Jon Oringer Quotes

I've never been very flashy or high-profile.

Some people are serial entrepreneurs and want to just move on to the next thing. They just want to clean the slate and start from scratch. I feel that sometimes, too, and the way that we do that here is we build things inside Shutterstock: we launch new products all the time.

As I started college, I started to build software products that I could sell to people over the Web.

To make a computer do something that would take a human a long period of time was always interesting.

It turned out it was really easy to create commercial stock footage.

Evolution has been the key tenet of success over the past 13 years, and we have transformed from a single subscription e-commerce image business into a company with a diversified portfolio of content offerings, servicing the needs of businesses of all types and sizes globally.

I love meeting contributors and hearing how we inspire them to create art. I'm also proud of creating hundreds of jobs.

Equally important to having the right content is providing the proper tools for the users so they can quickly find the images and videos they need.

In 2013, we opened our first international office in London and established a European hub in Berlin.

I needed to make the buyer happy: I needed to provide a price point and sort of a model that was attractive to them. But I also needed to make the contributor happy.

You can't be afraid of the problem. Don't be afraid of failure; don't be afraid to make mistakes. Make sure you learn from each step; iterate, and stay as efficient as possible without being paralyzed by a difficult situation.

I started Shutterstock out of my own need. I'd previously created a few software companies, and each time, I struggled to find affordable images to use on my websites.

I think that initial independence is very important; that's what being an entrepreneur is all about.

I met with several public company CEOs to learn about their experiences of going public and listened to as many earnings calls as I possibly could.

Nobody is opposed to paying taxes; governments need to coordinate, work together and simplify the law.

We look for the scrappy entrepreneur: the kind of person who will get things done without looking to spend money right away.

Many entrepreneurs think that cash is the ultimate solution to all of their problems: the one thing standing between them and their dreams.

To ensure we are meeting the demands of existing customers while also attracting new users, we remain focused on building cutting-edge technology and introducing new and innovative product offerings.

All businesses need images to sell their products and services.

On average, an e-commerce client who evolves into a premier enterprise client increases their annual spend by 10 times in that first year.

The best thing is to go public only when you're absolutely sure that's the right move for the company. And in order to make sure that is the case, you need to have as much control over the company as possible, which means not giving up control early on.

Shutterstock's ability to cultivate a healthy and expanding marketplace for both customers and contributors remains a key competitive advantage and a crucial component of our sustained growth.

We continually hear from our engaged customer base that Shutterstock's content is a true differentiator, given not only the size of the library but also the quality and diversity of the images we offer.

The best ways of marketing were email and banner advertising, but I needed images ... and they were very expensive.

There aren't enough people out there that are becoming experts in technology as technology moves.

Instagram is great for us because it's encouraging people to shoot more stuff. Some of those snappers will become professional, and they may choose to sell their photos through us.

I wanted a CFO with public company experience; I needed an HR department, new office space, and a board which could help me grow the business. Insight, the private equity firm I chose, helped me with all that.

Every time someone downloads a picture, the photographers get paid about 30% of what we charge.

The decisions you make affect a lot of people. You have investors, employees, and customers who all rely on you. Being a leader is a 24-hour-a-day job.

Editorial imagery licensing includes celebrity, entertainment, sports, and news images that capture what is happening in the world around us.

Offset and Skillfeed are examples of products launched in 2013 that have expanded our opportunity with both large enterprises and across new content types.

I think, as an entrepreneur, you have to see the unlimited amount of potential but concentrate on your day and just keep building.

Many entrepreneurs have shifted their focus to pursuing VC funding as a primary strategic priority instead of concentrating on generating value for their users. This is worrisome because raising capital alone is misleading as a benchmark for success.

Shutterstock has the tech ethos. Rex has the relationships, packaging, and merchandising know-how.

I've little in common with the scene in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. I'm a New Yorker.

Was I going to start companies outside of Shutterstock or inside? Going public kind of meant I was going to start them inside, and I kind of thought this through and decided that if I was going to do that, I was going to continue to operate Shutterstock like it was an incubator of startups.

The growing demand for content across our platform delivers bigger payouts to our contributor base and encourages them to upload fresh content to Shutterstock, further facilitating the network effect of our business.

Just as we are enhancing the customer side of our marketplace, we are also looking for ways to increase our contributor expense.

The problem with taking venture capital is if you take $5m from someone, it may feel great; you may feel like they're validating your business model. But they're giving $5m out to 20 different people, hoping one of them will be a hit. They don't really care if it's you.

I shot images of everything I could find over the course of a year. I would go all over the world and take pictures. In a day, I could easily take thousands.

Anyone can contribute images, and we sell them to designers and agencies all over the world.

Rex is 60 years old with 13 million images and 10 million in archive. It's the first time we've had a historic archive to work with, which is super interesting.

Working with limited resources is an excellent way to hone skills that will serve you well for the rest of your career. You will prioritize profitability from the start.

I believe anything has to be possible. You have to be able to face any problem that comes along and unravel it into a solution.

I don't own a helicopter because I want someone to bring me places quickly. I own it because it's an incredible machine that I like to fly and learn about. I like the complexity of it.

We significantly increased our global presence in 2014. During the year, we expanded the number of languages in which we serve customers to a total of 20.

As I saw more and more people buying the images that were happy buyers, and people selling the images that were happy with how the market was pricing them, I started to get the sense this could be the go-to place for businesses to get the images they need.

In high school, I used to teach guitar and fix computers by the hour. I was looking for some way to make some cash, so I actually learned how to play guitar in order to try to teach it.

It's typical for video customers to often use licensed music - whether a soundtrack, background music, or sound effects - to complement their video projects.

Rex has photographers around the world - it's a higher touch business: there are a lot of relationships involved. If you throw an event, there are certain photographers you've worked with before and you want there.

Business is a string of seemingly impossible problems looking for solutions. Each problem you solve creates a new barrier to entry for your next competitor.