At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Shawn Rubel for an exclusive interview with us. Shawn is an Entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Vecteezy. Let’s learn more about his background, journey and his advice for our community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Shawn:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
My path really started with my passion for design. After graduating from college with a BA in Visual Arts, I worked as a graphic designer for several years, which gave me firsthand experience with the daily challenges that creatives face.
In 2004, I relocated from Ontario, Canada to Bowling Green, Kentucky, for a job in internet marketing, and I had a growing interest in digital business. That same year, I launched my first venture, Brusheezy.com, a site offering free Photoshop brushes. The idea came from my own frustrations as a designer constantly struggling to find quality, affordable resources within tight budgets.
The response to Brusheezy was immediate and overwhelmingly positive, which validated that there was a real need in the market. This naturally led me to create Vecteezy.com, focusing specifically on vector graphics like icons, illustrations, and patterns.
What started as a creative outlet quickly evolved into something much bigger. The site attracted thousands of visitors daily, almost from launch, growing organically through word-of-mouth and social sharing.
By February 2009, the business had grown enough that I felt confident leaving my full-time job to pursue it completely. That leap from stable employment to entrepreneurship was nerve-wracking, but I knew I had to bet on myself and the vision I had for democratizing access to design resources.
Today, Vecteezy serves millions of users every month with a library of over 60 million files and a team of over 50 people working from four continents. It’s been an incredible journey from a simple idea born out of personal frustration to building a global platform that empowers millions of creators worldwide.
‘Vecteezy’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
The name “Vecteezy” evolved from my first site, Brusheezy, which focused on Photoshop brushes. I wanted something that clearly communicated what the site was about while maintaining that approachable, easy-going feel that the “eezy” suffix provides.
Originally, Vecteezy focused exclusively on vector graphics, so I chose the name “Vecteezy.” I also launched Videezy, a site offering free video footage, in 2009. All of the sites operate under a parent company, Eezy LLC.
After several years, we branched out and started adding other types of resources at Vecteezy aside from just vectors. We started with free photos by acquiring two sites, Photopin and Compfight, in 2014.
Later on, we also brought over most of the video content from Videezy to Vecteezy. Today, Vecteezy offers much more than just vectors, but the name stuck because that’s how our audience knows us.
Despite the challenges, what keeps you going when things get tough?
What really drives me through difficult times is remembering why we started this in the first place, to solve real problems for creatives. I’m also constantly motivated by our contributor community.
Some of our creators are making extra income on the side through our platform, while for others, it’s become their primary source of revenue. Seeing talented designers, photographers, and videographers succeed because of the platform we’ve built is incredibly rewarding and keeps me pushing forward.
The growth and positive feedback from our community serves as constant validation that we’re on the right track. When we hit major milestones like being included in the Inc. 5000 list from 2021-2024, or when we see our monthly user numbers climb, it reinforces that the work we’re doing matters.
I also draw energy from our team. Building a group of 50+ talented people from around the world who are all passionate about our mission has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of this journey. During challenging times, I’m reminded that I’m not facing these obstacles alone. We have an incredible team with diverse skills and perspectives who are all working toward the same goals.
Finally, I’m genuinely excited about the future possibilities. The creative industry is constantly evolving, especially with developments in AI and new technologies. Rather than seeing these changes as threats, I view them as opportunities to continue innovating and finding new ways to serve our community better.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned in your life?
The first lesson is to provide value first, always. This has been fundamental to Vecteezy’s success from day one. During our early years, every single resource on the site was completely free. I made money through ads and affiliate marketing, but users got tremendous value without paying anything.
Even now, with our premium offerings, we still provide millions of free resources because we believe in earning trust before asking for anything in return. This approach works in business and in life. When you focus on helping others and providing genuine value, success tends to follow naturally.
The second lesson is the critical importance of building a strong team. I ran Vecteezy by myself for the first few years, handling everything from content curation to customer service.
While this gave me deep knowledge of every aspect of the business, it also severely limited our growth potential. The moment I started building a team of full-time employees with diverse skill sets, the business exploded. Looking back, I probably could have grown much faster if I’d been more aggressive about hiring earlier.
The third lesson is to think like your customers, not just like a business owner. It’s easy to get caught up in metrics like revenue and growth numbers, but at the end of the day, our success depends entirely on how well we serve our users. Because I started as a designer myself, I can relate to the daily challenges our users face.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
First and foremost is taking action and getting started. Having great ideas is just the beginning. You have to be willing to put yourself out there, do the work, and get honest feedback from people you trust.
It’s much easier to improve and iterate on something that already exists than to try to make it perfect from the first attempt. The key is to start and then continuously improve based on real user feedback.
Setting SMART goals is absolutely crucial. Your goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Without clear, measurable objectives, you’re essentially flying blind. At Vecteezy, we set ambitious annual goals, break those down into quarterly priorities, and then translate them into weekly tasks.
Understanding and obsessing over your customer’s needs is another fundamental key. Success isn’t about what you think is important. Building the right team around you is essential for scaling beyond the startup phase. Surround yourself with people who have different strengths and skill sets from you do. The diversity of perspectives and capabilities will make your entire organisation stronger and more adaptable.
Finally, persistence combined with adaptability is key. You need the tenacity to push through challenges and setbacks, but also the wisdom to pivot when something isn’t working. The market is constantly evolving, especially in the tech space, so you need to stay flexible while maintaining focus on your core mission.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
My biggest piece of advice is to start taking action on your ideas sooner rather than later. I see too many people who have great concepts but spend months or years planning and perfecting instead of just getting started. The reality is that you’ll learn more from launching something imperfect and iterating than you will from endless planning. Launch, get feedback, improve, repeat.
Develop strong relationship-building skills. I highly recommend reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. The principles in that book are timeless and apply to every aspect of professional and personal life. Success in any field ultimately comes down to your ability to work well with others, communicate effectively, and build mutually beneficial relationships.
Don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone and take calculated risks. Moving from Canada to Kentucky, leaving a stable job to pursue my business full-time, hiring my first employees, all of these decisions involved risk, but they were also the moments that accelerated my growth the most. The key is making sure these are informed risks based on evidence and preparation, not just blind leaps.
Invest in learning continuously. The business world, especially technology and digital marketing, evolves incredibly quickly. What worked five years ago might be completely irrelevant today. Stay curious, read voraciously, attend conferences, network with people in your industry, and never assume you know everything you need to know.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
What makes this journey most satisfying is seeing the direct impact we have on creative communities around the world. Every day, designers, marketers, small business owners, and hobbyists use our resources to bring their ideas to life. When I think about all the presentations, websites, marketing campaigns, social media posts, and creative projects that have been made possible because someone found the perfect vector, photo, or video at Vecteezy, it’s incredibly fulfilling.
The global scale of what we’ve built continues to amaze me. The fact that something that started as a personal creative outlet has grown into a platform that impacts creative work around the world is pretty extraordinary.
I’m also energised by the constant evolution and challenges in our industry. Things like the rise of AI, changing user expectations, and new creative tools and platforms. There’s always something new to figure out and adapt to. We’re constantly working on improving our search algorithms, expanding our content library, and developing new tools like our background remover and reverse image search, which both launched in 2023.
On a personal level, being able to combine my passion for design with entrepreneurship and team building has been incredibly rewarding. I get to work with talented people from around the world, solve interesting technical and business challenges, and still stay connected to the creative community that inspired me to start this journey in the first place.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
