Jan 23, 2019 8 Questions with: Ashley Crowder
We had the opportunity to work with VNTANA this year at our Unexpected Connections event. Our desire was to create a unique stage experience that had a wow factor and was truly memorable for the audience. We ultimately created several hologram vignettes throughout the day (such as John Maeda) as well as leveraged the technology on stage for speaker introductions. It was a privilege to work with VNTANA’s team, with a seamless process and impeccable planning and production. The VNTANA startup story is equally impressive, with co-founders Ashley Crowder (CEO) and Ben Conway (COO) having the vision and hustle to create the world’s first scalable, affordable and interactive hologram. As a go-to platform of powerful brand experiences, VNTANA is poised to continue shaping the landscape of evolving mixed reality technologies. Ashley shares a bit of her journey to date and hopes for the future.
1) Tell us how you got involved with AR experience technology and how VNTANA was conceived.
We founded VNTANA in 2012. At the time I was programming lightshows for DJs on the weekends and we wanted to take the experience to the next level and allow artists to play multiple venues at the same time. Ben and I built the first scalable holographic projection system to make that happen. Every hologram concert we did was sponsored by a brand, they were our true client, so we dug deeper on what they were looking for. All the brands we spoke to wanted to create engaging experiences for consumers, they were starting to focus more on experiential marketing because no one was watching commercials anymore and they needed a new way to reach their consumer. Knowing this we started building out the VNTANA software platform which allows companies to create interactive experiences with built in data collection to quantify the experience and sync with their existing CRMs and marketing automation tools. Today brands on average are spending 20-50% of their marketing budget on experiential and VNTANA is the tool to help easily create these experiences across traditional and mixed reality platforms.
2) Describe the stages of growth the company has experienced thus far.
3) Where do you want to take VNTANA long-term?
The VNTANA platform enables companies to easily create interactive experiences with built in data collection for not only VNTANA holographic displays, but other Augmented Reality devices like mobile, Magic Leap, Hololens, and others. Long-term we want VNTANA to be the “wordpress” of mixed reality, powering branded experiences across multiple augmented reality and virtual reality platforms.
4) How has the AR space evolved and where do you see it headed? How do you see new applications in the brand/consumer space for content or experiences?
Augmented Reality has evolved a lot over the past 10 years. Google was one of the first to release an AR headset. Unfortunately, the Google Glass flopped, but it was a huge first step that got the industry thinking about what was possible. Since then all the major players have released their own headsets from Microsoft HoloLens to the long-awaited Magic Leap. Mobile augmented reality has also come a long way. Pokemon Go is definitely credited with making it mainstream. As a company we saw a huge increase in inbound requests after Pokemon Go because more people had a better understanding of the technology. This year Apple’s launch of the iPhoneX and ARkit as well as Google’s launch of ARCore were huge steps for mobile AR, providing developers tools to easily create AR applications on iOS and android. In 2019 we will see 900 million more AR enabled phones come on the market we will see even more mobile AR use giving brands the scale they are looking for when making investments in new technology and content.
5) How have you found the process of raising capital? (if you’re open to share)
Raising capital was difficult in the beginning. Neither myself nor my co-founder came from the investment community. So much of investment is based on trust which comes from long relationships, we had to build these relationships from the ground up. We went to a number of networking events and asked for introductions to meet the right people and built that trust. We eventually met the right funds and raised $2.3 million in seed funding.
6) What are some blind spots and critical learnings you’ve had as an entrepreneur to date?
In the beginning of starting the company we were desperate to hire more help as we started to scale. I made the mistake of looking too much at people’s resumes and not enough at how their attitude would affect the culture of the company. Now I would much rather hire someone who has a great attitude and is a good culture fit that we can teach versus someone who might have the perfect resume but a bad attitude. I am a firm believer in the no asshole rule.
7) As a child, what did you aspire to be?
As a child I always wanted to start my own company, I just wasn’t sure what. I watched my dad start his own company when I was in first grade and build it up to over a hundred people doing business globally. I knew I wanted to do the same so I always had some side gig whether it was selling granola bars on the bike trail or later importing glasses from China and reselling them. My co-founder Ben was the same, we actually met because we were both importing glasses from China on the side of our other jobs.
8) Where do personally you find inspiration?
I’m part of a Woman in VR/AR group that is always inspiring. I love seeing everyone post their projects which range from beautiful art installations to industry use cases all in AR or VR. I am also lucky enough to go to a number of tech conferences throughout the year like Augmented World Expo, Digital Summit and others that always keep me inspired and motived. I’m also a member of Women in Sports and Entertainment (WISE) which holds great events throughout the year that keep me connected and inspired with the sports and entertainment community in Los Angeles.