Jon Oringer @ Shutterstock: The Software Engineer Who Created a Marketplace for Photographers

Shutterstock probably isn’t the first company that comes to mind when most people think of successful, billion dollar New York tech companies. Instead, the list includes names like BuzzFeed, Rent the Runway, and WeWork. But that’s only because most people don’t spend much time trying to find stock photography.

However, if you’re one of the few people in the world who regularly needs high quality photos, you know how important they are. You also understand and appreciate the challenge of getting good images.

Getting good images used to be a lot harder and more expensive until Jon Oringer, founder of Shutterstock, introduced the first subscription marketplace for stock photography. Even if you've never personally needed stock photography, the story of Shutterstock is important because it introduced a new concept of online, creator marketplaces. That concept has permeated dozens of other industries, from web design to music, meaning if you've ever downloaded so much as a song from your favorite band, you're benefitting from the model Shutterstock pioneered.

For a complete transcript of the episode, click here.