Summary
In this episode of the Engage Video Marketing Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Daniel Goldstein, who, alongside his business partner Renice, built Visual Domain into Australia’s largest video production company before it was acquired by News Corp.
Daniel shared the incredible journey of starting the company during the global financial crisis in 2008 and growing it to a team of about 100 people. He discussed the importance of focusing on repeat business and building strong relationships with clients, which was a significant factor in their success and eventual acquisition.
We delved into the challenges of scaling a service-based business, the evolution of video content demand, and the strategies they used to sell video production effectively. Daniel highlighted the importance of educating clients on the production process and aligning the value of their services with client expectations.
A key part of Visual Domain’s success was their proprietary video management system, which streamlined their production process and provided a unique selling proposition. Daniel also touched on the due diligence process during the acquisition and the factors that contributed to their valuation, such as repeat business and revenue growth.
As for the future, Daniel is taking a well-deserved break and is open to exploring new opportunities within the video and technology space. He emphasised the rewarding nature of working in a creative industry and the supportive environment that allows for collaboration and growth.
For those in the video production industry, Daniel’s story is a testament to the potential for growth and success. It’s a reminder to think about where your business is heading and to consider your own exit strategy, even if it seems far off in the future.
Stay tuned for more insights and stories on the Engage Video Marketing Podcast.
If you found this episode of value I’d love for you to reach out and let me know on Instagram @engage_ben or email [email protected]
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Transcript of the Interview: ** Note: the following transcript was generated by AI and therefore may contain some errors and omissions.
SPEAKER_00:
Have I got a story for you today. Imagine starting your video production business from scratch and then over the years building it, scaling it and growing to become one of the largest video production companies in your country and then to being acquired by a major news corporation. Well, that’s exactly the story that I’m going to tell you today as I bring in my guest who has done just that. Welcome back to the Engage Video Marketing Podcast. I’m your host Ben Amos from Engage Video Marketing and it’s my mission to help you become confident as a video strategist and grow your business and that of your clients. Now this story today and this guest that I’m going to share with you really is inspirational because as you know, I have been running and growing my video production business here in Australia for a number of years. In fact, my guest today and I both started our businesses around the same time and The exciting news is that my guest has actually grown his business to become Australia’s biggest video production company, alongside his co-founder as well over those years, and has recently been acquired by News Corp. That’s right. The big news organization owns multiple newspapers and media. conglomeration here in Australia. And it’s a really fascinating story. So I wanted to bring him on the show here today for you to learn more about that story and maybe inspire you in your business growth regardless of the business that you’re in. So my guest today is Daniel Goldstein. And along with his business partner, Renice, they started a video production company, Visual Domain, here in Australia back in 2008. And over the years, they built that business to be Australia’s largest video production company as it stands today. and turning over, on average, over eight figures each year in their business. And eventually, that led to the acquisition of their business by News Corp. And it’s a really fascinating story. So that’s why I wanted to bring Daniel on the show today to tell you more about that story and what we can learn for our businesses. All right, that’s enough from me. Let’s just jump in and hear from the man himself, Daniel Goldstein. Hey, Daniel, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having me. Great to be here. Well, I’m excited for this conversation because for those listeners of this podcast or if you’re watching on YouTube and you’re in Australia in some sort of video production role, you’ve probably heard of Daniel’s former company, Visual Domain. And if you’re not in Australia, then this is a story you’re going to want to hear. So the reason why I brought you on is obviously to explore that story of growing your video production company with your co-founder over the years, and then through to, as I mentioned in the introduction there, recently exiting to basically being acquired by one of Australia’s biggest news organizations, which is very cool. So before we get into that, though, I’d love to hear it from your perspective. Can you tell us the story of getting started in visual domain? What led you into the world of video production in the first place, like what, 15 years ago?
