Why sell to EchoStar?
Blake Krikorian: We didn’t have much interest in selling. We were literally on the verge of closing a series C round of financing when we were approached by a few different companies. We met with Charlie Ergen (chief executive and co-founder of EchoStar) and his team. We had gotten to know them because they’ve been investors for more than 1.5 years. They share a lot of values that matter to us: We’re kind of aggressive, we love to innovate and create and stoke that entrepreneurial spirit. Charlie is a founder, an entrepreneur. He created something from nothing and he’s still there. I respect him a ton. We’re truly a convergence company. We don’t fit well into the usual categories of “media,” or “mobile,” or even “hardware.” We believe our job is to glue together all the multiple brands of products and services that consumers use to get their video. We didn’t want to be beholden to one brand, or one TV or mobile provider, or even one consumer electronics brand. We want to be very neutra
