How 3 College Graduates Built An AI-Powered Explainer Video Software

Sandra Boehrs

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Published: May 24th, 2022

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Sandra Boehrs

Founder, Simpleshow Video Maker

Founders

150

Employees

Simpleshow Video ...

videomaker.simpleshow.com

from Berlin, Luxembourg, Zurich, London, Miami FL, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur

started March 2016

Founders

150

Employees

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Hello, my name is Dr. Sandra Boehrs and I am the CMO of simpleshow.

simpleshow provides tools and services for the creation of short and simple explainer videos. While our company initially started as a creative agency, over the past few years we focused on the development and marketing of our digital platform. At the core, our platform is simpleshow video maker - a DIY tool using intelligent text-to-video technology. In addition, the simpleshow explainer experts support users with a wide range of creative services for their videos and interactive eLearning modules.

Our heritage goes back to 2008 when three young media school graduates founded the company with one idea in mind: explaining complex things in simple and engaging videos that everyone understands.

In just a few years, simpleshow became the market leader for explainer videos. We have serviced customers in more than 40 countries and created tens of thousands of video projects in more than 70 languages. This experience was vital for the development of simpleshow video maker - an online tool that allows anyone to create professional explainer videos at the click of a button.

Users don't need previous knowledge or special design talent and making a video takes no more than a few minutes. Many of the world's largest companies are now using simpleshow video-makers to improve their internal and external communication.

To date, our users have created millions of videos through the simpleshow platform.

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Dr. Sandra Böhrs

Part of the Team (Germany)

What's simpleshow’s backstory and how did you come up with the idea for your video maker?

The first simpleshow was born out of circumstantial luck. A customer requested a short clip to explain a new IT system they wanted to launch in their company quickly.

Budgets were tight and the requested video was supposed to be delivered in just a few days. To make this happen, the founders ended up hand-drawing some illustrations, cutting them out, and filming themselves pushing them in and out of frame while explaining the key messages in a storytelling approach with a voiceover.

The client was over the moon and a superior audiovisual explanation format was born. That was over 14 years ago and simpleshow quickly became the market leader for explainer videos in a corporate context. simpleshow is a format so universal that it can be used in many different fields of application.

The vision to digitalize explainer videos emerged because we wanted to make it possible for anyone to create their video explanations. We knew that we needed to be true to our brand name, so we incorporated a high degree of artificial intelligence to make the video creation process fast and simple. Today, simpleshow video maker visualizes text input automatically, producing an animated explainer video that users can personalize, add their voiceover to, and share with their coworkers or clients.

Simpleshow video maker has become the most important part of simpleshow’s growth strategy and has opened up the world of simple explanations to a huge target group worldwide.

Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and launching your first product

To make our vision of a DIY explainer video creator a reality, we took part of the core team out of the day-to-day business. We moved them into the basement of our old office building and had them design a product concept. The goal was to combine our know-how for simple explanations with smart technology - with user value at the top of all our considerations.

From early on, we worked with user tests and real people that we asked to try out our early product ideas. Key learning came pretty quickly: people generally find it easier to write down explanations in the text - especially if given a bit of structural guidance.

But hardly anyone was able to come up with good visuals or ‘think in images. This is how we came up with the idea of a text-to-video engine that almost magically transforms text input into an animated video.

Believe me, we didn’t think it was possible at first. Two factors helped us succeed:

We incorporated our explanation experience and mimicked steps of the creative process in the tool. Starting from topic-specific, storytelling-focused explanation templates to impactful images, suitable layout patterns, and a well-composed sound design.
We partnered with experts in computational linguistics and developed our so-called “explainer engine” - the artificial intelligence in simpleshow video maker. While this engine was already good when we first launched the application, it has grown into self-learning and steadily improving technology that comes pretty close to how a human brain would create and design an explainer video.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

A strong value proposition is at the core of our client relationships. And the key benefit for our users is that they can make use of a communication format that engages and convinces their audiences while the creation process is fast and the tool is extremely easy to use.

Our best strategy to gain and retain customers is to show them the many different ways they can use video explanations to explain their ideas and topics within a few minutes and how their communication becomes more effective and efficient.

Know where you’re going and what your strategy is. When I joined simpleshow, I started validating business assumptions, proving market traction of our product/services, and getting the right people on board.

Also, to tailor our offering to a wider range of target groups, we offer different plans to use our platform: our Enterprise plan is our premium package but we also provide an option for small and medium-sized businesses and offer students and teachers a free Classroom plan.

To attract new users, we rely on targeted content. It focuses mainly on our methodology, which includes storytelling and creativity, and the different use cases for simpleshow explainer videos.

To get a taste, check out this video to see how storytelling works in business videos:

And obviously, we constantly improve our product because a good product still is the best way to ensure customer loyalty.

Here are some examples of our newsletters, social media posts, PR, social media ads, paid search on Google, and an external blog collaboration:

FB/Instagram

Google Ads

External blog collaboration:

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

simpleshow video maker has become our most popular offering and flagship product. While especially the largest brands in the world love our combination of DIY video maker and professional creative services, we put our focus on advancing our technology further to create a strong value proposition for our clients. Recently we launched a new smart illustration style that allows making CI-friendly videos in your corporate colors with just one click.

Thousands of the largest companies worldwide have adopted simpleshow video makers and continue to create engaging messages. Our ‘Enterprise’ offer gives them access to the full scope of creative options in the video maker and expert services. We believe this is the future. Therefore we continuously add features to the platform and further integrate our network of creative partners - all in one place.

In those transformative years, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

Well, I believe good things come to those who DO NOT wait but take action. It was crucial for simpleshow’s successful transition from a creative agency to a technology company that we put a focus on our vision and freed up time and resources, we moved mountains, we took a huge risk - and this is how we came up with a new, sustainable business model. You must challenge yourself and aim high to be successful.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

Know where you’re going and what your strategy is. When I joined simpleshow, I started validating business assumptions, proving market traction of our product/services, and getting the right people on board. In my first couple of months, we pinned down our strategic path and spent time coming up with a profound value proposition and a strategic projects roadmap. While we reconsidered priorities and adjusted our plans multiple times, we never strayed from our vision and long-term goals. I think this kind of alignment is crucial to building up a successful business.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

Our main hiring focus at this time is sales/marketing talents and IT developers.

If you are interested in being part of the simpleshow team, you can find vacancies and apply via our jobs page. Come and help us make the world a simpler place!