SPEAKER_01:
Sure. Yeah, no, it’s been an amazing journey and an unbelievable experience. And we’ve been very lucky to have that successful exit. But I guess, yeah, my background’s in, it actually started in television. I worked at Channel 7, Channel 9 and Channel 10 for many years. And for those people who might know Burt Newton, I worked on the Good Morning Australia program for about five years as a producer there and just loved the media and loved the television format, the medium, and just got really excited by being in that live environment. But always knew I wanted to have my own business and always knew that TV was just a really hard sort of industry to crack in terms of, you know, having your own business. But, you know, I thought that on source, sort of the emergence of online and how that was really captivating industry. And we were producing a lot of brand funded content back in those days as well, and could see that brands were looking for content online. I met my business partner at the time and we were sort of developing that sort of passion and that real sort of drive to start our own thing and she had some experience in the real estate industry and also in digital marketing and I had the production skills and we sort of came together with this vision of starting our own business.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah, very cool. And that was, was that about 15 years ago? Is that right?
SPEAKER_01:
It was 15 years ago. It was 2008. It was the middle of the GSC, so the global financial crisis. There was a lot of like economic pain going on at that time. And it probably wasn’t the best time to start a business without funding. Believe a very secure job. I guess we saw the opportunity. We really wanted to build something of our own. YouTube had just started, so it was really about trying to educate the market about video content. The technology was just such an absolute infancy back then. For us, it was really pioneering something and we didn’t know where it would go, but we just knew that we had this goal of maybe creating five videos a week and working with clients to be able to really build that relationship. Very quickly, we just saw that the appetite started to grow and we really had a business. Our initial focus was really focusing on the real estate industry. We saw that as something we could really own and perfect our craft in and also build those relationships where there was going to be repeatable content. We were filming houses, there were going to be lots of houses for sale, so we could develop a format for filming property videos and agent profiles and auction videos and really entrenched ourselves into that industry and it gave us a really good footing to be able to build and grow the business from there.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah, very cool. So, you know, I started my business very similar time, 2009. We kind of opened the doors here at Innovate Media, you know, in a slightly different geography to where you started. So we weren’t competing fortunately, but you know, I know that I’ve seen a lot of change in the demand businesses and video content over that time, but also in what online video content means for a business has changed a lot over that time. So how have you seen that service that you’ve been providing of online video content for business, how have you seen that change over the time from when you started through to kind of now?
SPEAKER_01:
I guess, yeah, there’s been so many different evolutions. And I think, you know, when we started, you know, I think the technology wasn’t there to support it. So the cost of producing a video was just really high and really cumbersome. And there was a lot of very established, very talented creative agencies. But, you know, they didn’t know how to, I think, streamline the production process. And it was just, a very long, expensive experience for a lot of businesses and brands that really made it cost prohibitive. I guess what we tried to do was simplify that process and just make it simpler and easier and more cost-effective to create content. But even back in those days, people were just creating one video and it was a video that would be on their website and it might last a year or two. That was really their brand piece. As the technology evolved and the appetite for content evolved, we saw just how much content businesses needed. And it wasn’t just one video anymore. It was a video for all their social channels. It was a video for… their recruitment, their training to really promote a product or an event. It wasn’t just working with a company to do one video. They were literally doing, if not dozens or hundreds of videos over a period of time and really thinking about the audience and the way they wanted to market their business and communicate to that different audience on each channel. That’s really been the evolution and I think it’s still become even more prevalent today where the channels just have such different purpose and such different needs that you really have to be creating content for those different purposes.
SPEAKER_00:
And over those years, we’ve seen the perception from the client side of the need for video change as well. It’s gone from being seen as, you know, something that you might do, you know, for top of funnel branding, you know, like we’re launching a new website, let’s do a new brand video, or let’s do a corporate video once a year or something like that. That’s the older perception of that. to now where brands are seeing that that sort of video content needs to be part of their everyday social media and content marketing, right? So we’ve seen that perception change. And I know your role in your business, in visual domain, particularly towards the end, I think was mostly around the sales conversation with those clients. So how has that changing perception kind of changed the way that you sell video content?
