Short video is not an app or a tool, it is a new media format: Firework's Vincent Yang

Third, we have filed a patent for a technology called Reveal, which I would say is our USP. If you look at professionals, they normally use a professional camera with a landscape view. But short video is a vertical format especially on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. So when we spoke to professionals they said they didn’t want to do short videos because it was of lower quality. That’s when we came up with Reveal which lets you shoot video content horizontally. When you upload it on Firework, we have the technology to convert it to a vertical format for mobile without losing the specs.

Q. What stops someone like Google, with all its resources, from rolling out something similar for YouTube? Facebook launched TikTok clone Lasso last year and Snapchat too has added some TikTok-like features.
Lasso has died. It didn’t work out. But it’s a legit question. Why can’t big companies with all the resources do the same thing? It’s because one of the biggest issues they have is that of perception. With YouTube, the perception is of long-form video. I would never open up YouTube when I’m just waiting for someone because my perception is that I will use it when I have 30-40 minutes. Whereas for Firework we want it to be the place people come to when they have say, 10 minutes. It’s like comparing Nike with Under Armour. From a product perspective, they are the same, selling shoes. But Under Armour has the perception of more athletic shoes compared to Nike. That’s why we are emphasising on professional, premium content. Once the brand is there, it’s hard for a competitor to replicate.

Another thing is what we call a network barrier. If you think of a triangle, on the one side you have the creators, the other is the audience and third is strategic partnerships. None of the partners we have spoken to wants to associate themselves with TikTok; they all want premium content. The more partners we have, the more creators will come, and in turn more users. It will create a network effect, making it difficult for newcomers to come in.

Q. What is the average session length of a user on Firework?
We have users spending 21 minutes per day on Firework. The average session length is seven minutes, so they log in three times a day.

Q. How do you plan to monetise the platform?
We’ll monetise in two ways: The first is the easy way, through interstitial ads. Second is through sponsored ads. We do a lot of Firework original series, where for example, we have a celebrity hosting a show of food recipes. We’ll have brand placements, where food brands will sit inside that content.

Q. It was recently reported that Google is looking to acquire Firework. Is this true? It alludes to Facebook buying out emerging competitor Instagram in its early days…
About three months ago we started getting approached by several strategic investors, not just Google. TikTok helped us in that they have created awareness about short videos. So when people look around for companies that are investable and acquirable, they see Firework. That’s because TikTok is already big and also it’s a Chinese company, so it’s hard to invest in. Similarly, there’s a company in India called Likee, but it’s also Chinese-owned and hard to invest in. So inevitably they will look at us.

The rational is the same that you mentioned: How Facebook wanted to get Instagram. But for us, as entrepreneurs, we want to explore things independently and we have so much to do. We raised $30 million in Series A earlier this year [from VCs including IDG Capital, GSR Venture and Lightspeed Venture Partners China, valuing the company at $100 million]. Short video is not an app or a tool, it is a new media format. It’s a big market. It will be a shame to get acquired so early. That said, we will be announcing a big move in the next two months.