Chris Savage is a master at pivoting. He co-founded Wistia with his best friend in his living room, originally aiming to create an online filmmaking competition platform. When that didn’t work, they shifted to portfolio tools and later to secure video hosting for businesses, which became Wistia’s core offering. Chris wasn’t afraid to turn down major clients like HBO when their goals didn’t align. Despite running a $300k monthly loss and receiving multiple life-changing acquisition offers, he rejected them and took on $17.3M in debt to continue growing the business. In this episode, Chris opens up to Ilana about the highs and lows of building Wistia, how he made tough decisions, and what it takes to build a lasting business.

Chris Savage is the CEO and co-founder of Wistia, a leading video-hosting platform designed to help businesses create, host, and analyze video content in a way that maximizes engagement and drives growth.

In this episode, Ilana and Chris will discuss:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:19) The Twists and Turns of Launching Wistia

(05:02) Pivoting and Finding Success in the Unexpected

(08:22) From Zero to Paying Customers

(10:14) Rejecting an HBO Deal and Searching for Investors

(14:51) How Focus and Authenticity Drive Success

(18:02) Building a Serious Business with Fun Marketing

(20:33) Learning to Make Tough, Risky Decisions

(23:11) Chris’s Secret to Balancing Creativity and Speed

(26:34) The Struggle to Close Deals and Break Even

(30:31) How He Pushes Through Hard Moments

(31:05) Turning Down Life-Changing Offers

(35:23) What Chris Learned from Taking Time Off

(38:24) The Power of Building a Personal Brand

(43:05) Why Wistia is the Top Choice for Video Marketing

(46:17) Chris’s Top Business Lessons

Chris Savage is the CEO and co-founder of Wistia, a leading video-hosting platform designed to help businesses create, host, and analyze video content in a way that maximizes engagement and drives growth. A strong advocate for the Boston startup ecosystem, Chris is passionate about exploring unconventional paths in tech, entrepreneurship, marketing, video, company-building, and behavioral economics. Before founding Wistia, he contributed to an Emmy Award-winning documentary and, in 2009, earned recognition as a Top Young Entrepreneur by BusinessWeek.

Connect with Chris:

Chris’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cjsavage

Chris’s Twitter: https://x.com/csavage

Resources Mentioned:

Webinar Wizard: https://wistia.com/webinarwizard

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Wistia CEO, Chris Savage: Master the Art of Pivoting, How to Adapt and Grow Against the Odds | E61