SPEAKER_01:
It’s a good point and I’m laughing because I think a big frustration of us was for many years that we used to feel we were at the end of the conversation in terms of clients’ marketing strategy or their brand position. They would think about their website and their photography and their copy and their brand positioning and right at the end they’d go, oh cool, we’ve got a little bit of leftover budget, we might create a video. It’s really then trying to elevate that to the top of the funnel, as you say, and being able to actually understand that a video can be that that sort of cornerstone of their whole marketing plan and should be something that they’re thinking about up front. I guess, from a sales perspective, it really was just talking to the clients and understanding their strategy and their priorities and also just starting to think about their return on investment. For us, all marketing needs that ROI. A lot of brands are really trying to think about what they’re trying to achieve and what’s the outcome. If it’s a recruitment and training, can we help them get best candidates? Can we attract their business to better people or broader network? Can we really showcase what the culture is like and being able to communicate that from a business ROI and a sales perspective? you know, as a production company, trying to push that, you know, sales conversation more at the front and not be more, you know, creative is incredibly important. But it’s really just understanding before we got to the creative, what was the objectives of the corner? What did they want to achieve and how we could help them?
SPEAKER_00:
So that piece that you’re talking about there around, you know, what I really refer to as the video strategy, right? I mean, a proper term that you would have used as well. But, you know, those listeners or viewers of the Engage Video Marketing Podcast know that I’m all about having that strategy conversation with clients first, before you go in to talk about production. How did you approach and did your approach change over the years as well around that role for visual domain in guiding the strategy as much as the production?
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, it’s a great question. I guess the way we always approach clients, and we were very lucky in terms of we had such a good library of content. So we’d always use our videos as reference examples. After 15 years, we produced over 50,000 videos, and we had videos in sort of every category. at every production point. It’s really looking at those video examples and understanding what would resonate most with the client. From there, we could really build out what the plan was and try and interpret what their needs were. and provide recommendations that suited the strategy and suited the price point and then build out the unique creative approach that would suit their brand and their tone and their sort of outcomes that they’re trying to achieve. So I think definitely strategy played a much bigger part. I think what we tried to do as a business as well is really understand you know, is a client content where they wanted to communicate internally that didn’t need that high level of production and their creativity and they just needed a professional approach versus are we trying to work with everyone specifically creating that creative unique, you know, professional bespoke, you know, production and being able to have those two sort of different approaches to each project. I think that all came down to the discovery call of really understanding and unpacking what their purpose was, and then being able to provide the right recommendations.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah, very cool. Daniel, in order to frame the next couple of questions I want to ask you, I’d love for you to give our listeners or viewers a sense of Where were you when you started Visual Domain? You yourself and your business partner. So what was the scale and what did the business look like versus, you know, where was it at the end? Where is it now in 2024? I guess the company’s still going, right? But you’ve exited from it personally. So can you give us a sense of that scale, that growth journey in Visual Domain?
SPEAKER_01:
I mean, so yeah, I mean, it literally started with the two of us. So it’s Renese Brewster, she was our CEO and my business partner and really focused on sort of the strategy and the operation and the growth. I had the production background at the start, but eventually it was managing the sales team. When we started, it was the two of us. We had a shared office with a friend that gave us some space for free. We really, as I said, focused on that real estate space. We were just out trying to network and build relationships with real estate agents where we could really provide value and educate them on the benefits of video. We were quite successful building a lot of those. really early relationships that stayed with us for many years. So we had some quite good growth at the start, and I would say in the first few years of the business, We got to about five to 10 people building our own videographers, our own editors. I think our business model was quite unique in that most production companies outsourced a lot of the work. So they never had that consistent work. So if you need a director or an editor, you’d just use freelancers. We really wanted to build our own in-house team. So we’re really focused on getting those relationships that could be repeatable and scalable and just put people on full time so we could have some consistent work for our clients and also our staff. By the end of it, we had about 100 people. That was Australia wide. That consisted of a really large team of editors and animators, a fantastic, most talented creative team of producers, directors, videographers, marketing. We also had a strong sales team who, I think, really understood production and understood our clients and were able to present our solutions to the right type of clients that we wanted to work with. Yeah, I think the business is still very strong and has huge further growth potential, but yeah, it’s about 100 today.
