“From VC To Media-tech Entrepreneur Growth”
Vinayak Shrivastav, Co-Founder and CEO, Toch AI aims to be at the forefront in delivering world-class video editing solutions. As a winner of BW Disrupt’s Young Entrepreneur Awards 2021, he shares his journey and the roadmap ahead for Toch AI.
What got you into the media-tech space?
I had an affinity for the media-tech sector because of my interest in videos. Video editing has been a challenge for a number of years due to minimal innovation.
There have been great platforms like Adobe and Final Cut Pro but none of them have seen any competition. We realised that there’s a lot that needs to be done. So, we released a very simple video editing platform that could create key moments and highlights.
Today, if you’re watching a live event, say cricket and someone has just been dismissed, the replay that you see is created by our company.
What exactly is Toch AI’s business model?
Our business model is a subscription-based service where you pay a monthly fee and basis that you get access to the platform and its entire feature set and tools which allows cloud editing to be done at scale.
How would you describe the Covid phase for Toch AI? What are some positives that you took from this phase?
We have grown 300 per cent in the last 18 months. The pandemic was a blessing in disguise for a business like ours because now people have started to watch more content and more people also want to upload more content. So, more editing came into place. Enterprises want to do away with the manual processes and create a digital first product for their users. The scale that we’ve reached in the last 18 months, I don’t think we would have reached it even in the next three years had it not been for the pandemic.
What are some specific areas that you would like to target in the coming year?
Our roadmap for 2022 is to create a digital first products for consumers. We are very focused on B2B and now want to enter the B2C space.
Editing is going to see a lot of transformation in the next one or two years. Our focus will be on delivering world-class video editing solutions on cloud so that anyone and everyone can use editing at scale.
The plan is to grow to at least 30 plus countries and entering the consumer market.
What would be your message to young entrepreneurs?
Being an entrepreneur in early days becomes an isolated journey. You start feeling lonely about it as people don’t appreciate your vision. Forums and initiatives like BW Disrupt’s Young Entrepreneur Awards put the focus on entrepreneurs and their innovations and take it to a large audience.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, I would say, don’t be afraid to take on the challenges. It might be a hardship for a couple of years but if you’re on the right path in building a company, you will definitely get there.
