The Story Behind My Investment In Mux

Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg stood in front of a deceptively simple and elegant slide that laid out the future of what Facebook will focus on. In that slide, we see everything from satellites to artificial intelligence, and beyond. In addition to far-out technologies, we also see a heavy emphasis on the power of video — delivered on the web or via mobile. And as 2016 has unfolded, we see mobile video exploding across brands like BuzzFeed (with Tasty), new brands like Arsenic, and of course, Facebook and its various mobile properties getting into the game alongside players like YouTube and Snapchat.

As everyone knows, increased video consumption in general is large consumer trend. While there’s certainly opportunity to invest in new brands emerging built on top of social networks, I am also interested in what founders will help power the underlying infrastructure of the growing market. Relatively speaking, watching video online or on your phone today is still relatively a new thing — and the experience isn’t great. We know a huge wave is coming — across America, most video consumption at homes is still via traditional cable — the Rio Olympics had 26M prime-time broadcast viewers in the U.S. versus about a half-million or so streaming viewers. Eventually, this will flip. Who will make that so?

On the Friday after the W16 YC Demo Day, I reluctantly took a meeting at 4pm, right before picking up my daughter at daycare. A friend recommended I talk to Mux because he also invested. Ten minutes into the chat, I was very glad I did, and 90 minutes later, as I drove away, I was figuring out how to squeeze into the deal. The founder of Mux, Jon Dahl, and his team are known in both the video (Zencoder) and open source communities (VideoJS) for bringing a deeply rich and technical background to their field.

Earlier this week, Jon asked me if I would write something in conjunction with Mux’s funding announcement. “Of course,” I replied — I am proud to be an investor in Mux, but I don’t like “timing” my posts with the onslaught of news, so I’m writing this today on a lazy afternoon where fewer people will see it. That’s no matter. Additionally, Jon pummeled with stats about the online video industry and technical jargon to include, but that wasn’t why I invested. In invested in Jon because the depth of his experience in his field is self-evident, because he received a strong recommendation from a close friend, and because the initial core of the company he’s building has started out with his friends — he doesn’t have to turn into a full-time recruiter to get off the ground, and within their long-lasting network, Mux can snap its fingers and get to millions of ARR when its first product hits.

Jon’s background and his team’s background give them a headstart in what will be a large, growing, and dynamic market. I simply believe that Jon and his team can do what they say they’re going to do, and it’s been fun to provide a pinch of help along the way. But the truth — the dirty secret — is that Jon and his team don’t need much help to get out of the gate. And, I get to go along for the ride.