SPEAKER_00:
So the structure of the business today with the 100 team and you’re in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, I believe three capital cities, right? Is it kind of run from a central HQ or do you have those individual cities kind of running as their own operations? How does that work for you?
SPEAKER_01:
It’s funny because we used to be very state-based, but I think post-COVID we just really wanted to take more of a national approach. I think it worked from a team and a culture perspective. There were just no barriers anymore post-COVID where it didn’t matter what state you were in or what client you were working on. You could have a national collaboration. I think it also worked really well for our clients because a lot of our clients were national. So, you know, talking to them about filming in Melbourne and Sydney and Queensland and Perth and just being able to give them that consistent approach was a really big sort of bonus and benefit for them. So, nationally, we really worked hard to make it sort of one team and one dream and one business. But yeah, we also did have some sort of teams and production units that we sort of carved out so people could have a bit more expertise and focus. We really focused on an animation department, and that was probably one of our strongest areas of the business in a lot of respects, like through COVID. Animation was just continually beaming and has always been in high demand. And we also built out two separate teams, one looking after our sort of house accounts and key clients and one looking after sort of growth clients as well. But yeah, I think, you know, having that national approach really helped us build that, you know, those national clients as well.
SPEAKER_00:
In my experience working with video producers of all sorts through some of the coaching and consulting I do, one of the things that holds video production companies back from growth is a consistent flow of new leads, new opportunities, new work, right? Because often, you know, a business will scale to a point where you’ve got a couple of staff, you’ve got a couple of production team, but in order to go to the next level, you need more and more work, right? You need this pipeline. How did you, in the early days, develop that and continue to develop that to a point that you were able to become, I think, would I be right in saying Australia’s largest video production company? That’s the space that visual domain fill now.
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, look, it’s definitely, I would say, the largest. And it wasn’t easy. It was just a constant building of that relationship and that pipeline. But I think after a few years of working with some really key clients, I think what we were good at is identifying the type of businesses and clients that we wanted to work with. And that was really about them having high content needs. And there’s so many production companies out there that were able to service clients on a really good basis. But what we could do is if they had a lot of content they needed to create all at once, we were really well equipped for that. You know, we position ourselves as, you know, three P’s in terms of having the people, you know, the real, really strong in-house resources and skills and talent with creative you know, expertise to be able to do video on volume. We had the product, so we were experts in video. We were tempted many times to look at other products and services like photography and copywriting, but we really kept to our expertise, which was video, and used the reference examples and used our knowledge of what worked in the industry to be able to talk to clients about it. And we also had a platform, and the tech platform really helped us streamline our production process and just make it a little bit more seamless and scalable, I guess. So I think those things really helped. But yeah, it just took a lot of learning over periods of time. A lot of clients would come back to us year after year for certain campaigns and certain things they needed. You know, sometimes it was throughout the year. Sometimes we just knew, you know, there were three times a year where they would be, you know, having certain promotions they wanted to work with us on. A lot of times then we were proactively pitching ideas to them that resonated well. So it was a combination of different things. But yeah, building that pipeline and not having contracts and retainers and every month actually starting from scratch was definitely a challenge in the business but it was something that we just kind of got used to and knew how to sort of navigate.
SPEAKER_00:
So you didn’t move in towards some contract retainer type models as many businesses desire?
SPEAKER_01:
No, we didn’t. We had our own sort of version of that which were the production packs and it was really successful and that was just being able to bulk up some services for clients and they loved the value. But I guess we didn’t want to lock clients in. We didn’t feel that contracts and retainers sort of worked well for the clients in terms of them feeling this pressure that they had to commit to certain volumes of video and I think A lot of times, clients just have certain needs that are coming up in their business. What we try to do is just help them with content planning. Help them think about, okay, what’s happening in the next three to six months? I need content for this. You need content for that. Let’s just plan it out and then devise the right package that will suit them for that.
