The new Apple TV will begin arriving at homes and be available on shelves at the Apple Store today.

“It’s that plethora of innovations and apps that leads me to conclude that the upgraded $149 box is now the best TV streaming device you can get for your money.” - Brian X. Chen, New York Times

“Turns out custom-building a TV from a broad palette of apps that includes everything from pay TV channels and games to travel accommodation services and Periscope is a great way to get exactly the TV experience you want—or close to it, anyway.” - John Paczkowski, BuzzFeed

“The new $150 Apple TV streaming box opens the largest screen in your house to an app store with the best that movie makers, game developers, retailers and even personal trainers can dream up.” - Geoffrey Fowler, Wall Street Journal

Zype was given early access to begin testing on the device back in September. We will be the platform behind the new Hooplakidz Apple TV app which will be among the first wave of new apps and content in the Apple TV appstore.

What makes the new Apple TV different and what does this mean for content owners and creators?

A built-in app store. Apple announced they are opening the platform up to ANYONE who wants to develop and publish their own channel. This means you don’t have to be hand chosen by Apple or part of a major organization such as Netflix, Hulu, or ESPN to have a channel on the new Apple TV. Content owners and creators will also now have access to the apple consumer community.

Deep discovery. Siri is now incorporated into the new set-top box and users will only need to push a button on their remote to access Siri to ask questions, search for content, or launch applications. With this broader search functionality, Apple TV will have an open API for universal search that will allow channel owners to make their content discoverable within search results. Apple TV users will be able to discover new content to suit their interests beyond what is provided by the major network apps.

New hardware. The new Apple TV hardware will now match the insides of the iPhone 6 Plus, which is a few times stronger than the current model and allow the new Apple TV to keep up with games and graphics that will be submitted.

Early development access. Having early access has allowed us to develop support for the new device on our platform in advance of the general public release. Teaming up with Zype to develop your channel now means that you can be included in the first wave of third-party content on the Apple TV.

Not only are we weeks ahead of others in developing apps for the new Apple TV, but once we’ve ingested your assets and videos into our platform, it’s easy to manage content and monetization all on your own. Through the Zype platform, you can make unlimited edits to your app for free.

And the best part is once your assets and videos have been added to the Zype platform, we make it easy to expand your content to additional OTT devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV.

With Zype, you can organize and categorize your video any way you like, not just chronologically or alphabetically. And you can implement any revenue generation strategy you’d like on a per-platform basis — meaning that your monetization strategy on Apple TV can be different from your strategy on Roku, web, etc.

Finally, the new Apple TV will be as customizable as all other Apple products on the market. With all the hype that has surrounded the release, all eyes will be on that first wave of content.

3 Reasons Why the New Apple TV Will Be Amazing for Content Owners

Talent is the lifeblood of any great endeavor. Teamwork is the glue that holds them together.

You can see this across any successful organization.  A football team, an orchestra, an open-source project, a company.

At Zype, we believe it is incredibly important to be upfront about how we hire.

Being open about our talent discovery process,  the characteristics we look for, and the actual process from a candidates perspective will lead to great talent, foster great teamwork, and build an "A Team" that is a fit for our culture and results in a happy, healthy, and motivated team.

This guide is designed for everyone in the Zype talent ecosystem - employees, investors, potential candidates, and recruiters.  We invite you to review this information as part of your diligence and education on Zype.

At Zype we like to discover talent three ways:

Referrals from current and former Zypesters, investors, advisors and customers  (employees are eligible for referral bonuses)

InterviewJet, Hired.com, AngelList, and Greenhouse for paid and unpaid talent search

Recruiters who focus on specific niches, like front-end engineering, or SaaS customer service, or sales. We never pay more than 20%, and require a 90 day guarantee.  We'll always prefer the first two discovery methods, but understand the value of recruiters.

All discovery funnels through to our job board, which is hosted by Greenhouse and links in our hiring process.

After discovering great talent, either through our own search activity, applicants from the open web, or referrals from Zype or our recruiters, we immediately scan every candidate for the following characteristics.  We'll ask for a resume at some point to make it easy for us to champion candidates internally, but a LinkedIn profile, and other web based examples of experience and quality of work are sufficient in the early stage.  We also sometimes do shorter term consulting and contract arrangements with potential hires with significant experience, to discover mutual fit through working together.

We've found that these characteristics make for great long-term, happy, engaged, and successful hires at Zype that fit culturally and will ultimately lead us to building a great company that benefits our customers and investors.   The outline below shows the questions everyone at Zype is asking when considering new team members. Some of these may seem obvious, some may seem new or strange.   We've found that the combination of these characteristics really help us find people who are the best cultural fit for our team.

Does the individual have experience in the role we are hiring?

Can they improve the company in this area, and immediately make a positive impact?

Have they read and do they believe in our core values?

Have they demonstrated fit in their personal and professional lives in these values?

Can they describe how that hobby has improved their personal well-being?

