Zoom
Video communications that just work
Slide-by-Slide Breakdown
The Problem
🔴 ProblemVideo conferencing is universally terrible. WebEx: Bloated, slow, crashes frequently. Skype: Consumer-grade, unreliable for business. GoToMeeting: Clunky interface, requires downloads. All existing solutions: Join link → Download plugin → Update Java → Enter meeting ID → Audio issues → 'Can you hear me now?' Average time to join a video call: 5+ minutes.
The 'Can you hear me now?' line got laughs from every investor — they'd all lived it.
The Solution
💡 SolutionVideo conferencing that just works. Click a link → You're in the meeting. No downloads, no plugins, no 'can you hear me.' HD video and crystal-clear audio. Works on any device, any network. Gallery view: See everyone at once (we invented this).
'Just works' was the entire pitch. Eric Yuan was obsessed with eliminating every friction point.
Why Eric Yuan
👥 TeamEric Yuan: Founding engineer of WebEx. Led WebEx engineering through Cisco acquisition. Managed 800+ engineers at Cisco. Left Cisco because they wouldn't let him fix WebEx. 'I've spent 15 years learning what NOT to do in video conferencing.' Team: 40 engineers, most from Cisco/WebEx. We know where every bug is buried.
Founder-market fit at its strongest — the person who built the incumbent knows exactly how to disrupt it.
Traction
📈 Traction1 year since launch: 3M meeting participants per month. 6,000+ companies using Zoom. Customer satisfaction: 97% positive (vs industry average 72%). Week-over-week growth: 8%. Average meeting join time: 30 seconds (vs 5+ minutes for competitors). Zero marketing spend — 100% word of mouth.
'30 seconds vs 5+ minutes' was a 10x improvement that was easy to verify.
Market Opportunity
🌍 MarketVideo conferencing market: $3.5B (2013), growing to $6B by 2019. Unified communications: $30B. 1.3 billion knowledge workers globally. Only 12% use video conferencing regularly — 88% haven't adopted yet. COVID accelerant (later validated): remote work trend growing 10% annually.
The '88% haven't adopted' stat showed this was a market creation opportunity, not just share theft.
Business Model
💰 Business ModelFree: 40-minute meetings, up to 100 participants. Pro: $14.99/host/month (unlimited duration). Business: $19.99/host/month (admin features, recording). Enterprise: Custom pricing. Current ARR: $1M. Growing 15% MoM. Gross margin: 80%. Net promoter score: 69.
Free tier with 40-minute limit was genius — long enough to get hooked, short enough to upgrade.
Technology Advantage
🏰 MoatProprietary video codec: 50% less bandwidth than competitors. Adaptive to network conditions: Automatically adjusts quality. Multi-datacenter architecture: 13 global data centers. Mobile-first engineering: Same experience on phone as desktop. 256-bit AES encryption end-to-end.
Technical advantages in bandwidth efficiency meant Zoom worked where competitors didn't — on poor connections.
The Ask
🎯 The AskRaising $6.5M to: Scale infrastructure (13 → 25 data centers). Build enterprise features (SSO, admin dashboard, compliance). Hire first sales team for enterprise accounts. Goal: 20M meeting participants/month within 18 months.
Clear infrastructure scaling roadmap justified the raise. Enterprise features would unlock larger deals.
Pitch Analysis
Overall Score
Exceptional pitch — near-perfect execution
✅ Strengths
- Founder literally built the incumbent (WebEx)
- 10x better join experience (30 sec vs 5 min)
- 97% satisfaction vs 72% industry average
- Zero marketing with 3M participants/month
- Technical moat in video codec efficiency
⚠️ Weaknesses
- Cisco/WebEx could invest to close the gap
- Free tier economics needed to prove out
- Enterprise sales team didn't exist yet
📚 Key Lessons
Zoom proved that even in a 'mature' market with entrenched players, a dramatically better user experience can win. Eric Yuan's story — 'I built the thing everyone hates, now I'm building the fix' — was the most powerful founder-market fit narrative possible.
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