SPEAKER_00:
That’s awesome. I’d love for you to share a little bit more, Daniel, as much as you’re happy to around that platform element that you talked about, because, you know, for many businesses, particularly at a smaller scale, maybe something that is difficult to have in place. But can you explain, like, what was that? What is that in visual domain? And what benefit that gave to the business and the clients?
SPEAKER_01:
I guess it came from my business partner, Renee, who was very passionate about the tech. I think that was part of her, one of her great skills is also just looking at the innovation and what’s happening in the industry and how we can really, A, uniquely position ourselves, but B, just make the production process as seamless as possible. When we started the company, and it was literally back from 2008, there wasn’t this breadth of software available and CRM systems that, you know, could streamline production processes. So we decided to build it. And I think it was a great sort of experience for us and also our clients to be able to have something that was really tailor-made for our needs and purposes. So it’s a client hub of what we call a VMS, which was a video management system. The video management system will look back in with like a video library. So for us, we can find any video that we’ve done over the last 15 years, we could find according to price, producer, client. and be able to get that link and also understand all the sort of production requirements behind it. So, you know, we would know what was involved in terms of, you know, production, breakdown, you know, makeup, hair, you know. crew, whatever was required was all listed there. And we could use that as a reference point. But from the front end clients, it was a client hub where they could lobby and they could have a chat with their producer, they could book videos, they could pay invoices, they could log their changes. So it really let them sort of manage and create all their own content, that one central point.
SPEAKER_00:
That’s amazing. I didn’t realize the breadth and depth of that platform play that you had in place. Was there ever any thoughts of licensing or white labeling that kind of solution or was it such a unique selling proposition that you’re like, nah, we’re keeping that for ourselves?
SPEAKER_01:
No, definitely. And I think, you know, for us, it was always like we wanted to keep improving and innovative. And it was a huge investment. We had a fantastic team of developers full time in the business, constantly making upgrades. I guess the challenge was sometimes the business and the industry is always moving and getting that tech to move with you as well had its challenges. But I think, you know, for us, it was part of like a real cornerstone of the business for over 10 years. And definitely thought there’s opportunities for us to be able to license it, but also now I can see there’s so many options as well for other companies out there to be able to use tech. And I think for us, what it was as well, it was a great asset, but it also just helped us understand technology and the importance of innovation, and I think that was where our mind was always going is how do we use, and even now thinking about AI tools and other services around there, how do you use that just to make yourself more efficient and more profitable and more productive and ultimately benefit clients?
SPEAKER_00:
A hundred percent. Yeah, very cool. Well, if you ever do white label it, let me know. I know that there will be many video production companies out there that would love to have that sort of system plugged in behind their business at whatever scale. I’d love to pivot now, Daniel, to talk about some of your learnings over the years of selling video to clients. So particularly in the later years, as the demand for video contents changed, as we discussed before, and your experience in the sales end of what you guys offered, What were some of the key learnings or tips or ways to position the value of video production that we deliver for clients to really make that sale easier?
