Serial Entrepreneur, Innovation and Technology Expert,
Former CEO, and Co-Founder, YouTube & AVOS
In an era when “game-changer,” “status quo disrupter,” and “new standard,” are tossed around regularly, there are only a small handful of brands and technologies that serve as the indisputable, iconic personifications of those monikers. YouTube is one such entity, as the leadership speaker will explain in more detail. Serving as a website, a brand, and a verb, YouTube is the world’s largest and most popular video sharing site and the third most visited site globally.
Silicon Valley Entrepreneur
At the genesis and development of this phenomenon is its co-founder and former CEO, Chad Hurley. Equal parts businessman and Silicon Valley maven, Chad’s transition from working at PayPal to founding and growing YouTube has truly become the stuff of legend in business, technology, social and educational circles around the world. In October of 2007, the business speaker and his partner sold YouTube to Google, Inc. for $1.6 Billion and still serves as the company’s advisor.
YouTube Co-Founder
Currently, it is estimated that YouTube attracts over 1 billion unique users watching over 6 billion hours of video each month with 80% of its traffic coming from outside the U.S. Additionally, 100 hours of new video is uploaded every minute — a rate that shows more content being uploaded in less than a month than the combined three U.S. networks created in its first 60 years.
AVOS Systems
Soon after selling YouTube, Chad co-founded AVOS Systems, which is committed to creating platforms and building products that enable individuals to utilize their time more efficiently in their everyday life. Recently AVOS has secured financing from New Enterprise Associates and Google Ventures, with participation from Madrone Capital and China-based incubator, Innovation Works. The company is responsible for powering the web and mobile applications MixBit, Delicious and Wanpai.
Disruptive Innovation
During the leadership speaking engagement, Chad discusses the rise of YouTube and managing its meteoric growth. He shares the lessons learned from the unique experiences of creating a “game-changer,” “status quo disrupter,” and “new standard” in technology and how content is consumed and shared in the modern era. He also explains what’s next in the ever-evolving landscape of emerging technology, the shifting paradigm of media production and distribution and how YouTube continues to evolve in order to stay on top.
Finding the Golden Ticket
The key to a successful product is identifying a gap in the market and creating a product to address it. When Chad realized the Internet lacked a place to effectively distribute and share video, he created YouTube. His new endeavor, MixBit, was born from this philosophy, capitalizing on the absence of user-friendly tools to create content. The business and technology speaker will discuss the challenges he faced launching YouTube and MixBit and share the lessons he's learned.
The Entrepreneur's Question: What's Next?
As any successful entrepreneur will tell you, the thrill is in the search. Chad began his career as one of the 10 employees at PayPal, leaving to start-up YouTube and then launch MixBit. Chad will speak about the entrepreneur's drive to find the next big thing once you have had a taste of success and share his steps to execute your idea. This is one business speaking engagement that you will not want to miss.
How an Artist Conquered Silicon Valley
With his fine arts degree in tow, Chad successfully launched one of the world's most popular sites, proving that creativity and marketing are just as powerful as the super knowledge of a computer engineer. As a technology speaker, Chad will discuss how his fine arts education and passion for design helped him to build YouTube.
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"Chad was great! The students loved him. We had more than 600 people at the lecture and he was great with them one-on-one as well. He is really patient and accommodating. Thanks for all of your help with the event. The Dean was thrilled."
- | Marketing Communications Manager, Ithaca College
"He was great. We were particularly impressed as he was very easy going and even stayed around taking photos and chatting with fans, well over the time he was scheduled to leave."
- | Ontario Centres of Excellence
