🚀 Multiview Streaming, Advertising & Strategies at Omnilive
Today, I’m sitting down with Cyril Zajac, CEO at Omnilive, to discuss how AI is revolutionizing advertising. From AI-powered personalization to the rise of Connected TV (CTV) and the evolving landscape of privacy regulations, this conversation dives into the most pressing changes in the industry.
🎙️ ITW HAWK – Part 1
🔥 Starting the Business
✅ What inspired you to start this company, and how did you validate your idea?
The inspiration for Omnilive came from my passion for storytelling. I am a director by trade, now a full-time entrepreneur, and I was always passionate about how great storytellers can convey their point of view and emotions. I noticed a gap in the market where traditional livestreams offered a single, static viewpoint, which didn’t fully engage viewers. Digital video evolved by replicating TV best practices, but it seemed greatly unsatisfying. After all, digital video is NOT TV. It’s a whole other medium.
To validate the idea, we created an MVP and conducted market research, gathering feedback from potential users and industry experts. The positive responses confirmed there was real demand. We tested the concept with small-scale events, iterating based on user feedback, which helped refine the product.
✅ What were the biggest challenges you faced in the early stages?
In the early stages of Omnilive, we faced several significant challenges. One of the biggest was developing the technology itself. Creating a seamless multiview experience that could handle multiple camera angles and synchronize them in real-time was no small feat. We had to overcome numerous technical hurdles to ensure the platform was reliable, seamless and user-friendly. In the end, we were some advanced on the state of the art that we were granted a patent.
We also knew very early on that the tech available at the time would evolve and it was crucial to develop something that would not be tech dependent.
Another major challenge was gaining traction in the market. When you invent a new service so far ahead of it’s time that obviously no one heard of or even imagine could be possible, convincing early adopters to try something new and innovative required a lot of effort in terms of marketing and outreach. We had to demonstrate the value of our solution to both viewers and producers, showing how it could enhance engagement and provide a more immersive experience. That too has evolved quite rapidly and maintaining the vision in synch with market expectations is always a challenge.
Despite these challenges, our passion for the project and the positive feedback we received from early users kept us motivated. We continued to iterate and improve based on user feedback, which helped us overcome these obstacles and build a strong foundation for Omnilive.
✅ How did you go about funding your startup in the beginning? Did you bootstrap or seek investors?
France is a wonderful country to build a startup. In many ways, it has it positive and negative aspects, but funding Omnilive in the early stages was a mix of bootstrapping and seeking investors.
However, as we started to gain traction and saw the potential for growth, we realized that external funding would be necessary to scale the technology and reach a wider audience. We began pitching to investors, focusing on those who understood the value of innovative video technology and the potential impact on the entertainment and events industries.
Securing our seed round of investment was a significant milestone. It allowed us to improve the technology, and gain confidence we were on the right track. The support from our investors has been crucial in helping us achieve our goals and continue to innovate in the multiview livestream space.
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✅ What’s one thing you wish you had known before launching?
Looking back, one thing I wish I had known before launching Omnilive is just how crucial it is to build a strong network of partners and collaborators early on. While we had a solid vision and a great product, having more strategic partnerships in place from the start could have accelerated our growth and market penetration.
I was new to entrepreneurship, and we were building a pure innovation. In some respect, I had to build 2 companies at the same time: my own network alongside building credibility for Omnilive.
✅ How did you assemble your founding team, and what key qualities did you look for?
Assembling the founding team for Omnilive was a thoughtful process. I knew that having the right people on board would be crucial to our success. But really, it was a learn-as-you-go process. If I had one advice for any young entrepreneur, it would be: Creating a team is building balance. Keep the control because before the product, a company is about 200% the people… the people… the people. And you want to be able to make decisions without referring constantly to “a second captain”.
🚀 Building & Scaling
✅ What strategies have been most effective in growing your user base?
Growing our user base at Omnilive has been a multifaceted effort. More importantly, finding the right market where your value proposal is not challenged is the most important. Early on, your ability to pivot quickly is quintessential to growth
✅ How do you approach hiring for a startup? What mistakes have you learned from?
Hiring for a startup is a critical process that can significantly impact the company’s trajectory. At Omnilive, we’ve taken a strategic approach to building our team: Hire only key expertise you need at the moment, outsource the rest.
✅ What metrics do you prioritize when measuring success?
Measuring success at Omnilive involves tracking a variety of metrics that give us a comprehensive view of our performance and impact. But really the only one that matters is customer satisfaction. And by that I mean, all the effort you need to put into understanding and resolving your client’s pain point. No problem, no solution.
✅ How do you balance innovation with operational efficiency?
Balancing innovation with operational efficiency is a constant focus at Omnilive. We’ve found that striking this balance is key to both driving growth and maintaining a high-quality user experience.
Beyond all the things you can ready about efficiency, the short answer and the real truth is that my day-to-day job as a ceo is to constantly reassign budget lines to meet my companies and my client needs. I have a plan A and a plan B, C, D…
✅ At what point did you realize you needed to scale, and what challenges came with that?
My belief is that a startup doesn’t need to scale until it has proven it’s value proposition and that it’s about “to cross the chasm”. We are just about there with Omnilive, and Multiview streaming. It’s gaining traction, and more and more people are excited about implementing it for their own needs. With mass adoption we need to double up on your R&D investment, and that’s what I mainly work on at the moment.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll explore emerging AI innovations and the future of ad tech!
What’s your take on AI’s role in advertising? Let’s discuss!
#advertising #ai #digitalmarketing #connectedtv #privacyfirst
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll explore emerging AI innovations and the future of ad tech!
#advertising #ai #digitalmarketing #connectedtv #privacyfirst
