Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Tony, thanks so much for joining us.
Tony Callini, iZotope
Keith, thanks a lot. Really happy to be here.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you about iZotope which is a company that's combining two of my very beloved interests. And that's technology and music. So let's get into the weeds what does iZotope do?
Tony Callini, iZotope
Sure, so iZotope is the leader in pretty much an intelligent technology for music creation. And what we do is essentially apply pretty innovative technology to the music creation process. So essentially, what you hear on the radio or a soundtrack to a film or a TV show, a lot of that is used with our technology to essentially make the audio sound a lot better sound professional sound like you hear it over the radio or in a movie theater.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
And it's so cool what these tools do now to enable professional musicians, aspiring musicians, or even hobbyist at home. Like there are all these tools that can really make you perfect your sound. Yeah, one
Tony Callini, iZotope
Yeah, one of the things we're really proud about is it's the same tool, the same technology, that the folks that are at the very top of their profession, and those aspiring musicians can use, and essentially all that is different is the interface. So to kind of steal another company term, there's, there's an easy button that we have. So if you're an amateur musician like myself, and you're trying to figure out how to use the tools, and you just really want to sound great, there's a way to say, Hey, let me use this master assistant is what we call it asks you a bunch of questions. And then it applies those questions to the processing. And essentially, that makes it sound great. Now, if you're a top-level professional, you can really get in and take advantage of all the different features that we have to take that from there to sounding amazing or exactly the creative style that you're looking for as a professional.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
And what's the background story of that company? Like, how did it all come to fruition?
Tony Callini, iZotope
Yeah, it's a really interesting story. And our CEO is our founder as well. And we started 20 years ago, and Mark Ethier, our CEO, and founder, started the company out of his dorm at MIT. And he was a computer science and music major. And this was a way for him to combine his passions. And so, at that time, 20 years ago, computers started to get just fast enough and just powerful enough to be able to process music. Like we're all used to today. But the problem was all the tools are really expensive and you had to be pretty technologically savvy on how to use them. So you really have to be a professional to be able to use them and, and Mark and his friends said there must be an easier way. So let's make something that will make our stuff sound great that we can use. And so they did, they made a mastering tool, which is essentially the part of the music process that happens right before it goes on the radio. So it makes it sound great on CDs, radio streaming, whatever. And they made it for themselves. But little did they realize that this was essentially going to get picked up by professionals. And before they knew it, people like Trent Reznor were using it for his work. TV shows, like Lost, actually discovered it to do a lot of audio repairs to take out unnecessary noises. So they didn't have to do reshoots, and it was a, it was a success.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
That's amazing. It's so cool to hear the professionals that are using these products, because it's just like, there's so much in the world of music where, you know, there's the actual professional musicians that have their career, but there's so much that supports the creation of music, and iZotope is one of these perfect examples. So what's the current size of the company and growth plans ahead?
Tony Callini, iZotope
Sure, we're about 200 people, high growth, really high growth space. And right now, I think we're all seeing this explosion of content out there, right. I mean, there are so many new shows on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, there's more music than ever on Spotify. So there's really what we call this democratization of, of creative content and media. And so we're right in the center of that we essentially have one of the key tools that folks use when they want to create this content. So really high growth space with very passionate people, and essentially going through this transformation in the broader industry that we haven't seen before.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
What's it like working with iZotope? What's the culture like?
Tony Callini, iZotope
Yeah, it's a great culture. You know, I've been to a lot of stops. This is the most fun I've ever had. People that are really passionate about creativity, passionate about art passionate about music, and essentially really care about what we do and care about our products and our customers. And so we've worked really hard to maintain a culture of entrepreneurial spirit over these last 20 years. So it's everything from continued hackathons, we call them iZo opens where twice a year we get together and set aside a couple of days for people to work on whatever. And some of our best products have ended up coming out of that. We'll do events like iZo cares, which is the same thing as a hackathon, except for social, social impact. So we spend some time thinking about how it's like what we can do in the community to help. Even simple things like every Friday, we get together as a company and all have lunch together. And Mark, our CEO leads these sessions. And it's a chance to welcome new employees, celebrate wins, talk about what's going on at the company, and share who's gigging that weekend or has new music coming out. So it's that kind of place where people really make a connection with what they do and enjoy the people they work with.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now, there's a lot that goes into building these products. So what are the different functional areas that you're hiring for?
Tony Callini, iZotope
Pretty much across the board. I mean, we do a lot of machine learning. So certainly in the technology, space, and development area, we're always looking for great developers. We're going through a process right now where we're offering new products on subscription. So new ways to connect with our customers. So from the go-to market area, there's a lot of opportunities there to join the company and make an impact but really all areas and actually all geographies, one of the silver linings coming out of this pandemic was we realized that we can be effective working from anywhere. So while we are largely Boston-based, we're actively recruiting from, you know, pretty much anywhere in the US and frankly, the world.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now, the job market is very active. There are lots of opportunities out there for people, which is a very good thing. So why is now the ideal time to join iZotope?
Tony Callini, iZotope
Yeah, it's exciting. Like, it's like I mentioned that with the content boom, and just explosion of new ways to make media out there. It's an exciting time, there's a lot of growth that we're seeing. From a market perspective, one of the things that we've done recently is we partnered with another company in our space called native instruments that make virtual instruments and we're really excited about some of the things that we can do together in terms of products to offer into the market. And from a benefits perspective, we've done a lot of work revamping our benefits program, to really make it tailored to what people need in 2021. Everything from improving parental leave to wellness benefits to some financial well-being benefits to constant training and of course, industry perks. There's a lot of if you're a gearhead and like to collect musical gear that we have a lot of connections in the industry that we can extend to our employees.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Well, if you are interested in exploring opportunities at iZotope, you need to go to their company page on VentureFizz, which has all their job listings there. And as Tony mentioned, they are hiring across the board. So make sure you check it out. It's venturefizz.com/izotope, and you'll find all the listings there. Tony, thanks so much for taking the time to walk us through all the great things happening at the company.
Tony Callini, iZotope
Alright Keith, thank you very much. Take care.
Transcribed by https://otter.a
