Ask the CEO (3) - Adam Peterson, Vipe

Today 'Ask the CEO' features Adam Peterson from Vipe located in the highly regarded Silicon Valley, USA.

1. What problem (s) your company is trying to solve? 

As competition for business increases, and the methods of communication move more and more toward impersonal, online communications, Vipe helps hotels significantly differentiate themselves and win more business by adding the personal touch of video into their sales communications – increasing the effectiveness of every customer call or inquiry response.

2. How did you finance your venture?

Vipe is currently privately funded and operating off of our revenue.

3. In a difficult climate of uncertainty, how do you attract talents to join you adventure?

We are a quickly growing company providing a cutting edge product and to be honest, our most recent talent has come from customers who like our product so much, they wanted to be a part of introducing Vipe to the market.

4. Could you explain your revenue model

As a provider of an online service that does not require any software to download, our model is fairly typical of a “Software as a Service” company – we offer annual subscriptions to our customers, and model our pricing based on the number of users of our product. Included in our offering is the training on HOW to successfully apply video to your hotel business (we even provide the video camera).

5. Who gives you inspiration when you feel down whilst leading your company?

Isn’t it presumptuous to assume that I feel down while leading my company :-) ?  I am inspired by the many positive, bright, driven and passionate people around me within my company, and also my personal life.

...and Five Trivial questions

a/ Fave hotel experience

Watching one of our customers go from trailing their competition in ADR and occupancy by $25 and 15%, respectively, to narrowing the ADR gap to $10 and LEADING the competitive set for more than 12 weeks in a row by margins of more than 10%. (and doing all of this during the worst economy any working person has experienced).

I was asking about your hotel experience as a guest but your answer if still very interesting though...

b/ Mac or PC?

PC

c/ Explorer or Firefox?

Firefox

d/ MP3 or CD?

MP3

e/ Twitter or Facebook?

Facebook

If you'd like to read more other interviews with CEOs just click on the logo "Ask the CEO on the right of the site, otherwise it's here.

Comments

[Chelsea]

Vipe is GREAT! I use it all the time for weddings at our hotel. I highly recommend it!

[Tom Culver]

Vipe is ripe with great ideas!

[Natural Skin Care]

I just want to say that It was very good post, it helped me in finding a good affiliate,

[Guillaume Thevenot]

@Bridget & Bruce: Looks like Vipe has one customer very happy with their product. StanfordTerraceInn, thanks for your recommendation. Any other hotels?

[Bruce Pressman]

I started using it in October as a way to personalize my interactions with customers and.....WOW! what a difference video makes. It's like they know you without even meeting you. I would recommend it to anyone struggling to get market share. It's very easy for us and the customer to use and you do it all yourself with the camera that is supplied. All without the high production costs usually associated with producing a quality video.

[Bridget O'Brien]

Love Vipe. The hotel I work at, the Stanford Terrace Inn, has been using vipe and the response from customers is amazing. We have definitely captured business from this sales tool.