Evernote is a cross-platform, freemium app designed for note taking, organizing, and archiving, serving 200 million users around the world. The Evernote app is available across platforms on desktop, mobile, or on the web, meaning your ideas are always with you, always accessible, and always in sync. Evernote had its most successful year in 2016, and turned from burning $5 million a month to being a cash-flow positive company according to its CEO, Chris O’Neill. Chris is a technology industry leader with decades of experience from director of product marketing at HSBC to managing director of Google Canada and he’s with Randi today to discuss the growth of Evernote.
CHRIS O’NEILL“I came to the Bay Area for business school in 1998. I was only supposed to be here a couples and have been here for 15 years.”
“I had the privilege of leading Google Canada. Canada has awesome immigration policies.”
“I had one of the most delightfully fun times working at wineshopper.com. I learned a lot of lessons there.”
“I was fortunate to be at Google and be given lots of responsibility at an early stage of my career.”
“I think a lot of what causes success in Google is a great culture and the ability to bring in great people from there.”
“I’m a productivity junky. I always looked for life hacks all throughout my life.”
“I used Evernote for many years, both in business and personal.”
“I was coming up on my 10 year mark at Google and the opportunity to join an amazing team and scale a great business came up.”
“I heard from a barista what an amazing part Evernote played in her life in a very emotional way.”
“Evernote is a bit of a superpower. We all have chaos in our life. Evernote helps organize ideas in a personal way. People say “My Evernote. It’s personal and adaptive.”
“Freemium means you don’t want people to change to much in their life. We want to make life as frictionless as possible.”
“It’s important to scale freemium up front. Be clear about what a free product is versus the paid product.”
“If there is a free version and paid version there will be differences. We found a balance between the two.”
“Evernote is a global company with over 200 million users.”
“The challenges are figuring out how to insert the right process at the right time to move forward and scale. We work with people who know product market fit.”
“The founder of Evernote saw things like true visionaries do. He was obsessed with keeping track of the digital expansion of the brain.”
“Pastors actually write the sermons on Evernote.”
“We’re transparent so we have our companies goals clearly laid out.”
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KELLY SUMNERKelly Sumner is the CEO of MEEM, a patented device that allows users to back up any 3 devices directly onto a MEEM cable and lets you easily see and manage all of your stored data in the MEEM app. Kelly was CEO of Take Two when it launched Grand Theft Auto and CEO of Red Octane when it released Guitar Hero. Now he’s joining me on the line from the UK.
“I joined Commodore in 1979, a very long time ago.”
“I spent 14 years at Commodore and worked my way to be a UK boss. I went from hardware into software.”
“Grand Theft Auto was a great opportunity so we bought the company from BMG.”
“Guitar Hero was equally exciting as GTO but extremely different.”
“I wish I thought Guitar Hero was going to be a smash but I didn’t.”
“Our only issue with Guitar Hero was trying to building the company.”
“When I working for Take Two and Red Octane I was living in NYC for the kids. I came back to London and didn’t know what to do. So I invested in startups.”
“68% of smartphone users in North America don’t use the Cloud. The Cloud is a big server owned by some California corporation holding your stuff. People want something easy that products them.”
“Everyday you have to charge your phone, we back up the data on that charging cord.”
“You can move content from Android to iPhone. Everything is sharable. It will automatically back up to a PC or Mac.”
“MEEM was designed so my mother could use it.”
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