skills

Drop me an email if you want more details on the industry.

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tomsaffell
Thanks Erik. You're right, and we'll be in touch :)

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jamest
We used Videopixie for a number of our customer case studies. Their editing
service was literally an order of magnitude cheaper than the studio who shot
the video was bidding to edit.

The quality was great too, you can easily get multiple iterations and give
feedback easily.

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Ethan_Mick
My takeaway is that they first started with a product that challenged some of
the biggest players. A video distribution platform? Up against YouTube and
Vimeo?

But that wasn't the end goal - they just built something, _anything_ , to
start a conversation with customers and learn of new needs in the area. After
learning of new needs they pivoted and built a new product.

It's not about the idea necessarily - it's about learning and execution.

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tomsaffell
Thanks Ethan - founder here. You're pretty close to the mark. As we were
building out SellStage we had office hours with PG where we said
(paraphrasing) "retailers have all these different video related problems,
we're not sure which to solve", and he said (paraphrasing) "build a minimal
solution to all of them, and see which one does best".

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jianshen
While I love the idea of connecting supply and demand for a niche skill, I
worry for folks in the Motion Graphics/Post Production world who are already
being paid very poorly for their work [1]. I just hope this product doesn't
trivialize the amount of work that goes into video editing and post
production. Great idea otherwise.

[1] [http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/03/oscars-vfx-
protest/](http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/03/oscars-vfx-protest/)

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tomsaffell
Thanks (founder here). No trivializing intended! We have a lot of very
talented editors on Videopixie, and we're constantly impressed by their work.
We frequently get their input on pricing, and we adjust. Being a marketplace,
the theory is that the market will find the fair market price.

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loupeabody
What sort of length are the videos generally? Is it up to the client or is
there an imposed duration limit?

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tomsaffell
The customer decides the length. Nearly all of them are between 30 seconds and
5 minutes. The majority are between 1 and 3 minutes. We recommend that
customers keep them short, to keep their viewers happy :)

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loupeabody
I think shorter video length makes Videopixie an exception to jianshen's
concern. These editors aren't really engaging in exceptionally complex editing
work, just the equivalent of TV spots.

Local news outlets often have a division of their marketing team commission
freelance editors to make commercials for prospective advertisers.

Thanks for your service! I've got a film industry friend who could use the
extra work.

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cristianpascu
This is a great idea. Much needing this. I wonder if there's service that
would let you find video-shooters in locations where your customers live. If
you're across the globe, it'd be hard to travel to their office for a
testimonial. Finding somebody locally to do this for you is the way to go. Any
ideas?

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its4tom
Thanks Cristian, founder here, I think today people mostly go to craigslist or
get referrals from friends, to find videographers. It's not a great experience
and presents some of the same problems/risks we are trying to solve for post-
production (ie: not knowing what's a fair price, not knowing what all the
options are, not knowing if the fit will be good, not to mention the relative
hassle of finding, communicating & paying the artist). But we get asked the
question often, and I think you are absolutely right, we need a better
solution to find/hire videographers.

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Edmond
I thought you guys were in business??? I met Thomas at a DC HNer meetup about
a yr ago and I thought you guys were already launched... did I miss something?

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its4tom
It was available as an early alpha. And we've had users all along, which
helped understand what people need. But today is our public announcement.

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Edmond
Got it. Well here's wishing you good luck. I am in the processing of quitting
my job to launch a new company, will be joining you guys on the dark side very
soon!:)

Btw it will be nice to do another HNer meetup in DC.

