Odd Sverre Østlie, CEO of Pexip

European Business Magazine catches up with

Odd Sverre Østlie

CEO of Pexip where he has been at the helm since March 2018.Pexip is the result of a merger in 2019 between a company called Pexip (founded in 2012), specializing in video infrastructure and Videxio (founded in 2011), a cloud video service provider. The aim was essentially to make video conferencing easy , less expensive and more accessible to everyone on the planet and has now become a key player in the business world of video conferencing which has a dramatic rise on the back of the Covid Pandemic.

Let’s start at the very beginning. Could you tell us more about Pexip and how did the company reach the ঞ tle of “a leading independent technology provider in the video communicaঞ ons market“?

The Pexip we know today is the result of a merger in 2019 between a company called Pexip (founded in 2012), specializing in video infrastructure and Videxio (founded in 2011), a cloud video service provider. The respecঞ ve companies were started by a group of industry veterans who saw the need to break down the barriers that were making enterprise-grade video conferencing expensive, and diffi cult to

use, manage and scale. The two companies had complementary technology and similar company cultures and as result, I think it’s safe to say that the merger was an unmiঞ gated success. In May 2020, Pexip was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, raising 100 MUSD to accelerate both product development and sales coverage. Pexip offers a 100% software and cloud based meeঞ ng soluঞ on that allows users to “Meet the world with video communicaঞ ons as it should be”. That is a bold claim, but customers tell us the reason they chose us was because we have the best solution to enable video to work everywhere for everyone, making it easy and flexible for both users and IT. This is the reason both larger companies and the public sector prefer our soluঞ ons.

Joining the Pexip’s team a few years ago, you’ve menঞ oned that “it feels like coming home“.

Could you tell us a bit more about those last few years in

Pexip? Which aspect of your job do you personally like the most?

It has been a fantasঞ c journey so far - and we’re just geম ng started! The Company has gone from strength to strength due to a combinaঞ on of

factors - a talented and passionate team, great technology, a strong partner community - and the world waking up to the benefi ts of videoconferencing. I have a technology background, both in terms of my educaঞ on and my career path, and I think the thing I personally like the most is seeing how technology like videoconferencing really can have a posiঞ ve impact on the way we work and live. Having been in this industry for several years, this is something which I, and the rest of the Pexip team, have been well aware of for a while. While we would rather have been without Covid-19, the posiঞ ve eff ect that it has had is that a wider audience has now also seen what we have known for years and we are fi nally seeing more of a pull rather than push in the market. That is exciঞ ng, and opens up all sorts of new possibiliঞ es for the applicaঞ on of our technology. We see that most especially in verঞ cal markets such as healthcare which has rapidly adopted video of the last months, using it in a way to increase eff ecঞ veness within healthcare administraঞ on as well as improve paঞ ent care.

Just a few months ago, in May 2020, Pexip made its stock market debut, which has been more than impressive; the company a‚ racted investors from Europe and the US. How did the opening bell ring feel — for you personally and for the whole team?

It really felt like the beginning of a new chapter. As I mentioned, we raised 100 MUSD and the lisঞ ng was oversubscribed early, showing that videoconferencing is top of mind for investors right now. One of the most fun things about the ringing of the bell was that we did it virtually. As a result of the Covid19 situaঞ on, it made sense that the CEO of the Stock Exchange ran the bell in person while the Pexip team rang it on video at the same moment. We had ki‚ ed out the whole company globally with bells at home so that they could join on video and take part in the bell ceremony. Rather than a small group being present at the Stock Exchange as is common pracঞ ce, we were able to include the whole company, supporঞ ng one of our core company values, One Team. I think it is also worth menঞ oning that we completed more or less the whole IPO process by video, really demonstraঞ ng the power of our technology. IPOs usually involve analysts, investment bankers, and company executives traveling around the world for presentations, creating a hecঞ c and intense schedule. Conducting this IPO process on video signifi cantly increased the producঞ vity and the reach of the team. Meetings were conducted with investors in over 15 ciঞ es worldwide and working on video allowed for last minute changes and flexibility in a packed agenda. The fact that 100% of the virtual 1-1 meeঞ ngs on the roadshow led to subscripঞ ons to the IPO also demonstrates that virtual meeঞ ngs can be just as impac ul, even when they involve complex negoঞ aঞ ons. In addiঞ on, our calculaঞ ons show that we saved over 1700 hours -- more than 70 days -- of travel ঞ me alone, and over 80 tons of CO2 -- roughly the amount that ten Norwegians use in an enঞ re year!

You once said that “Pexip’s success is due to talented people and a disrupঞ ve product.“ As every success comes with having to overcome certain challenges, let’s talk about that a bit more: up to this day, what were the biggest challenges that the company — and you, as the CEO — had to overcome?

The biggest historical and current challenge comes in fact with the group of talented people we have in Pexip. How do you empower people to decide as much as possible, bring out the best of themselves and their team and be aligned with company strategy? We have codifi ed our approach to this in our company culture, specifi cally with “Freedom and Responsibility”. In pracঞ ce, it is about leading with joint ambiঞ on and the seম ng of targets versus trying to micromanage how people reach their goals. It also means removing silo thinking and avoiding using hierarchy in problem solving and coordinaঞ on - let the best people in relevant funcঞ ons work and decide directly together. So a lot of freedom, but combined with responsibility to keep others informed and in the loop in order to achieve success.