SPEAKER_01:
It’s a good question and I think the one thing that I sort of realized as well is that clients at the moment now are far more discerning with video and we definitely went through this magical period where clients would just come to us, want a video, we’d provide a quote or an example and they’d say yes. Now it’s a case of them looking at three different providers and looking at budgets and looking at creative and really getting far more embedded into that process. And I think it’s really explaining the value of what you bring to the table. And you’re often not comparing apples and apples when a client’s looking at our company versus your company versus another company. So it’s really being able to have those conversations about what they need. how you can help them and what your service includes. I also think it’s just explaining the production process. A lot of clients, I think, do think they understand video, but they might not understand all the different elements involved and the things that can contribute to a price point. I think we got to a stage in our business where there was a perception we were expensive. Coming from what we thought was a really affordable price point, our prices had to increase but also our services and what we were putting into every video also increased. Just being able to really explain that. We spent a lot of time on the pre-production process with our clients and I think that was that case of just understanding what they were needing, setting out all the steps from If it’s a storyboard, if it’s a location, if it’s getting talent, and it’s not just taking these steps for granted. It’s explaining that that actually has a cost and a value to it and it’s going to have an impact to that end product. Them understanding that $5,000 here and $10,000 there, there are differences in what you’re actually bringing to the table and then appreciating it. The value of that, we can communicate that really well. I think the clients respect that and understand it.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, definitely my own experience is that the more education you can put into your sales conversation and process and the more understanding the client is of why you’re doing things a certain way and why the price point is what it is. And aligning that with the benefit that that’s going to have to the result of the video, then the price becomes less of an issue. So rather than looking at video production as a commodity, they’re looking at it as they’re paying for both the results of the resulting video content, you know, more of that value-based pricing, but they’re also paying for the experience, right? Because for the companies that you were particularly targeting, they don’t want to micromanage, they want to hand it to you guys and get on with their day, right?
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, spot on. And I think it is that look, part of it is that they have the trust and they also know that, you know, you’ve got their back and that you understand what they need. And the other part is that, you know, I think what we’re also doing is creating a fun product. Like it’s not something that it’s, it’s not a grudge purchase. We want them to enjoy the process. We want them to be part of it, but that we want them to be able to trust us as the video experts that we’re going to deliver that outcome that they need.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah. I’d love to transition now, Daniel, to talk about that idea of moving a business through a phase of scaling and growing, and like we said, becoming Australia’s biggest video production company, but then through to an acquisition by Australia’s biggest news organization, News Corp, right? So I don’t know how much you’re able to share there, but you know, I’d love to, you can share as much as you want. But I’d love to know, when did that conversation start to come up for you and Renice, your co-founder? Were you planning that for a number of years that you’re like, let’s think about how we can exit this business or what our exit plan is, or did it just fall on your lap?
SPEAKER_01:
We definitely didn’t have an exit plan, but we always had a growth plan. I think we were just really ambitious and really driven. I think we just wanted to be having a really successful, solid, sustainable business that was not for ego’s sake, but was really also we saw the benefit and the value for the team. So many of our team members were with us for 10 plus years and on this journey. We saw their experience and their creativity and their talents grow as the business grew. And we saw they came on this journey of evolution from being a real estate-based production company to working with some of the biggest brands in Australia, and then also working on some of the biggest budget projects in Australia. And we saw the satisfaction they got from that, and we got from that in turn as well. So that was really the driving force behind it. We never set out to ultimately exit the business, but we were always looking at ways that we could grow. There were some challenges with growth. You can get to a point where you’ve got to reinvest your profit and you’ve got to take risks and some things won’t work out. We definitely had our share of those experiences. The way the News Corp opportunity came about was a little bit unexpected. They were actually one of our clients. And we had a really great relationship working with one of their key vehicles for quite some time. And one of our team members was owning that account and growing that account. And they were just so happy with what we were doing. They saw the opportunity to be able to scale that and wanted to have a conversation. So many times these conversations sound great in theory, but don’t actually go anywhere or don’t eventuate, or, you know, you feel like, you know, you might be misled, but it really wasn’t. It just felt like a win-win for both parties in terms of what we wanted and what they wanted. They were really mindful of us to maintain our independence and just grow outside of them, but they wanted to utilise more video in their own business. So, you know, we definitely felt like it was a good fit and a good time.
SPEAKER_00:
Are you able to share with us kind of as much as, you know, from News Corp’s perspective, why they moved into acquiring a corporate video production, which is not your traditional media, right? That they typically play in. So, you know, what in your understanding was their business case for starting to move into that space?