Can they demonstrate how curiosity has helped them improve their professional lives?

Can they deal with the constant change and stress of a startup environment?

Can they demonstrate a tough moment in their lives and how they overcame it?

Zype hires opportunistically in the markets we have offices in (NYC and LA). We rarely hire fully remote staff, and are not set up at this point to engage with anyone needing sponsorship of any kind.

Applicants who stand out in these areas will contacted for next steps, which are part of the our hiring process described below.

All Zype team members have access to our applicant system available to them.  Based on the group (eg. Sales, Engineering), the application will be reviewed by a team member.  We do our best to notify candidates as soon as possible if they aren't good fit.

This  Google Hangout Video interview with a Zypester is designed to introduce the company, introduce the role and opportunity, have the candidate introduce themselves and why they would be a great fit for Zype, and establish fit on availability, salary and compensation, and overall interest on both sides.  The intro hangout could be with someone from the group that is hiring, a coordinator, or someone from another team.

After the introduction, candidates that move on the process are scheduled with a second followup video interview with another Zype team member. This would typically be with a Zypester with the group that is hiring, or an executive.  A more in-depth review of the candidates work history, and a deeper dive into their knowledge of the company, the skills for the role, and overall cultural fit can be expected here.

This live interview is typically conducted in one or two sessions at a Zype office.  Candidates will meet with team members from the group, from outside the group, and with an executive.  Examples of work, demonstration of excellence, and enthusiasm for the company and the role will be explored.

Depending on the role, we'll present interactive, conference based, or offline testing. All engineering hires will be tested with online testing tools, and optional coding challenges. All sales hires will be asked to present their current product or offering to Zype to a broader team.

We always like to check a few references from peers or superiors prior to making an offer.

We'll review the candidate internally and make a final decision on an offer.  We are nice people, and we almost always make an offer to candidates that want one at this stage.

We'll make an offer and get the candidate on board!

How We Hire

What do Coca-Cola, Snapchat, and Wix have in common with Zype? They all use the Google Cloud Platform and are featured case studies on the platform’s website. Zype has been using BIME Analytics and Google BigQuery to meet the high demands for data collection both internally and with our customers.

Being featured in this showcase is a testament to the dedication Zype has to providing the best data and analytics to our customers. Jim Lysinger, North American Vice President at BIME, notes “Zype is a great example of how today’s modern companies are leveraging cloud BI not only as an internal gauge of their business, but as a crucial value-add service to their end-customers.” Everything we do here at Zype serves to make sure our customers have everything they need to grow their audiences, monetize, and focus on creating great content. This is just one of the ways we ensure this.

Make sure to check out the full case study here: https://cloud.google.com/customers/zype

Video Big Data: Zype, BIME, and Google Cloud Case Study

Every startup has that moment.  Things are starting to scale.  Customers are finding success with your product.  The team is starting to crank and everything is moving up and to the right.

And then something unexpected happens.  A piece of software fails, a team member has an issue, a curveball gets thrown at you that you aren't quite sure how to handle.  In those moments, what can you rely on to help guide you through the struggle?  At Zype, we believe our core values provide the guidance to get us through the tough times, make sure we are prepared for the great times, and overall create a company culture that can grow and sustain on its own.

With thanks to my friend Lucas Carlson, who wrote this amazing book on startup success and failure, core values are guiding principles that a company can rely on to:

make strategic decisions about customers, investors, vendors, and employees

It doesn't have to be "all serious" - these values are meant to provide a grounding, to get everyone on the same page, and generally create an environment where we can have fun.  After all, all of the folks involved in a startup have many choices on who, how, and where they work. So you might as well work with those who share your values.

The "What" is What We Do. The elevator pitch. Zype is a cloud platform for video publishing and distribution.  We rely on our core values - principles that guide us in our everyday decision making - to describe how we approach everything. Core values can help us in almost all aspects of startup growth, and eventual everlasting success.

When we first introduced the core values as a team - and it was a team effort - we had to answer this question.  For Zype, the time was right because:

Many new business partners, employees, customers, were being introduced

Shored up a foundation we can all rely on

We use the acronym CHART for our core values, partly because it's easy to remember, and partly because it sounds right. We are trying to chart a way forward together on this awesome journey!  Below each value are characteristics that exemplify that value.

We are fearless and know we are doing something no one has done before, and we are not afraid to fail.

Adventure, Fearlessness, Determination, Resilience, Integrity

We work hard every day to help make the company better.

We enjoy striving for excellence and the process to get there.

We use our talents and that of our team to achieve personal and company goals.

Self-Reliance, Independence, Frugality, Bias for Action, Positivity

We emphasize listening, communicating, and collaborating respectfully amongst ourselves and our customers over all else.

Service, Accountability, Perspective, Professionalism, Accountability

We ask our team - Zypesters - to commit to these values every day, in every decision, challenge or opportunity you face as a team member.  Use them when communicating with colleagues, vendors, partners, and customers. Get them in on it - the right relationships are built on common bonds.

