Zoom

Shazaib Sarwar, Adnan Naeem, M. Farooq, M. Faizan Ameen, Ahmad Raza, M Uzair Akram
Today more than 300 million people who do zoom meeting but interestingly, hardly anyone knows
that Zoom didn't spent any money on marketing and with 49% of market shares, Zoom is dominating
video conferencing market. It is questioned that despite the presence of Microsoft and Google.
Zoom is leading the market and most importantly, what are those business strategies they have
implemented in their business?

So, this story begins with Eric yuan's college life as he was completing his degree in Maths and
computer science applied. In those days his girlfriend lived far away, so he had to travel a lot to meet
her. And being frustrated, he needed a way that he could see her everyday. Inspired by the idea of
video conferencing, he starts working in a company called WebEx. Then in 2007 Cisco acquires
WebEx in 3.2 Billion dollars. And everything was about to change from here WebEx was good but it
had many shortcomings inside due to which user experience was not that good Connectivity so
unstable, audio-video always lacking and installation process so complicated. What to tell?

The question is, why did people used WebEx even after so many problems? People wanted to leave
WebEx but they had no options. Seeing this, Eric Yuan realized that if no changes are made then
people will shift. And when he told this to the management, the management did not listen. Eric
Yuan did not know much English but he had a skill and that was CODING. By working in the WebEx,
he had done so well for his coding that if he wanted, he could solve any problem.

In the year 2011, Eric leaves WebEx's job and decides to start his own start-up, seeing his passion 40
more Employee joined him and his journey started with more than 300 million customers, Zoom is
beating big companies like Microsoft, Google

So, the question arises, how is Zoom able to do all this?

And the reason is PRODUCT BEFORE EVERYTHING. When the zoom started their focus was on video
first Skype and Go To meeting used to run in that market but both of them were on audio first
mentality. In simple word, Audio should be clear, may video be clear or not.

And when the product was launched, everyone was stunned because as soon as the product was
launched, they got more than 1 million customers. No quality analysis, no product manager, Zoom
only had engineers. The question is, they only had engineers, so how did they make such a good
product?

The reason is CUSTOMER CENTRICITY

Zoom's Engineer went to all the people who have used video conferencing at some point or the
other Everyone used to know coding, then they took everyone's feedback to improve it again took
feedback and improved it. The link is in the description, you can check it out

In 2015, Finally Zoom hired its Marketing Team whose work was to make brand's profile. The
question arises, why is it so, no matter how good the product is, marketing is needed, isn't it?

Well It's not the case, now understand very carefully. There is a tendency in us which is know is
better out. In simple words, we humans are not happy with anything we need Better Option of
Everything
Honda owner wants Mercedes and Mercedes's owner want Rolls Royce Similarly people had video
conference software but wanted a better option

The question is "What was in zoom that the rest of the competitors were not able to give”?

The answer is TOO MUCH FOR TOO LESS. In simple words more goods for less money HD calling,
Mobility, Group web meeting in just Rs.700/month. If you compare with market product, then the
rest of the products are very expensive and less featured. Not only this, the features for which
Skype, Microsoft, Google charges are given in the zoom for free You notice and see that if your
network is week, then your meetings will not go well is other platforms but Zoom will work perfectly.

On the initial days of the zoom, when a customer used to leave, Eric personally used ask or message
that person that "What were the problems?" What is missing in our product and what can we
improve? And even then, a big problem had cropped up in front of the zoom and that was Zoom
bombing Many times it used to happen that the people who are sitting in the meeting and third
person used to enter in it which had nothing to do with it. This thing made people's experience so
bad that people came out and started criticizing Zoom And after hearing this Eric Yuan came out
openly apologized and said we will fix this mistake Surprisingly Zoom fixed all mistakes in just one
week Most people think Zoom just grew due to Pandemic but it's not like that Because pandemic
was same for Google Meet and MS team too but why their growth was not like Zoom

The reason for growth of Zoom Company is something else and that is COMPANY FORENSICS In
2017 Zoom became a unicorn but it was profitable even before So the valuation of Start-up was one
Billion dollars in 2017, Its IPO address has exceeded $20 Billion since its launch in 2019 But from a
different part of Zoom's profit, which very few people know.

And that is VALUE BEFORE SALE Any business earns when it gives value and any business makes
more money when it gives value before money Zoom works in freemium to premium model i.e. first
sell the product free and then sell it for money. Now many people will say that this model is followed
by everyone then what Zoom does unique?

most of us still use Zoom's free version only Have any of us ever wondered why it is Why do we use
the free version for, 90% of our work is done in the free version only Until & Unless If there are no
business meetings or Educational classes, then none of us would think to buy the paid version of
Zoom? And due to this one preposition, Zoom is ruling the market of video conferencing today. And
most importantly what are those business lessons we can learn and implement in our business?

1. EVERY PROBLEM HAS A HIDDEN REWARD

There is a huge reward hidden inside every customer's problem and most of the company ignores it.
and then customers go to their opponent. Zoom caught these small problems of the customers
inside the market and made a product around it which brings us towards second lesson

2. AIM FOR MASSES

Problem solving is different, but if you see big business then those people don't focus on small things
Zoom didn't solve any big problem but solved small problems of many people Because of which
Zoom has become such a big company, and this bring us towards third business lesson

3. CUSTOMERS ARE ONLY LOYAL TO EXPERIENCES

There is no such thing as customer loyalty these days, customer is only loyal to experiences
If the customer's experience goes bad, then no matter how big brand you make, they will go to your
competitor only.