SPEAKER_01:
I guess they’re definitely on their own journey for, you know, digitizing the News Corp business and brand. I mean, they’ve got obviously a long heritage in print and, you know, they’ve got so many digital assets and video is such an integral part of all of that. And their belief and support for video was just fantastic. for us as a client, but then also as a partner, and they just saw the opportunity to be able to scale that. They saw the demand from all their clients wanting video content and video, really quality, scalable content as well. But I think that’s where they saw the opportunity. For us, we saw the opportunity to get access to a lot of other different brands and clients that we weren’t exposed to, but also their sales channels, media partnerships. And so it definitely felt like a win-win. I think just to see, as I said, their commitment towards video and the support for it was really sort of reassuring for us. As I said, it was a great win-win for both parties.
SPEAKER_00:
And obviously as you stepped out of the business now, um, through the acquisition, you’re not really in control anymore of where they go with it, but what’s the, what’s the vision now for visual domain as it becomes a news corp company? Like where, how, how are they intending to continue to scale the business as far as you know?
SPEAKER_01:
I think they’re still as committed as ever to the business. The great thing for Reneece and I was that we weren’t just stepping away and handing it to News Corp. Someone that had been with the business for 10 years actually started as one of our media coordinators and has risen up to be the national GM of the business, has now taken over the managing director role and really taking the business to that next stage. For us, for 15 years, it was our baby. We loved it. We nurtured it. We went through highs and lows. And we just felt it was time for us to hand it over and give it a new sort of lease of life and give it a chance to, you know, take a different direction. So, you know, I think visual domain will continue to grow. I think it’s got the same people. It’s got the same values. I think the video landscape is definitely changing. So, you know, there’s a need for maybe some, you know, fresh leadership as well, which is a great opportunity for our leadership team to step up. And I think that was really sort of the most exciting thing for us is to be able to hand over our baby to people that have been in the business for many years, lived and breathed the luck we had and give them a chance to, you know, continue the leadership and the legacy.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah, very cool story. You can share as much as you want or as little as you want, but one of the things that I think many people who are building and growing their own video production business is like, what sort of valuation can you put on a business? And what sort of factors do you believe resulted in whatever valuation you came up with? You don’t need to share specific numbers, but there would have been things that played into that, right? So what can you share for us?
SPEAKER_01:
It’s a great question. Like, you know, the due diligence process for us was pretty intensive. And that went through six months of really looking at all our clients, the recurring revenue or repeat business that we would get, the growth from those clients. And there was definitely a really strong pattern. And I think To Renisa’s credit, many years ago, I was very focused on sales and growth. She was very focused on repeat business and clients and establishing those really core relationships. Being able to have that as a cornerstone really helped us. We were lucky enough to boast that we’ve had The biggest brands in Australia like Seek and REA and NAB and Bupa and all these businesses and brands work with us year on year and their spend increases year on year. So I think they look at those kind of factors. Then, obviously, just looking at the revenue of the business, we were very fortunate to get a really strong—I think they had a strong appetite for where the business could go and also what they could contribute to it as well. As I said, it became a win-win for both parties. We definitely had a good framework and good fundamentals for a service-based business, which is Always challenging, and especially without those contracts, being able to have those repeat clients come, you know, as a sort of case study really helped us with the valuation.
SPEAKER_00:
Very cool. Can you give us a sense of what that exit meant for you? So, you know, I know there was a percentage acquired by News Corp initially a couple of years back or whatever the timing was then. Can you just maybe share that kind of staged approach just so we understand that?
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, so it happened they took the majority stake in the business. That was about two years ago. Then there was always us working in the business for a certain period of time with an option for them to exercise and take the remaining stake. The timing felt right for us both where we sat down and said, we’ve reached a point You know, what do you want to do? We had a mutual conversation about it. And as I said, I think it felt right for us. You know, Renice has got lots of interests outside of the business. You know, definitely starting to think about life outside of visual domain. And I think the 15-year point was just this moment where we said that. It’s been a great time to be able to step back. We’ve also seen the industry change a lot. There’s been lots of different stages of the company. I think it’s ready for that next stage. They took a majority stake with the option to take the balance and they exercised that with full confidence that they wanted to continue to grow and build the business further.