Core values are great to talk about as concepts, but until you put them to practice, it can be easy to roll your eyes at them. Here are a few such stories, and we encourage our team to share theirs.

Before Zype had many customers, we were finding our way through the entertainment and media landscape.  An investor told us about a nationally syndicated broadcaster that was coming off contract and could potentially use our service to power a subscription destination.  We put this out to our team and our sales development rep took the initiative to find this broadcaster via social media and email, create an opportunity out of thin air, and get a meeting for our business development team. She didn't know much about the inner workings of their business, nor did she know anyone that worked with the broadcaster. This took courage.  A month or so later, we closed the business with a team effort that turned out to be one of our bigger success stories.

It was November 2014, about a month before our public launch "out of stealth" (which is another way of saying, "holy crap we are about to open this thing up to the outside world and there's about 400 things to do to get there"), our team was presented with an opportunity to demo the product for the first time publicly at a video industry tech showcase.  Our small team hunkered down, pulled multiple all-nighters (including a few stints in a hotel room), and got a whole bunch of work done in time for the demo. Our VP of Engineering's wife even had a baby during this time. The Zype family gave birth to an awesome platform and a beautiful baby girl that month!

October 2014.  A few months from public launch.  Email comes in.  "Apply to SXSW Accelerator" it says.  Our team talks about it, says, "Sure, why not."  It was about 7am when we started the process, so it may have been a decision mostly made because of lack of sleep. In any case, it started a chain of events that eventually become our "Big Rocks" - Launch Product, Win SXSW, Raise Round.  Not only did our team but also our partners, friends, and customers demonstrated amazing Awesomeness in helping Zype secure its small place in the history of SXSW and startup lore.

"We need a live streaming platform - in 3 weeks," said the customer.  Our new streaming expert (who was a contractor at the time but is now a full fledged Zypester) said "No problem."  Working with our core engineering team, some great cloud service vendors that we chose that share our values, and a ready, willing, and able customer, we deployed a production-grade streaming service that delivers countless hours of live video goodness daily.

We hired a sales rep. To be fair and maintain anonymity, let's call him "Shawn."   Shawn was doing great at first.  Closed a few deals in his first few weeks.  But then we started noticing something.  Prospects were complaining to our general contact email list that they were being spammed and otherwise annoyed by Zype.  We warned Shawn and reminded him of our values - especially thoughtfulness.  A few weeks later, it happened again, and this time we saw an email thread laden with expletives.  We had to let Shawn go.  It wasn't easy.  Even though Shawn was successfully driving business, his behavior with customers didn't fit our values.

Our Core Values

We are excited to announce that we've released our new and shiny Analytics Dashboard into private beta! The Analytics Dashboard lets you easily track and monitor your video business across devices, channels, players, etc. Data can exported in Excel format for use with 3rd party analytics apps or BI tools.

Engagement (Plays, Average View Time, etc.)

Revenue (MRR, New Subscriptions, Ad Impressions, etc.)

Geo (Location of each play/event by geographical location)

Devices (Desktop, iPhone, Android, Roku, etc.)

If you are interested in joining the beta program, please contact us through the Zype Dashboard by clicking the [?] icon in the bottom right of the screen. We will reach out as soon as more testing slots open up.

New Feature: Analytics Dashboard (Private Beta)

A bit of video industry analysis appeared at the Wall Street Journal blog this past month. The post referenced research from Bernstein Research and the opinion of its analyst Todd Juenger who commented on his vision of what the television landscape will look like in 10 years.

Prediction of the future is not an exact science, but current trends point to streaming services such as Netflix dominating the future of TV. Juenger notes that, although streaming networks are actually channel bundles similar to what cable currently offers, they have the distinct advantage of allowing for a range of on-demand programming. It is that which sets them apart from traditional television and will allow them to rise to prominence amid the death of cable as we know it.

The proof is already here. Futuresource Consulting reports that the digital video market in the U.K. grew to £600 million (about USD $931 million). Telsyte shows that streaming video on demand (SVOD) services have grown from 315,000 to two million subscriptions since the end of 2014. And Bitkom Research notes that more than three-quarters of all Internet users in Germany consume streaming video.

The spread of SVOD is global, and it will certainly feed into Juenger's prediction about what media delivery will resemble by the middle of the next decade. We are on our way to a plethora of on-demand video networks that provide everything from shows to movies to live broadcasts -- network- and user-created -- and have dismantled the dominance of structured TV and restrictive bundles. On our televisions, desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, we won't miss a second of our favorite programs.

Feature and inline images courtesy of flash.pro and Kirill Kniazev. Header image courtesy of Steve Johnson.

What Will TV Be in 10 Years?

Zype's CEO on DEW Webinar: Optimizing OTT Distribution

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3 Reasons Why the New Apple TV Will Be Amazing for Content Owners

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Video Big Data: Zype, BIME, and Google Cloud Case Study

Our Core Values

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What Will TV Be in 10 Years?

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