{"id":5036,"date":"2021-05-05T04:31:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T18:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/the-exit-podcast-taking-over-the-television-industry-with-serial-entrepreneur-jason-flick\/"},"modified":"2021-09-02T17:18:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T07:18:47","slug":"the-exit-podcast-taking-over-the-television-industry-with-serial-entrepreneur-jason-flick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/the-exit-podcast-taking-over-the-television-industry-with-serial-entrepreneur-jason-flick\/","title":{"rendered":"The Exit Podcast &#8211; Taking Over The Television Industry with Serial Entrepreneur Jason Flick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-listen-on-apple-podcasts\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/taking-over-television-industry-serial-entrepreneur\/id1532346146?i=1000516778011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-listen-on-spotify\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/15tZ1bpeRddf3dzgbjeIJR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Listen on Spotify<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-listen-on-google-podcasts\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zb3VuZGNsb3VkLmNvbS91c2Vycy9zb3VuZGNsb3VkOnVzZXJzOjg4MjY1MjIyOC9zb3VuZHMucnNz\/episode\/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMTAyNzQwODUyNQ?sa=X&amp;ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwio1OfU2bHwAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Listen on Google Podcasts (opens in a new tab)\">Listen on Google Podcasts<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1027408525&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/theexitpodcast\" title=\"The Exit - Presented By Flippa\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Exit &#8211; Presented By Flippa<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/theexitpodcast\/ep031\" title=\"Taking Over The Television Industry with Serial Entrepreneur Jason Flick\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Taking Over The Television Industry with Serial Entrepreneur Jason Flick<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-taking-over-the-television-industry-with-serial-entrepreneur-jason-flick\"><strong>Taking Over The Television Industry with Serial Entrepreneur Jason Flick<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we\u2019re talking with Jason Flick, former co-founder and CEO of You.i TV.&nbsp; As a successful serial entrepreneur he has a lot of knowledge to share.&nbsp; Going from the corporate world to his first startup, Jason found some early success.&nbsp; As the space evolved he had to as well, and with the iPhone transforming the space he knew he needed to be a part of it all.&nbsp; As the way people related to technology changed, so did Jason\u2019s business.&nbsp; While looking to help apps everywhere, You.i ultimately took over the TV space and found great success.&nbsp; With an acquisition by AT&amp;T, You.i found themselves on every platform driving the space from behind the scenes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-beginning-of-you-i\"><strong>The Beginning of You.i<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason says he always wanted to be involved in a startup and had a degree in technology, but he started out as a developer and worked his way up the corporate ladder.&nbsp; Then the industry went through a tech meltdown and lots of people in the space found themselves without jobs.&nbsp; Jason thought this would be the time to start a business and so Flick Software was born.&nbsp; Flick Software was in the business of mobile technology, which at the time was palm pilots and such.&nbsp; Jason loved any kind of tech that you could fit in your hands.&nbsp; Then the iPhone came out and it was transformational to the space, changing the way people related to technology.&nbsp; This was when Jason started You.i.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-kpi-metrics\"><strong>KPI Metrics<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In regard to tracking KPI\u2019s, Flick was all about looking at profit margins by the quarter, the month, even down to the minute.&nbsp; You.i was less about profit margins as they spent the first 3-4 years bootstrapping and weren\u2019t really profitable but more focused on building the business.&nbsp; Once they finally received some funding it became more about revenue but was mostly about the adoption of the product.&nbsp; One year they hired 100+ people and needed to switch metrics to show they were a hot company to work at.&nbsp; They began to watch metrics around culture and salary.&nbsp; With the first round of capital being private equity they had to present all metrics at board meetings.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-considering-an-exit\"><strong>Considering An Exit<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When it came time to consider an exit, it was either raise a D round and go IPO or exit to someone like Microsoft or Google.&nbsp; Jason says it\u2019s imperative to always grow your business with an exit in mind from the very beginning.&nbsp; You.i wanted to help apps everywhere but was mainly dominating in the TV space with companies such as Twitch, Comcast, and AT&amp;T using them. Tuner Media would ultimately invest in them before merging multiple times with Warner Media and then AT&amp;T.&nbsp; During all of this transition Jason says maintaining exec level connections was very important.&nbsp; You.i got Comcast to invest in them while AT&amp;T was trying to buy Warner Media.&nbsp; By the time AT&amp;T acquired Warner Media, You.i had 18 active projects going with AT&amp;T.&nbsp; At this juncture AT&amp;T was ready to buy You-i.&nbsp; During a time when streaming services were all the rage, You.i tried to align themselves to be a strategic asset.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-acquisition\"><strong>The Acquisition<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>From start to finish the acquisition took about four months.&nbsp; There were signs early on while You.i was seeking it\u2019s next D round while doing super distribution.&nbsp; AT&amp;T gave You.i a few weeks to look at the offer before locking it in.&nbsp; The acquisition was supposed to take a month or two, but AT&amp;T wanted to go through the court system which was weird.&nbsp; This added an entire month, all staff had to be informed, and all kinds of terms and conditions were put into place.&nbsp; Even during the closing You.i was helping AT&amp;T with next generations ads while closing the current business with the current offering.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-right-time\"><strong>The Right Time<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You.i TV knew they could become a lot more, but it was the right time for an exit.&nbsp; As they were building apps that were winning awards, with hundreds of millions of people using their tech every day, You.i had to consider their vision.&nbsp; They had to ask themselves if this move was going to help them to achieve their vision.&nbsp; During this time HBO was going global and was being thought of as the future of cable.&nbsp; You.i was on every platform driving all of that.&nbsp; They knew they needed to change gears from revenue defining to community defining, or user adoption.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-knowing-what-you-know-now-what-would-you-tell-yourself-ten-years-ago\"><strong>Knowing What You Know Now, What Would You Tell Yourself Ten Years Ago?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason says there was a time when he thought that tech was all that mattered, if you could send data it was successful.&nbsp; He realized eventually that tech isn\u2019t the key piece, it\u2019s the whole package.&nbsp; He believes he could have shaved off 5-10 years of struggling by factoring in art and science.&nbsp; Furthermore, he knows now that things like user experience and ease of use all matter.&nbsp; In fact, he did a Ted Talk on it about 7 years ago.&nbsp; He believes he could\u2019ve been far more successful if the goal had been about more than just the tech working.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-where-to-learn-more\"><strong>Where To Learn More<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason says going forward he is excited to invest, mentor, and get his hands dirty.&nbsp; If you\u2019d like to follow what he\u2019s up to he can be found on LinkedIn or on Twitter @jasonflick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Google Podcasts The Exit &#8211; Presented By Flippa \u00b7 Taking Over The Television Industry with Serial Entrepreneur Jason Flick Taking Over The Television Industry with Serial Entrepreneur Jason Flick Today we\u2019re talking with Jason Flick, former co-founder and CEO of You.i TV.&nbsp; As a successful serial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":2400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5036"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=5036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}