Are there any new projects on the way that you’re parঞ cularly excited about?

Goodness, there are so many. Our mission is to “empower people to be seen and to engage with each other in a be‚ er way”. At the core of this is our desire to create an outstanding user experience so if I need to highlight one project, it is our exploraঞ on of the use of AI to put people at the heart of the meeঞ ng experience. One example of this is the recently launched Adaptive Composition, which enables real-ঞ me face detecঞ on, auto-framing, and opঞ mized use of screen real estate, puম ng every person in the meeঞ ng on an equal fooঞ ng, ensuring that everyone can be seen and heard. While others are a‚ empting to achieve this from a room perspecঞ ve (e.g. zooming in at the camera level), Pexip is solving this at the platform level to provide a device-agnosঞ c soluঞ on that works with the technology you already have, whether our users join a meeঞ ng with a video room system, or from a browser, or app. This is just the fi rst feature we have on the roadmap using AI and our plan is to conঞ nue to launch technology innovaঞ ons which deliver on our mission.

The company’s mission statement is “To make virtual meetings be‚ er than in-person“. As there are many compeঞ tors in this fi eld, in your opinion, what are the main things that make

Pexip diff erent?

There are several things I would like to highlight here. The fi rst is user experience, where we believe we bring an unparalleled quality to virtual meeঞ ngs - pure video and audio quality, but also beyond that in actual engagement with the other parঞ cipants. The use of AI and adapঞ ve composiঞ on in our layouts

is an example of this. User experience is also about reach, where users can be confi dent an invite to a Pexip meeঞ ng ensures that most people on most types of devices will be able to join the meeঞ ng. This is due to our leading interoperability and bringing devices and so[ ware from vendors like Cisco, Poly, Lifesize and many others together with Microso[ collaboration tools, Google Meet and audio conferencing pla orms. The second is our focus on security, data privacy and transparency. This has been at the heart of our operations and development since day one and we off er security-fi rst, enterprise-grade video conferencing solutions using industry-standard encrypঞ on and security protocols to maintain privacy and security. We do our utmost to protect the interests of our customers, partners and employees and have extensively documented our security and data compliance principles. The third is the flexibility we offer to our customers. Pexip can be consumed and deployed in the way that best suits an organizaঞ on’s technology and infrastructure requirements - as a service, in a company’s own instance of Microso[ Azure, Google Cloud Platform, or AWS, entirely on-premises, or a hybrid solution. This allows customers to move to the cloud at their own pace and complement or extend their exisঞ ng video conferencing infrastructure or service.

One topic that is inevitable today — the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on various businesses and industries.

What’s it like for Pexip so far?

In your opinion, what were the biggest challenges for the company? And what new, exciঞ ng opportuniঞ es did it bring?

We have touched on aspects of this in the previous quesঞ ons. In terms of creating new opportuniঞ es, the demand for our technology went through the roof as the crisis hit. Existing customers needed to expand their capacity and new customers were looking for a solution to help them ensure business conঞ nuity. Following the immediate spike in demand, we see new customers becoming more aware of what is really important for them to tackle the new normal - the ability to off er a secure, hybrid soluঞ on to their employees who are combining working from home with working from the offi ce. We also see the expansion of video into new business to consumer applicaঞ ons in sectors such as healthcare, fi nancial service and government, presenঞ ng a range of new possibiliঞ es. In terms of challenges, brand awareness is a challenge in certain geographies, something we are working to address. In addition, from the perspective of running our own company, we are used to having a video-fi rst form of communicaঞ on - but we also see the need to work harder to ensure that the larger proporঞ on of our employees who are now working from home, sঞ ll feel socially connected with their fellow team mates. That means happy hours, quiz nights and virtual coffee meet-ups have become more prevalent. We do miss the opportunity to meet up for kick off s and other celebraঞ ons in person and video will never enঞ rely replace that need.

Let’s talk about the future. Where do you see Pexip in 5 years? And the video communicaঞ ons market — in your opinion, how it will evolve over the next 5, 10 years?

In fi ve years, our goal is to have augmented Pexip’s posiঞ on amongst the leaders in the collaboraঞ on business. While aiming, of course, to be used by as many as possible, our primary focus is to be really relevant for the customers that value user experience, privacy and security, as well as fl exibility and control of their soluঞ on. If we do this right, we should also be able to surpass our financial ambitions of 6x revenue growth within 2025. The video communications market will evolve over the next decade into addressing more and more use cases for people interacঞ ons. First, we will see richer and better solutions for “knowledge workers”. In the “new normal”, people will use video as a primary communication tool, also when they are back in the offi ce. Furthermore, we will see video being embedded into more workflows, including a lot in B2C. Examples here are anything including remote experts or richer customer service. Personally, I am very enthusiastic about healthcare and telemedicine, from improving the frontline doctor-paঞ ent interacঞ ons all the way to advanced surgery. Not to menঞ on the impact video can have on sustainability... In summary, I am really opঞ misঞ c and passionate about video improving our quality of life - and even saving lives - in the years to come.