Background

In the early days of COVID-19, I wasn’t sure what the future held for myself, my family, or the world. Andreesen Horowitz said ”it’s time to build”, and so we did.

Myself, Matthew Tyndall, and Justin Ritchie had worked together before on various web and video projects, going back to CLT Blog. We knew what we wanted to build — a platform for video-based communities and events. In fact we already had an early version working, which Justin was using for his own streaming business in Canada.

Version 2

Unlike many products, we started building at v2. Over the next few months, we hired developers and completely rebuilt the original platform.

As interest in virtual events grew, we aimed to provide a solution that captured our vision for the future of this space. The result was an influx of paying customers out of the gate, valuable feedback loops, and immediate revenue to support continued development.

Biases

As we grew the platform and business, we reflected on our biases — things we believed in, and things we didn’t:

Client's brand is first. We prioritize the client's brand by offering customization options and white labeling, in contrast to other platforms that heavily promote their own branding.
Make it enjoyable. To set ourselves apart from bland, enterprise-oriented platforms, we designed an interactive and engaging experience that reflects the fun nature of events.
Video-first. Many platforms feel too much like websites and landing pages, and not like video streaming platforms. We are Netflix to their Blockbuster.
Balance live and on-demand. We seamlessly integrate live, upcoming, and recorded content in a single experience, catering equally to real-time and on-demand attendees.
Avoid physical metaphors. Instead of attempting to replicate every aspect of physical events, we focus on the unique advantages of virtual experiences.
Leverage best-in-class tools. You wouldn’t recognize it, but the underlying CMS is built in Wordpress. Beyond that our platform serves as a hub for various video technologies, engagement tools, and ticketing mechanisms to offer an incredibly adaptable experience.

Scaling

We built a small operating team including marketing, sales, and customer success. Their experience hosting numerous events and communities provided valuable insights that helped us streamline our operations to make the platform more self-service. By the end of 2021, Jumbo had achieved our initial vision: a delightful video playground merging the excitement of watching a show with the functionality required for well-organized events, and the validation of numerous reputable brands and satisfied viewers.

Present day

Over the course of it’s initial run, Jumbo generated two million in revenue, serving more than 500 events and 120,000 attendees. Though the demand for video events has normalized, Jumbo’s on-demand and community-focused approach continues to yield benefits and represents a balanced and sustainable conclusion to the virtual events boom. The platform now also offers sophisticated features tailored to larger organizations, such as real-time engagement analytics, live audience segmentation and routing, and advanced membership and ticketing control.

I led the design of our new marketing site, with help from the remarkable Morgan Pendergrass, and it captures these new capabilities and much more.

With the product matured, I stepped back in 2021 and currently serve in an advisory capacity.

Jumbo | Virtual events for enterprise

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