Alumni Profile: Brian Shin, CEO and founder of Visible Measures

Shin Quantifies Viral Internet Video

As an undergrad at Tufts University, Brian Shin was a biology major with big ideas. Now as the founder and CEO of Visible Measures, a measurement firm for Internet video publishers, advertisers and social marketers, he continues to aspire and work towards growth and implementation of his company’s vision.

Although involved in an internship with Goldman Sachs, Shin had little interest in climbing the corporate ladder and expanding his career. His real passion, Visible Measures, started out as a side job or hobby that he worked on during his free time and on weekends. He was pleasantly surprised when he started gaining interest and customers before he was really established.

He continued on to grad school at MIT Sloan School of Management for their dual degree Harvard-MIT Biomedical Enterprise Program. Shin felt it difficult to decide what to do in grad school, as he was offered high paying jobs and opportunities, which he eventually declined. Instead, he continued generating revenue while still a grad student, and in spring of his second year, Shin entered the 2005 MIT Business competition where he was named semi-finalist and top of the software category.

Shin also started generating revenue while still in school for Visible Measures, and received a total of about $800,000 from angel investors when he graduated from the MIT program. Since then he has gotten $5 million in January of 2007 and an additional $13.5 million in December of 2008. "Because of the uniqueness of what we were trying to do, we had tried to create a standard that hasn’t existed before, and it happened to be in the direction that advertising was taking. We have succeeded because customers are willing to pay, and investors are willing to invest.” He is careful with the company’s finances, although they have a very comfortable cash-cushion, and never has less then 10 months cash in the company funds.

Despite his fairly consistent trajectory of company growth, Shin humbly insists that his company is “not one of the greats,” and that they must remain focused on their goals and not fall victim to complacency. Visible Measures’ good reputation has allowed for a second round of financing, and overall Shin estimates that the company has raised over $30 million. He advises students to start businesses while still in school and not after graduation, as there is less desperation to earn money and make ends meet.

Today, Visible Measures continues to grow as video content plays an increasingly important role in online behavior. The Internet video measurement solutions that Visible Measures provide give major brand advertisers and their agencies with an integrated view across all campaign components. The Internet video market continues to evolve at a rapid pace, and Visible Measures has set the standard in providing in-depth video analytics.