Earlier this month, Startup Grind NYC hosted Chet Kanojia, founder and CEO of Aereo. Chet was a child entrepreneur and now Aereo is in the midst of disrupting the cable television industry by offering an innovative online platform to consumers. One can be forgiven for thinking that as CEO, Chet would be reserved, but he was no holds barred with his answers and gave great information to the audience. Startup Grind founder, Derek Andersen, flew in from Silicon Valley to moderate this truly spectacular evening.
“My Relationship with VCs Improved Significantly Once they Made Money Off of Me.”
The goal of most entrepreneurs is to grow a self-sustaining business or achieve a large exit. Chet had a substantial exit in 2008 when he sold Navic Networks to Microsoft before raising a seed round for Aereo in 2010. His outlook on funding was shaped by these two experiences and he now believes that, “the majority of companies are in $10M to $20M threshold. They are good companies, but not great VC or exit companies.”
“What Keeps You Up at Night? Everything!”
Aereo is rapidly expanding and the cable networks are rightfully fearful of this new challenger. There are a lot of moving parts from licensing to litigation to customer acquisition, but Aereo’s largest variable is real estate. Aereo is currently targeting a user base of one out of every four paid television subscribers. The word “disruption” is frequently thrown around in tech, but Aereo is actually challenging an entrenched business and providing greater choice to consumers.
“Aereo is a Destiny Company; It’s Bound to Succeed.”
Prior to launching Aereo, Chet followed developments in the cloud. Finally in 2009, he had an epiphany about the cable industry. “We made a bet that that TV would bifurcate. Now we’re a binary company and if we win, we win big.” Confidence in business goes a long way, but so does having the technology, team, and strategy to back it up. Aereo has the full package.
The full video of the talk is below and includes much more of Chet’s unique insight:
Huge thanks to Thoughtworks for hosting us!