Ben Gilbert: evaluation

Transcript context

…Sure. I started the company in 2011. First thing I did, I opened up a Wells Fargo bank account. It's very easy for me to raise capital that's why I opened up a bank account. Unfortunately, it took me several months. No VCs wanted to invest in me. Unfortunately, I do not know my brother [...] Emergence Capital. Otherwise, life would be much easier. Finally, we targeted some of our friends. It reached $3 million seed funding. That's how we started. Here comes [...]. I tried to target VC again, again, nobody wanted to invest in us either. We targeted friends and got another $6 million. That's how we started. It's very hard. Nobody wanted to talk to you at that point because most people assumed video conferencing was either a settled frontier or a race to the bottom. Am I thinking about that right? Absolutely right. That's the thing. Everyone mentioned, Eric, you are crazy. The world has known you to have another video conference solution. Another VC friend even is a great friend, he told me that, Eric, I have a check for you as long as you do something else. I couldn't say I did not listen. I was very stubborn. Also, he shared to me a story. Once I was told by a big VC, I do not want to mention the name, for sure, you guys do not like them. He told me that, Eric, I do not think your [...] works. Look at Skype, look at Google Hangout, look at Webex, they're dominating, right? I debated with him a little bit. I failed. I cannot convince him. On the way back, I told him myself, I'm going to change my Windows screensaver. Back then I was using a Windows machine. I changed the Windows screensaver—you are wrong. For several years.…

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