Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryce Anderson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Bryce. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Lightswitch was started by two individuals in partnership with Lightbank, the investment group, with an entirely different concept from how we currently operate. Originally the idea was for individuals to shoot video on their phone cameras, digitally send it to our servers, and then have it professionally edited by our team of editors. That works out as planned so we transitioned into hiring videographers to capture the videos as well with the hopes of having nationwide coverage.
We started producing hundreds of inexpensive videos all over the US with a dedicated sales team. This didn’t scale as well as we would like. We then transitioned into working as a vendor to digital marketing agencies, publishers and large businesses who needed video production services in all 50 states. We grew and grew, and the quality of our productions and project management increased to where we are now offering agency quality video solutions in all 50 states for the worlds largest publishers like Gannett, Tronc, McClatchy, Lee as well as enterprise companies like C2FO, Groupon, Tempus, Equinix and many more.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not. Unlike a lot of other startups, we do not have a massive amount of funding to go off of. Once the initial money was spent by the original founders the current C-level staff was left with a few thousand dollars in the bank. They decided to take it and turn it into what will this year be a million dollar business. It’s a foreign concept in the startup world, but we actually have to run a profit. There were months years ago where we would have hundreds, rather than thousands of dollars in the bank account.
When you are small and profitable every decision is more precious. We’ve made bad hires in the past and it wastes thousands of the company’s dollars and months of the employees’ time. It’s also always hard keeping an eye on the future, but we’ve learned that when we take our eye off the ball, we slow, but when we stay focused we soar.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are known for nationwide, high quality, managed video production services. Large companies who need to produce 10-1000 case studies or testimonials across the nation rely on us to project manage, produce and deliver all those videos.
Agencies rely on us to service their customers in cities around the globe when they don’t have reliable crews in the area or quality production teams of their own.
Online media, publishing and digital marketing companies rely on us as a vendor so that they can offer their clients video production services without needing a massive production team of their own. We’re white labeled, or partners, or direct vendors to the best companies out there.
What were you like growing up?
I was a studious goofball. Not a class clown, but definitely a distraction. I did theater and improv and wanted to be in a role whatever I was doing to sway things. For a long time I thought I wanted to be a preacher, then a movie director, then a lawyer, then I ended up in sales. I’ve also been a lifetime movie buff, compulsively purchasing hundreds of DVDs with my paper route money.
Contact Info:
- Address: 320 W Ohio St St 3W Chicago, IL 60654
- Website: www.lightswitch.com
- Phone: 1800 273 2849
- Email: sales@lightswitch.com
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