Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Serge Baidin, CEO of Bride and Groom, Inc., located in Claymont, DE, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We help wedding videographers edit high-quality cinematic videos from their footage. Filmmakers shoot weddings and upload their files to cloud storage. Our editing team builds final videos of different styles and lengths in the background. Brides and grooms usually don't know about our existence.
Tell us about yourself
My background is in project and process management in the tech sphere. In 2018, while my wife and I were planning our wedding, we became friends with a videographer we hired to cover it. I learned from him how challenging and time-consuming the editing process is and that shooting and editing require different types of minds in an ideal world.
I researched and found high demand for quality editing and a need for more professional companies that can provide excellent quality work and top-notch customer service. Most videographers edited their projects themselves, spending one day on shooting and then five days on editing. Others worked with overseas freelancers who could miss deadlines or even disappear without a trace in the middle of a high season.
So I've set up a video editing company Bride&Groom.video, using the best marketing and management techniques from the tech industry, with the mission of freeing the videographers' time, leaving the wedding video editing to professionals who like it. After five years, we became a reliable business partner for independent wedding filmmakers and videography studios. In 2023 worked with 150 clients and edited more than 1500 wedding projects for them.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
What makes me proud is my team. In five years, I've gathered great people who move Bride&Groom.video forward. We have 51 people on board now, and each brings tons of energy to fuel our business.
Regarding editors, we have a rigorous multi-step hiring process, with several test tasks, learning materials from our internal knowledge base, and passing an internal exam. As a result, last year, we hired 28 editors from around 500 applicants.
Regarding client managers, we prefer people with no prior experience but great organization and communication skills. I found training people from scratch more manageable than changing their previous customer service patterns. We have weekly training sessions and brainstorms on what we can improve in our work with clients.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The hardest for me is to fire people. It's the most painful but sometimes necessary measure. But, if we are to provide the best service on the market, we can only tolerate good work results. It could be one of the reasons why we've built such a complicated hiring process: to fire fewer people (laughing).
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
I'm unlikely to add something new to the popular startup recipes you've heard hundreds of times, but here are my top tips:
- Surround yourself with the right people.
- Focus on your clients.
- Fail fast. Then get up, pivot, and go further.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://bridengroom.video/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bridengroom.video
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bridengroom.video/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bridengroomvideo/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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