Who is Anjali Sud? Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud has come a long way since starting as an investment banker to reinventing the online video platform’s business model. She is leading innovators across a range of sectors and today, Vimeo is less about content and more about the technology and tools to help people create, manage and share videos across social media.
"Today Vimeo is a public company," Sud wrote on Twitter adding that it is not a “YouTube alternative” anymore as it has transformed into a large global enterprise worth six billion dollars, making its mark on the world. The business video software company made its trading debut on Tuesday and Sud is already back on the hunt for Vimeo's next acquisition while also plotting out new investments in the company. Sud, who joined now former parent company IAC Interactive in 2014, took over as CEO in 2017.
"It has been a 16-year labor of love, rooted in our belief in the power of video. We put creators first, and put that power in the hands of millions," she tweeted. Further, thanking people who made it possible for her to find a place in the market dominated by a handful of major platforms. "Good luck hugs before mama rings the opening bell to take Vimeo public," she posed with her two-year-old son Savaan before Vimeo went public in a spinoff from its corporate owner on May 25.
Here are ten things to know about Anjali Sud:
1. Now a full-fledged businesswoman, Sud started in investment banking and spent several years at Time Warner. She applied for various positions at all the big investment banks and was reportedly rejected by every single one. But instead of failing she kept on trying. “I remember leaving one of the interviews, and they told me that they didn’t think I had the personality to be a banker,” she told CNN.com. “That definitely was a low point.”
2. Growing up in Flint, Michigan, she dreamt of becoming a playwright. The eldest of three siblings, she would stage basement plays with her brother and sister, and their parents as audience. She said she was really shy as a kid. Sud told Yahoo Finance, “Acting, dancing and singing were a really nice outlet for me.”
3. Sud who grew in an immigrant household, saw firsthand the impact she could have as a business leader. She was inspired by her father who runs a plastics recycling plant in Flint. “He raised me with this idea that businesses can help create jobs and have a positive force of influence on your local community,” she had noted. "My dad was an entrepreneur and I wanted to be one, too."
4. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s famed Wharton School and received her MBA from Harvard Business School.
5. She started her career in Amazon, where she got to experience many different functions and jobs. She came to Vimeo as head of marketing but quickly identified her calling.
6. After trying for a long time, at the age of 34, she finally gained what she deserved as people finally recognised her skills and the intellect she had. She became the CEO of Vimeo, the world’s largest online ad-free video platform. Then the 34-year-old took over the company based on her talent, courage will, and perseverance along with determination. That was in 2017.
7. She decided to stop competing with YouTube, Netflix, and other consumer video companies and find a better market to play in where all videos can be secured behind single sign-on (SSO). In her first 90 days on the job, she led Vimeo’s transition from a primarily entertainment platform to a software-as-a-service business for content creators. The company pulled in nearly $200 million in revenue in 2019.
8. She also became the youngest chief executive of any IAC (IAC) brand. In April, Vimeo announced that the 11 members of its board of directors would include filmmakers Spike Lee and George C. Wolfe alongside Sud and IAC CEO Joey Levin (chairman of Vimeo). This follows Vimeo’s $300 million raise at a whopping $6 billion valuation in January and strong Q1 2021 results, with revenue growing 57% year on year (YoY).
9. She made it to The Hollywood Reporter’s 2017 Next Gen list, which spotlights 35 executives 35 and under who “will soon run Hollywood.” She has also been named in Fortune’s “40 under 40” rising business leaders list in 2018 and the same year she was included on Adweek's Power List. In 2019, she was honoured with a Muse Award by the New York Women in Film & Television.
10. Furthermore, she is a board member of Dolby laboratories and a young lady global leader of the World Economic Forum, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Featured Image Credit: Anjali Sud/Twitter
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