Shutterstock Chief Revenue Officer Explains Focus on Culture and Creativity as Valuation Soars

You likely know Shutterstock as a stock photography company, but in this episode of the Breakout Growth Podcast, we discover that in its 17-year history, Shutterstock has grown into a creative powerhouse that provides everything from motion and special effects to music and full production services.

 

When Jamie Elden joined as Chief Global Revenue Officer the company was positioning itself around its technology, but Jamie who comes from a creative background felt that Shutterstock primarily spoke to creative audiences. To drive sustainable growth, he believed Shutterstock would need to refocus as a creative company. This would require a cultural shift and new efforts to personalize experiences for customers.

 

With an intense focus on speaking to creative people on their terms and making it simpler to engage with Shutterstock at every level, the company thrived through the pandemic. Personalization has become a mainstay of customer interactions, even in the self-service areas of the business. Jamie wants the company to speak to customers as humans, and in this conversation with Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr, he explains how he has worked to make that a reality throughout the global organization.

 

And if you think the role of Chief Revenue Officer is all about numbers, this discussion may very well change your mind. Jamie talks about throwing away the spreadsheets and setting new goals to pivot without process. That is a bold approach for a business with 4,800 employees but it seems to be working.

 

This is one of our favorite episodes. As with our discussion with Noom’s founder and president Artem Petakov and our discussion with Georgia Vidler, Canva’s former Head of Product, this is a conversation that really shows the human side of breakout growth. Enjoy!

We discussed:

 

* Jamie’s journey to Shutterstock and what excited him about the opportunity (5:47)

* From creative company to creative company, not small business to big business (6:28)

* Coping with Covid, thriving through Covid (14:58)

* Kickstarting the culture at a large company that was plateauing internally  (18:49)

* Simplify, simplify, simplify! (23:45)

* Throw away the spreadsheets (31:48)

* Bring lessons from Tonik, a small business to Shutterstock  (44:53)

* Training for relationships (47:45)

And much, much, more . . . 

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