By Martina Pansze

Former Alliance Board of Directors member Paige Williams is the Founder and CEO of Missoula-based AudPop, a global company based in Missoula that connects businesses with video creatives.

Do you want to start by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about AudPop?

AudPop is a two-sided video marketplace. We connect video creators from around the world to businesses, so that businesses can get the video that they need. It's affordable, it's turnkey, it's scalable, and it's global. And we've worked with really great brands like GoDaddy, Dell, and Hilton. We recently opened our video marketplace so that any small business of any size can afford to use our services to get the video that they need. And so this is an exciting time in the company's history. You can think of it like 99designs, but for video. Right now I'm going through the StartOut growth accelerator and actually pitching to my startup for their Demo Day today (June 22).

I'm a filmmaker by trade. And I was making films years ago, and in between trying to support my film habit, I was picking up odds and ends in video jobs. But the problem then is still the problem today: how do businesses find good video creatives, and how do creatives find good businesses to work with? And so the problem that AudPop solves is connecting creatives to businesses, and that's really important because opportunities are going away. They're already gone in some countries. But 85% of consumers want more video from businesses. It increases sales six times. And we believe that this is a billion dollar total addressable market for AudPop - video spend by small businesses by 2027 will reach $100 billion - and so we're really excited about the future of AudPop. 

Can you tell me a little bit about your thoughts or feelings about pride celebrations. What comes up when you see a Twitter feed full of, you know, rainbow logos? Do you take part in pride events locally?

My story starts in 1995 in Clinton, Mississippi. I was sitting at the Waffle House, and my father drove through the parking lot. I was there with my girlfriend—I was a senior in high school. He said, “Come outside,” and I went outside and he said, “You need to get home, your mom is hunting you down with a shotgun.” Because my parents had just realized that I was gay, and they were terrified. Fast forward 13 years, and I was accepting my sixth award for Mississippi Queen, which was a feature documentary about our relationship and the ex-gay ministry that they started to convert people.

It’s a pretty powerful story that ended up winning a lot of awards and changing a lot of hearts and minds, including my parents. And that's why I do what I do—because I know that stories can change the world. And that my job is to build platforms to allow more storytellers who have more stories. And whether that's issues around pride or systemic injustice, racial inequality, climate change. That's what I'm here to do. And so when it comes to my own personal story, I have a lot of empathy for people who are like me, and for the struggles that they've gone through. And we love to support great foundations and projects like the Trevor Project and private foundations, so that we can support their work to help LGBTQIA+ individuals like me.

It took me a long time to realize that I was okay just as I am, even though that's exactly what I was taught in church growing up. But I'm there. And now my mission is to let people know that they are loved just as they are, regardless of what anyone says. And so for me, pride is extremely important. And yes, we participate. It's a time to acknowledge all of those who came before us who had an even harder time than I did or that teens today do. And so it's a really important time to count our blessings and also look forward and ask how we can be a more inclusive community? What can I do to sit at the table with people and tell them my story so that we can change more hearts and minds, so that love can grow, so that we can be more connected—which is the real reason that we're all here. 

“My mission is to let people know that they are loved just as they are.”

The business of business is just a way to do the real work, which is to connect with one another, and realize that we're all one, and we're all alike even though we're all different. We all have the same value, it doesn't matter who I love, or who you love, or what we’ve done. We all have the same inherent value. And business is the way I get to do that work.

Thinking about what you said about pride being both a reflective time to acknowledge the strides that have been made while also looking forward, how have you seen Montana change through the time you've lived here?

The moral arc is long. Whenever we have ten steps forward, we're always gonna have steps back. Montana is in that moment right now. But at the end of the day, people are people. And if you just get across the table from them, and smile, and ask them how they’re doing and how you can help, politics really goes away. And it doesn't really matter. And I think what's more important is that you just show up as yourself, and have a great character and be honest and transparent. And you know, what other people think about me is not my business.

What I know of Montanans is that we’re strong, and we’re courageous, and we’re pioneers. There's a lot of times we can agree to disagree and still get amazing things done. Whether that's in business, or on the ranch, or just within our families, or in our churches, or in our community groups, in that we actually play pretty good together. I think that's why we've been able to be a purple state for so many years and be an example to the country. But, you know, it took the Supreme Court to pass gay marriage for me and my wife to be able to get married, and we did get married the day that it was passed. The mayor married us in our backyard, and it was great.

