WIX is not a start up, it was a start up in 2006,
founded by two brothers and another person, a friend.
Starting in a completely different direction,
something to do with cloud storage.
They started to build a website, found it was extraordinarily difficult and
decided they would build a company around method, a platform for
easy templates to help people build convenient, easy to maintain websites.
So WIX now is nine years old, it's an established company.
It's done initial public offering of stock.
It employs over a thousand people.
$140 million in revenue I believe, maybe a little more.
You have the numbers and the reason we're here Rona is because
WIX's an adolescent company that has grown from a startup and
learned a lot of things along the way.
We're going to talk about some of the lessons WIX's
learned in growing from a startup to an established company.
So, let's start with what I think is perhaps one of the most interesting
stories, Rona.
Last January, we had the Super Bowl [COUGH] in the United States and
WIX spent a great deal of money and
a lot of effort in doing and buying a Super Bowl add.
Why would WIX spent all of that money, millions of dollars for a Super Bowl add?
>> Well, it was the perfect timing for a Super Bowl add for WiX.
We had four TV campaigns before, we had millions and millions of users.
And we decided, we need to move up.
So I don't know if everyone knows, but
a Super Bowl ad is people watch the Super Bowl for the ads.
They don't really watch it for the game.
>> What about Canada?
>> Nope.
>> That indoor league?
>> No.
>> What am I going to do?
>> Do what everybody else does.
Start a business, build yourself a website.
[MUSIC]
>> Welcome to TO's Humble Pie.
>> [APPLAUSE] >> With WIX,
it's easy to create a website.
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Or build your own business.
>> [APPLAUSE] >> Let's party.
>> Just click, drag and drop.
[MUSIC]
To create a stunningly beautiful, totally customized all pro website.
[MUSIC]
All by yourself.
[MUSIC]
>> Farm and carve, it's charcuterie.
>> You did that yourself?
>> Don't look so surprised.
Yeah.
>> Wix.com, it's that easy.
[MUSIC]
>> I'm going to get something real quick.
>> No rush.
[SOUND] >> If you're a well-known company,
you're going to have a Super Bowl ads, like all the big brands.
>> Right. >> And
we knew that this was our time to be there.
We actually didn't do a Super Bowl ad, we did a Super Bowl campaign.
It was for a whole month.
We had 16 social channels.
We released 26 videos before.
We had lots of engagements.
Engagements with users and with the people that we
wanted to be our users in order to raise brand awareness.
And one of the very interesting thing and lucky thing is that
the Super Bowl is the most watched American TV spot, but we were very lucky.
Because we got a good game and our ad was as at the end nd it was a game point,
so we had 110 million people Watching our 30 second ad.
>> Wow.
>> So that was just the end of the ad.
When we sum it up in the end, we had worth of $43 million in
impressions and broadcasting, and press.
So, I think it was worth our while.
>> It was worthwhile.
And of course, there was a lot to do with it related to luck,
because that last play was the crucial play.
One of the great all-time moments in Super Bowl history and
that's when your ad ran with all those eyeballs.
>> That's true.
Sometimes you have to be lucky in life and sometimes you are lucky, but
we also worked very hard.
We had 2,077 mentions in the press and
then 166 mentions in the top line where everyone can see what WIX is.
>> Wow.
>> They actually had a survey afterwards and
40% more people said, they knew what WIX was.
>> Wow.
So one of the tools we teach in this course, Rona is called platform and
the idea here is don't just build just one product.
Build a platform on which you can create a range of products and
I think WIX is a good example.
So WIX's began supplying easy to use covenant inexpensive templates for
building websites and then you discovered something that a lot of small businesses
want a website not as a website, but to do e commerce to sell their product.
So you evolved your business, you progressed
your business into a framework to help businesses do e commerce.
Can you talk a little bit about how that evaluation occurred?
>> That's true and since then we've had more things.
In 2012, we opened the app market where you can choose what app you need.
If its SEO or if it's a calendar or if it's an app that reminds you of
when your clients birthday is and we released WIX ShoutOut where you can send
a newsletter or you can send to your clients.
We have a special sale today or if you sign up you get 20% off.
We released WIX Hotels,
especially we found out that a lot of people need a website for a hotel.
Not only a hotel, bed and breakfast,
small little places where they don't have money to have this huge website.
>> Right.
>> And they could build it very easily.
And today, you could book your hotel or your room through something like that.
We keep on improving our product and
realizing what our users need and what users we have, so
we keep on thinking and also we get the ideas from our support.
People are calling, I need this, I need that.
>> Right.
>> We keep on thinking what else we need.
>> Interesting.
So a problem I discovered in high-tech companies Is that when
they grow bigger, they continue to preach innovation and
find it almost impossible to be innovative simply because of their big size.
People feel alienated and feel unimportant,
unempowered in a huge organization.
WIX is a big company now over a thousand people, but as I walk in the door and
come to your reception desk, it feels like a startup.
It feels like a small company.
How do you retain this feeling of smallness even if you are a big company?
>> I think WIX is different.
It really does feel like a startup, I agree.
As a worker, it feels like a startup to me.
We have companies within the company and then everyone belongs to a company,
so that already makes you feel like you have your own division and
then we have all these events to know exactly what's happening.
We have WIX news once a week,
all the employees get a newsletter of what's going on.
Of course, it's ShoutOut.
One of our products, we use that and then we have company updates.
Every quarter, the CEO, the president, the COO,
everyone comes and talks to us and explains.
And I think I can say, anyone who has a good idea or
feels like he has something that can improve the company,
he can always have a meeting with the COO, the CEO, anyone very high up.
That's I think very Israeli.
Around the world, you can't necessarily have a meeting with anyone.
But here in this company, you can get a meeting with anyone and
tell them your ideas and many times they will also happen.
>> Wow.
So when I spoke to one your founders earlier in an interview for
a column I wrote, the founder said that everything
happening in the company is known to every other employee.
And apparently, this transparency is a key part of the company's values.
How does this work in practice?
That everything happening is known to all the employees.
Tell us about ShoutOut, for example.
>> I think the better thing would be to tell you about the Pulse.
>> Yes the Pulse.
>> The Pulse is like an internal Facebook.
Everyone that does something or I do PR.
So if I have a very, very big article, I will put it on the Pulse and
then everyone can see it.
The Pulse actually is a different startup of two people that were here,
they worked for WIX and then they was that you need a Pulse.
You need something in companies that are growing very fast for
everyone to know about all the new things that are happening and
important things and they initiated the startup and
today, they have a startup and we use the Pulse within the company.
>> Cool. With your permission,
I'd like to ask you a personal question.
