Meet Anjali Sud, the Indian-American Vimeo CEO who took video-streaming platform public

As video platform Vimeo made its trading debut on the Nasdaq, Indian-American Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Anjali Sud, took to Twitter to share a message of thanks. On May 25th, Vimeo, which was spun off from InterActive Corp, became a listed company. The video streaming platform has over 200 million users and it was started in 2004 by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein. 

It has been a “16-year labour of love,” Sud wrote on the social media platform. In her speech, she said that the team behind Vimeo had no plans of stopping until “we bring the power of professional quality video to all”. She called it an “exciting milestone” and thanked users, artists, investors and family and friends without whom the achievement wouldn’t have been possible. 

Who is Anjali Sud? 

In Vimeo’s journey to becoming a public company, Sud had a huge role to play. According to Business Insider, Sud grew up in Flint, Michigan, and is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She dreamed of becoming a playwright and cast her brother and sister in plays they performed in their basement for an audience of two - their parents. She had revealed that she once wanted to be a banker, however, couldn’t find a job at any reputed investment bank. 

The 37-year-old CEO even witnessed a tough time in her academic career. At the age of 14, when she left home to join a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts, she failed many times during the first year of her school as well. She completed her B.Sc in Finance and Management from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2005. She then completed MBA from Harvard Business School in 2011.

During her early career, Sud tried everything from marketing diapers online to investment banking. But she ended up finding a job at Vimeo as a vice president and head of global marketing at Vimeo in 2014, before becoming the CEO of the company in July 2017. In November 2018, Sud was named 14 on Fortune’s 2018 ‘40 under 40’ list.

While speaking to the media outlet, she said that she thinks that when someone is pushed outside their comfort zone, they get off that learning curve so much faster and develop as a leader so much faster. She added that she tells people to get comfortable doing that and do it as early as they can in their career. Further, the 37-year-old CEO said she sees Vimeo as a one-stop-shop for creating video that can be shared on other platforms. 

“We don’t want to be the destination, we want to be the tools," she said.

Image: Twitter