Jeremy Allaire Profile
A profile of Jeremy Allaire - Internet media pioneer - that ran last year in Advertising Age:
Forrester principal analyst Josh Bernoff hears about new ventures all the time. But four or five people he trusts all were talking about the same one: Brightcove, which was trying to revolutionize broadband video distribution. Then again, founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire is not the typical entrepreneur.
“He’s got an ability to look at the markets and say a year and a half from now what’s really going to be hot is X, then build it and see what happens,” Bernoff says.
After creating Cold Fusion, the first Web development program, with his brother and then joining Macromedia to co-lead transforming Flash into a Web interface, Allaire is ready for another challenge. “Traditional programmers are trying to take the products they’ve created for broadcast and re-factor them for the Internet,” he says. “They’re missing the essential qualities that make a broadband Internet business exciting.” Allaire wants to let video producers of all sizes to reach audiences of all sizes, all while enabling video advertising and consumer participation.
Mixing video ads into online video distribution might seem obvious today. It wasn’t when Allaire started Brightcove a few years ago. Yet there’s a good reason he can see the future of what people will need: he’s actually one of them. Taking degrees in political science and economics, he was “borne of the Apple II generation” – a self-styled tinker who in 1990 saw the Internet as a media platform that could help transform society. First someone had to make it technically possible, so he volunteered. Essentially he wants to allow the content barbarians over the walls of tradition, producing material for niche audiences – while still serving the media giants. “I think we’re just on the cusp of these alternative distribution models being real enough that the creative community will have creative alternatives where they can maintain and protect their own rights,” says Allaire.
Even beyond the customer-focused vision, Allaire is unusually effective says Tim Hanlon, senior vice president of Ventures Denuo, the media futures consulting practice of Publicis Groupe advising Brightcove. He brings an underlying pragmatism and appreciation for both what the customers want to accomplish as well as the barriers facing them. Not only did Allaire get that there “was an unchaining of video from its traditional environment,” but knew that any distribution platform would need a way for consumers to respond and for advertisers to pay and make it all possible.
In addition, Hanlon says Allaire’s personal management style is “affable and approachable” when working with people in his own company and at others. He treats Brightcove as a new start, not a continuation of something he’s owed. “That’s what you want out of an entrepreneur – someone who visionary is trying to make things happen.”
It’s not a given that Allaire will succeed a third time. “We’re going through very much an experimental phase despite all the hype and excitement,” he says. But with his experience and drive, he has as good a shot at success as anyone. Or as Hanlon puts it, “I think it’s very difficult to bet against him.”
Forrester principal analyst Josh Bernoff hears about new ventures all the time. But four or five people he trusts all were talking about the same one: Brightcove, which was trying to revolutionize broadband video distribution. Then again, founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire is not the typical entrepreneur.
“He’s got an ability to look at the markets and say a year and a half from now what’s really going to be hot is X, then build it and see what happens,” Bernoff says.
After creating Cold Fusion, the first Web development program, with his brother and then joining Macromedia to co-lead transforming Flash into a Web interface, Allaire is ready for another challenge. “Traditional programmers are trying to take the products they’ve created for broadcast and re-factor them for the Internet,” he says. “They’re missing the essential qualities that make a broadband Internet business exciting.” Allaire wants to let video producers of all sizes to reach audiences of all sizes, all while enabling video advertising and consumer participation.
Mixing video ads into online video distribution might seem obvious today. It wasn’t when Allaire started Brightcove a few years ago. Yet there’s a good reason he can see the future of what people will need: he’s actually one of them. Taking degrees in political science and economics, he was “borne of the Apple II generation” – a self-styled tinker who in 1990 saw the Internet as a media platform that could help transform society. First someone had to make it technically possible, so he volunteered. Essentially he wants to allow the content barbarians over the walls of tradition, producing material for niche audiences – while still serving the media giants. “I think we’re just on the cusp of these alternative distribution models being real enough that the creative community will have creative alternatives where they can maintain and protect their own rights,” says Allaire.
Even beyond the customer-focused vision, Allaire is unusually effective says Tim Hanlon, senior vice president of Ventures Denuo, the media futures consulting practice of Publicis Groupe advising Brightcove. He brings an underlying pragmatism and appreciation for both what the customers want to accomplish as well as the barriers facing them. Not only did Allaire get that there “was an unchaining of video from its traditional environment,” but knew that any distribution platform would need a way for consumers to respond and for advertisers to pay and make it all possible.
In addition, Hanlon says Allaire’s personal management style is “affable and approachable” when working with people in his own company and at others. He treats Brightcove as a new start, not a continuation of something he’s owed. “That’s what you want out of an entrepreneur – someone who visionary is trying to make things happen.”
It’s not a given that Allaire will succeed a third time. “We’re going through very much an experimental phase despite all the hype and excitement,” he says. But with his experience and drive, he has as good a shot at success as anyone. Or as Hanlon puts it, “I think it’s very difficult to bet against him.”
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