SPEAKER_00:
Very cool story, Daniel. So what’s next for you? Like you, you’re no longer running a production company. What’s next?
SPEAKER_01:
I still, yeah, I don’t know, to be honest. I’m excited about all the different options available. It’s only been a few weeks. It’s still sort of just settling down. It’s definitely weird not having your inbox filled with emails and just even having the team to sort of communicate and collaborate with on a daily basis. But definitely starting to look at other options and just have really interesting conversations with different people. Video has always been my passion. You know, we wouldn’t have built this business if we weren’t as driven by the product that we had. And we do feel like we’ve got the best product in the world. And I think that won’t change. But I think there’s a lot of technology around that can support video production. So just looking at different things that are happening in the industry, open to lots of conversations, but just taking a bit of a break at the moment. We’ll see what happens.
SPEAKER_00:
Sounds like a well-deserved break too. So Daniel, I’m very pleased and I want to thank you for coming on to share your story. I think it’s an inspirational story to me personally and I know many of my listeners who are in similar types of businesses around the world. I think many of us, we don’t know what our end game is, you know, what we’re building this for. We’re in it for a passion because we want to create, right, for many of us. And then we realize after creating for a while that, you know what, we’ve got to figure out this business thing too. And then maybe if we do that well, we have a business that kind of, you know, supports us as much as we want. But it’s often very difficult to know where that ends. And your example is an example of an ending. There are many examples. But yeah, I really appreciate you sharing that story. Any final kind of words to share for any listeners or viewers of this episode who are on the grind, who are at the coalface of building business?
SPEAKER_01:
No, but I think your sentiments are spot on. I think building a creative culture that is in the service industry but also has commercial outcomes is really challenging. Sometimes you get so caught up in this creative product that we love and we’re passionate about, but it is just balancing it out and making sure it’s profitable and it has that commercial benefit to you. I think clients want you to commercially benefit as well. They never want to see you losing money on a project, and it definitely happened to us Sometimes you get carried away. So it is, as you say, it’s that fine line. And I think, you know, it’s challenging, but it’s also so rewarding. We’re so lucky to be able to work in such a creative industry. And the fact that I think it’s opened up to so many people in terms of the barriers to entry are low. And you can create any type of content or work with any type of brand in any way. It’s super exciting. So more than happy to chat to anybody in the industry. I love that we can collaborate. Never saw anyone as a competitor. I think we’re very lucky to be able to have such a supportive environment where we can all learn and grow. So it’s been great to chat to you today as well. And thanks for your interest.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah, really appreciate that. And for people who do want to connect with you, where’s the best place for people to connect with you now?
SPEAKER_01:
LinkedIn’s definitely the best. So if anyone wants to ping me a message, would love to chat and catch up. Definitely got some more time on my hands.
SPEAKER_00:
Excellent. Very cool guys. So yeah, look him up, Daniel Goldstein on LinkedIn. There’s probably a bunch of them there, but you’ll find him. So we’ll have the links in the show notes for this episode as well. So I really appreciate you coming on and obviously, you know, really interested to follow the story of Visual Domain as they move forward now that you guys have moved on, but also interested to kind of stay in touch and see where you end up as well. So appreciate your time today, Daniel. My pleasure. Thank you. All right, my friends, I hope you found that super inspirational. I know I, for one, was really stoked to hear about the success for both Renisse and for Daniel as they built the business and then eventually exited as well. And to be honest, it’s got me thinking about where is my business going and what’s my exit plan as well. So hopefully it’s got you thinking about that too. The important thing to consider in business, even if you’re in the early stages of your business, where are you wanting to take this business and where are you going with it? So I’ll leave you with that and with that, I’ll be back with you with the next episode of the Engage Video Marketing Podcast real soon. All right, take care.
