Ajay Sahota tells Business Matters what inspired him to co-found Viddyoze as a way for users to create simple logo stingers
What do you currently do?
I co-founded a video technology company called Viddyoze. We create studio-grade 3D animations in the cloud at scale for individuals and businesses and are (we think) the largest business in our sector. We currently have 100,000 customers across the globe and are fully bootstrapped!
Myself, Jamie and David originally founded Viddyoze back in 2015 and we’ve grown rapidly since. We now employ staff across nine countries, and can already count the likes of Sony, Pfizer and Tesla among our success stories. The company has ambitious growth plans, aiming to become a £500m business within the next couple of years, as well as the global leader in automated video content and animation
What was the inspiration behind your business?
It was just a case of seeing an opportunity in the growing video market and being bold enough to grab it. Being a videographer myself, I obviously have an interest in video, and I’m an entrepreneur, so building a successful video business, in software, is pretty cool!
I’m inspired by the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg – just folks who are changing the world. Are we changing the world? Not yet, but that’s the goal. One video at a time. One business at a time.
Who do you admire?
Elon Musk. He’s relentless, has a great work ethic and is dedicated to his goals and passions.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Honestly, no! Mistakes are the best teacher. If you’re only winning, you’ll eventually fail, and it’s through failure that you adapt and learn. Take every loss, learn from it, adapt accordingly, and move forward.
I guess if I had to pick something, I’d probably have skipped the attempt at university and just went straight into entrepreneurship.
What defines your way of doing business?
Being agile and quick. Making decisions based on the return on investment (ROI). I always focus on the numbers – people might lie, but numbers don’t!
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Focus on one thing – making sales. Don’t waste time recruiting, designing fancy things, or anything else which doesn’t give you a ROI initially – everything like that can come later. Sales is the lifeblood of everything in your business, so just concentrate on that and making a ROI quickly.
