Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to JR DeSouza. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi JR, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
Athletics. I grew up as a competitive swimmer, competing at the state, then national levels, eventually moving to the United States to train. By my collegiate years I was competing internationally and reached the Olympic finals and a world championship and world record. The disciplined journey along the way became the foundation for my life and work ethic. I’ve always been self motivated, and competitive. Working at both multinational and start up companies helped me channel my passion, strengths, and weaknesses toward positive outcomes, as well as endure the challenges and disappointments along the way.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As an Olympic swimmer, surfer, and water lover, I spent much of my time in and around water. Photography had been one of my hobbies, and I ended up working in high tech in Silicon Valley for a number of years building audio/video products, cameras, players, and recorders. I worked in home-theater products, and in the migration from analog to digital content – from high definition to media broadcast – at companies like Philips, TiVo, and Samsung. After a decade on the hardware side of the business, I was recruited by Disney to Hollywood, where I spent the next 10 years on the content creation and distribution side of the business, working for studios like Disney and Dreamworks animation. I’ve been fortunate to work in fields that closely align with my passion and interests, and I’ve enjoyed every moment along the way.
Starting Outex with my cousin, who’s a mechanical engineer was no coincidence. We both loved photography and the great outdoors. He loves to camp and hike. And I love water sports and activities. We developed the Outex underwater camera housing system as a solution to a problem. We wanted to combine the best of both worlds of waterproof camera cases – professional performance, capabilities, affordability and travel friendliness. After securing a few international patents, we founded the company to commercialize the products to the growing number of content creators interested in purchasing it.
Outex has been in business since 2010 and has a global clientele of photographers, cinematographers, and story tellers, from production companies to independent content creators. Our worldwide user base loves Outex for its professional performance (optical glass ports, domes), full functional control, rich tactile feel, universal compatibility, modular design that support accessories such as tripods, mounting, lighting, triggers, tethering, etc, even underwater, and travel friendliness (adds no weight or bulk to the camera gear).
And this year’s introduction of the Outex phone system grows the market and appeal to a broader audience, while delivering the same user benefits – universal compatibility with all smartphone makes & models, from iPhones, Samsungs, Google Pixel, etc., professional imaging results, full control over the buttons and touchscreen, compact design, and affordability.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Genuine interest in the area you’re in, and a willingness to never stop learning. There are no shortcuts and “cheats”. You have to commit dedicate your energy towards achieving your goals.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
One of the biggest challenges today is market fragmentation. There are so many markets, platforms, solutions, and options, it’s difficult to penetrate many of them and reach potential customers. At the same time, customers have become complacent, as large companies can afford to dominate the landscape and buy “awareness superiority”. It’s difficult for small companies to break thru the clutter, educate customers, and increase awareness. And customers do very little research on their own. We focus our attention on direct marketing efforts, our own website, Outex.com, and social media platforms. We have extensive Frequently Asked Questions pages with answers, images, links to videos, and referrals by our worldwide network of users to help customers understand how the Outex system works, how it compares to alternatives, and how others are using the product around the globe. And we enable keyword search on the website to help customers find all relevant information on any topic of interest.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://outex.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realoutex/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OUTEX/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Outex/videos
Image Credits
The photos of me are by Brett Stanley. All others are by me (JR deSouza)
