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Digital Dealmakers: Marcos Wettreich

Aug 19, 2007  •  Post A Comment

The Player: Marcos Wettreich, CEO of WeShow
The Play: The Web site is designed as a one-stop shop for online video that lets users tailor video feeds from across the Web to their interests. The site combs the Internet for videos and then embeds them, YouTube-style, into channels and categories such as health and science, celebrities, comedy, fashion, music, pets, viral and others. That lets Web users wade through the billions of videos on the Web to find the ones they like, Mr. Wettreich said. “There is this big amount of video and certainly some are interesting for each person. You could like fishing, cooking, bungee jumping … so every week you can receive an e-mail with the best videos about bungee jumping all over the Web,” he said.
The pitch: A recent survey from Kelton Research reported that more than 60 percent of Americans feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of online videos, and 46 percent of these people do not watch more online videos because they don’t like sifting through the results. WeShow aims to solve those problems by aggregating videos. WeShow also produces hosted shows that guide viewers through best-of videos in various topics. Currently, the site offers customized “WeShows” from the United States, Brazil and the United Kingdom, with France and Germany joining the lineup this month, providing videos tailored to the interests of Web users in those countries. “We intend to be the Internet gateway for all this mass of videos that are available worldwide,” Mr. Wettreich said.
In the mix: Like any online video service, WeShow’s biggest competitor is the 800-pound gorilla YouTube. However, WeShow also competes with video aggregators such as Pyro.TV, as well as video search engines such as ClipBlast and Blinkx. WeShow launched June 18 and traffic is light at this point, although Mr. Wettreich said traffic is growing about 40 percent each week.
Pros: The service is easy to use, with simple navigation and customizable features.
Cons: Competition is rampant in online video. “We expect to have competition all over,” Mr. Wettreich said.
The backstory: Mr. Wettreich founded the company in March and raised $4 million in funding in June from several investors, including the Pilot Group.
The money guys: WeShow will focus on building its traffic over the next six months and then plans to reach out to advertisers. Sponsorship will extend to the e-mail newsletters.
Background: Mr. Wettreich was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in marketing from PUC University in Brazil and also studied at Harvard University. Prior to WeShow, he founded marketing consultancy Neoris and Brazilian Internet service provider iBest.com. He is 43 and lives in New York City. He has twin sons.
Who knew? Mr. Wettreich authored a book called “A Guide for Separated Parents” that was published in Brazil last year. The book is designed to help separated parents achieve the best care of their kids and negotiate effectively with each other, he said.

4 Comments

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