roku anthony wood
TRANSCRIPT
“The New Solution”
Founder & CEO of ROKUAnthony Wood
About Roku… • Roku means “six” in Japanese, and Roku is the sixth company
started by Anthony Wood.
• Based in Saratoga, California, Roku is an American, privately held, consumer electronic company that sells digital media products.
• A small box that connects to your home Wi-Fi signal and streams over 300 channels to your television set.
About Anthony Wood… • Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in Texas A&M University• Launched SunRize Industries as a Founder&CEO
• Hardware and software tools for non-linear audio recording and editing• Co-Founder and CEO of iband, Inc. (an Internet software co)
• Sold to Macromedia in 1996• Anthony’s original core code => Adobe Dreamweaver• Became VP of Internet Authoring at Macromedia
• Invented DVR and found Replay TV as President and CEO• Acquisition and subsequent sale to DirecTV
• Served as the VP of Internet TV at Netflix • Founded Roku streaming player in 2008
• Originally designed as the original video player for Netflix
Roku devices so far…
Facts about Roku
• 5 million boxes have been sold• 8 billion pieces of content • Raised $60 million in most recent funding from the largest media
companies such as Hearst Corporation, News Corp and British Sky Broadcasting and Fidelity
• Now total $140 million funding
Intense Competition
• Intense Competition with GOOGLE and Netflix and APPLE, Online Cable Resources• Remember, Roku is a Private held company
1. Apple and Google already have bigger market 2. Netflix has 20,000 movies with over 26 million subscribers.3. Cable Networks make their own online windows. 4. There are many more potential competitors out there.
Why Roku still has a chance..
1. Apple and Google already have bigger market • Roku provides Simple interface with Cheap Price • Apple and Google do not have that many apps for their TVs• Key player app such as Pandora cannot be played on AppleTV• Roku has more than 600 third-party channels through its channel store• Roku3 has a motion control remote => Games
2. Netflix has 20,000 movies with over 26 million subscribers.• Amazon has 40,000 movies + other options• Roku carries Netflix as well = more contents
3. Cable Networks make their own online windows. • Although they may take some potential users, but their app or online format
will help Roku installing into its format
4. There are many more potential competitors out there. • Hearst Corp, News Corp, and BSKYB are major investors for Roku
Why Roku still has a chance..
+ Pandora, Spotify+ Earlier Roku, users spend 11 hours / week -> 43 hours / week• Strong engagement among users
Future… • There will be serious competition. • Roku will become “Youtube” + “App games”• Roku will face challenges with foreign markets
• Different Internet broadband• Running as a private held company will be VERY difficult.
BUT, Roku definitely has a shot to become “the New Solution”.