It's easy to think of web video as beginning and ending with YouTube, but if you expand your field of vision, you'll find that there are a remarkable group of startups inviting new services and technology for sites and small businesses around video. This week, we found three entrepreneurs who are building cool offerings that have the potential to expand how entrepreneurs could use video.
If you've ever shot video for your business, and then found yourself faced with the daunting task of how to turn that footage into a usable tool for your business, then you'll be pleased to learn about DreamItReeL.
As a founding member of the team, Tommy Tranfaglia is DreamItReel's head of marketing and customer experience. DreamItReel is remarkably simple -- all you have to do is upload your raw footage, describe what you're looking for and select a video package. But unlike other automated services, DreamIt will assign you a professional (human!) editor. And that's where they stand out -- they only accept the highest qualified editors to join their community. After months of screening, they've assembled a highly curated community of video experts from all over the world who are passionate about creating videos that engage viewers and tell a story.
As Tranfaglia explained it to the audience at the NY Video Meetup at Columbia University, every business needs video, and often editing can be the difference between a great video that drives engagement and sales, and one that simply doesn't connect with audiences. Clearly they're passionate about bringing quality video editing and a low costs to the masses. And now they're working with big customers like Yahoo who are looking to expand their video offerings without adding the head count of a room full of full-time editors.
Dream It Reel / Tommy Tranfaglia
Meanwhile, entrepreneur Ari Cohen found another problem in the video space in need of solving. If you've ever seen the phrase TLDR in an email, it means Too Long, Didn't Read. Cohen felt the same could be said for TLDW -- in video this means: Too Long, Didn't Watch. From sports videos, to video game reels, to academic lectures or panel discussions, Cohen wanted to pull out the highlights and be able to share them as clips. As he explained it, "We started Vibby with a simple mission: to help the world make the most of video. To change what has until today been a one-dimensional interaction, into an engaging, social and flexible experience."
So he began building Vibby, a video platform that enables users to highlight, share and discuss the best parts of an online video. The idea was to take the noise of big, long unfiltered videos and make the relevant portions visible, and at the same time making content more engaging. Cohen felt that doing this would provide analytics on user interaction at a granular level as well.
Ari Cohen /VIBBY
DreamItReel and Vibby may not solve a problem you have today, but with video growing dramatically on the web, the challenges of making and finding video are only going to grow. And for these two startups, the future looks very bright.