But it's so polarized right now. And there's nothing that I would ever want to say to increase the polarization. I think our job right now is to understand that people are just people. Our job is to reach across the aisle and understand and empathize with one another. And so my hope for Montana and the future of our country is that we continue to do that. My hope is that we become less polarized and things begin to shift towards the greater good.

Do you find that there is a supportive queer community here?

Absolutely. You know, my wife is 10 years older than me. She grew up in Great Falls, Montana. In the 80s, they had to go to house parties to be able to be with their community. And they would drive six hours across the state to a house party just to be with one another. There were a few places where they could convene in old establishments. And then when I got here in ‘99, there were a couple of places you could go where you knew that there was a strong gay community. And those places have mostly dissipated. But Missoula is so open and inclusive, I find that the community here is very supportive. And we have a lot of great nonprofits that support LGBTQIA+ issues on campus and in our community. And I've always felt a good deal of support from Missoula, Montana, especially coming from Mississippi. But I think that we are an island in our state. And when I go into other cities, I'm a little more cautious about that.

I’ll shift a little bit more towards business. Queer women in particular are hugely underrepresented in leadership positions. And I'm curious if you have had any role models that you look up to as founder or leader of a business and if you think that that sort of representation is important.

Absolutely it's important. “If you can't see it, you can't be it,” as our friend Liz Marchi says. I've met a handful of  lesbian founders since I started my journey. But I didn't know any when I started my company. And with the StartOut Growth Lab, I've been able to meet some new founders who identify as gay, lesbian, or Queer. And that's been awesome to have a community.

It's kind of funny to talk about business and sexual identity. It doesn't seem like those two things go together. But it's really just about common experiences and what we faced growing up as women not fitting in the mold. 

“It's kind of funny to talk about business and sexual identity. It doesn't seem like those two things go together. But it's really just about common experiences and what we faced growing up as women not fitting in the mold.”

I have a lot of mentors around me and they are awesome. But if you think about the female startup CEOs in Montana, there's only a handful of us. 

What would you say to yourself or what advice would you give to yourself as a young Queer person? 

What other people think about you is not your business. Be you and go get it.

I'm curious if you have any suggestions for ways that companies in Montana could support their LGBTQIA+ employees, or what would be important to consider when trying to make a welcoming culture within your business.

CEOs like me need to engage with state legislators and local policy changemakers to make sure that discriminatory practices are not written into law. The data is clear that diverse teams make more money in business. And if we do not champion diversity, we will not make as much money and Montana will not win. And so it is absolutely essential to get involved and make sure that hate legislation does not pass. California just banned government travel to the state because of our anti gay policies. 

In terms of shaping company culture, it's important that we talk about pronouns, that we ask about partners, that we don't ostracize experiences. And we can do that by creating a company culture that is inclusive and welcoming. I know that there's a lot of really great Montana CEOs who deeply value that in their company culture. And, in fact, I haven't heard of any in Montana that aren't like that. I think that that's a real testament to the Montana character. That's how I find Montanans to be.

It's important to put it into our culture to support individuals as they go through their daily lives, because we spend so much time at work. And so making sure that there's an open, inclusive environment at your company is extremely important. And make sure that we're hiring people who think and look differently than us. Because diverse teams are the ones that make the most money. It's good for the bottom line, and it's good for everyone.

Was there anything else that you wanted to talk about before we wrap up?

I’ll say this: me and a group of Montana women are committed to making sure that founders like us get funded. And we're really excited about the future and what that looks like. We're in the planning stages, because Montana has a need to fund founders of all types. And I'm excited about that future work.

For those interested in further reading, Williams recommends Lisa Stone’s case study on The Power of Diversity: Why Homogenous Teams in Venture Capital Are Bad for Business.

About the Publisher: Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is an nonpartisan nonprofit association of highly-engaged high tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our biweekly newsletter.

About the Author: Martina Pansze is the Communications Director for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. She graduated from Whitman College in 2018 with a degree in Film and Media Studies.