GE 242: How Founder Bettina Hein Has Grown Video Advertising Platform Pixability 100% per Year for the Last 5 Years [podcast]

Hey everyone, in today’s episode I share the mic with Bettina Hein, founder and CEO of Pixability, a video advertising platform.

Tune in to hear Bettina share how they’ve grown Pixability over 100% a year for the last five years in a row, what they use for successful customer acquisition, and how she started her first software company (text-to-speech software, which lives on in all Android phones and a lot of car navigation systems) right out of graduate school and sold it for $125 million.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: How Bettina Hein Has Grown Video Advertising Platform Pixability 100% per Year for the Last 5 Years TRANSCRIPT

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• [00:47]Before we begin, please leave a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast!
• [01:32] Bettina is a lifelong entrepreneur and has never held a real job.
• [01:39] She started her first software company right after graduate school. It was a speech-technology software company, which was ahead of its time.
  • [02:00] That tech lives on in Android phones and navigation systems.
  • [02:24] They sold the company for $125 million
• [02:32] Bettina then became a Sloan Fellow at MIT, where she founded Pixability.
• [03:35] Bettina says entrepreneurs should have insatiable curiosity.
• [04:14] She thinks she lost a few years when building Pixability because she had to learn on the go.
  • [04:54] Bettina tries to learn as much as she can by reading, asking questions, and speaking with leaders in the field of whatever she is trying to learn.
  • [05:23] You have to launch experiments to see if your idea has legs.
• [06:14] Pixability helps brands and agencies with video advertising and finding channels for profit.
  • [07:23] They also help them find their proper audience.
• [07:36] Fewer people are watching TV, so companies have to look at digital media.
  • [08:08] $260 billion is spent on advertising worldwide, every year.
  • [08:32] Younger people do not watch live TV anymore.
• [09:17] There has been a flight to closed platforms for advertising.
  • [10:38] It’s now easier to track who has seen your ad and if they actually went to your store or site.
• [11:00] It’s a confusing time for marketers because digital is so much more complex than just buying a newspaper or TV ad.
• [11:31] Pixability makes it easier to buy ads on digital platforms.
  • [12:09] During the planning phase, Pixability looks at your target audience in order to see who is actually watching videos around the product you are trying to sell.
  • [12:37] They also look at what inventory is available, the location of your stores, and times of day the company is getting hits.
  • [13:06] Through that planning process, they find your audience and proper ad placements within your budget and for your geographical location.
• [13:32] The campaign is broken into sub-campaigns so Pixability can test every variable.
• [14:31] Pixability charges a percentage of the ad-spend.
• [14:43] They have grown over 100% and are a team of just over 80 people, spread over five locations in the US and abroad.
  • [15:18] They start with “thought leadership”.
• [16:31] Pixability uses their social media channels to create a large email list, but they also directly contact prospects.
• [16:56] There are maybe 10,000-15,000 people worldwide who are in the business of executing brand advertising spend.
• [18:10] There are a lot of industry conferences that make their money by selling sponsorships. Often, as a sponsor you are granted a speaking slot.
  • [18:55] They have had success speaking in the women’s fashion sector.
• [19:25] The cost varies, but it’s anywhere between $5,000 and $50,000 to be a conference sponsor.
• [20:10] The key to being successful is to not run out of money, which is a continual struggle for an entrepreneur.
  • [20:33] You have to be very strategic with the money you raise.
  • [21:25] “The most wonderful thing” is when your company becomes profitable.
• [22:00] Bettina starts her day getting her two kids fed and off to school, then she heads to the office (where she eats her breakfast), and then starts her day of meetings (customer, internal, or one-on-ones).
  • [22:44] Bettina has a great assistant that helps her stay on schedule.
  • [22:55] She does her best to get home by 7pm, so she can eat with her family and put her kids to bed.
• [23:13] Spring through Fall is a crazy time for her business and she ends up travelling a lot during this time.
• [24:05] It’s hard to have a work-life balance when you’re a CEO of a startup.
• [25:49] Bettina recommends Thinking, Fast and Slow, Behave, and The Sympathizer

Resources From This Interview:

• Pixablity
• Bettina on Twitter
• Bettina on LinkedIn
• Hein@Pixability.com
• Must-read books:
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
  • Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst  by Robert Sapolsky
  • The Sympathizer (a novel) by Viet Thanh Nguyen

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