When Ashkan Karbasfrooshan dreamed up WatchMojo.com 10 years ago, he knew that video content would be king in this ever-expanding technological era.
From the top 10 richest athletes to the scariest songs video games, all of WatchMojo.com’s videos are created at its offices on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal’s Mile End.
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“We are 45 full-time employees in Montreal and we have an extra hundred freelancers in North America predominantly,” Karbasfrooshan said.
“When we started, the vision was literally to inform and entertain through video — and the mission was to create a video on every topic.”
He narrowed his vision down to Top 10 lists that primarily cater to millennials.
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WatchMojo.com now creates lists about almost anything, creating over two hours of content a day that is researched, written, edited and voiced in Montreal.
“From the get-go, we wanted to be the next media and entertainment export out of the city,” said Karbasfrooshan.
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He started business in 2006 with wife Christine Voulieris and partner Raphael Daigneault.
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“When people would ask me ‘where do you want this company to go?’ I’d say ‘look, I’d like it to be the next Just For Laughs, Cirque du Soleil, Vice Media and others in the media and entertainment industry,'” he said.
“Montreal, what’s in our DNA, what’s in our pedigree, lends itself well for that.”
WatchMojo.com now has over 13 million subscribers and seven billion all-time views.
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It’s Canada’s largest YouTube channel and ranks among the top five globally, but it wasn’t an easy rise.
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“When we had accrued a million dollars of debt, it was a big number,” Karbasfrooshan admitted.
“Our company’s accountants and lawyers thought I should get my head checked.”
For the first six years, the company lost money and desperately reached out over a hundred times to venture capitalists.
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Karbasfrooshan said he was constantly turned down for funding, but was lucky to have his wife by his side.
“I think that early on, especially to sacrifice leaving a great job, the years of not paying ourselves, then not just not paying yourselves but taking out a second mortgage to make payroll, I think — without a doubt — the understanding and faith that she had in me was important,” he said.
Today, the couple is in the driver’s seat and investors are calling.
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For now, the local startup is resisting a takeover.
“While we’re open to it, were not militantly against it, it’s not what we’re focused on,” he said.
“We have those inbound conversations and some of them are more intriguing than others. We’ll see what the future holds.”
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