By Dan Castles, CEO of Telestream
As we hit the midpoint of 2025, I want to take a moment and share what these past six months have meant for Telestream and for me personally. While six months may seem like a short stretch in the context of my 25+ years with the company, it’s been a pivotal period in terms of what we’ve accomplished and where we’re heading.
The Hardest Decision I’ve Made
I was asked recently at the DPP Media Supply Fest about the toughest call I’ve had to make in my career. I didn’t have to think long: it was coming back as Telestream CEO. Most people know this isn’t my first time stepping back into the CEO role. Telestream is part of my DNA.
Not because I didn’t want to, but because I knew the work ahead would be hard. There were things we had to fix. People to bring back. Trust to rebuild. But the heart of the company, the people and the purpose, was very much still intact. And that made the decision not only worthwhile, but necessary.
Since returning, our collective focus has been on recalibrating and reconnecting. Aligning our product vision with where the market is going. Listening to our customers more than we talk at them. Rebuilding a culture that rewards collaboration, transparency, and doing the right thing…even when it’s not easy.
Rebuilding Relationships That Matter
If there’s one constant in our industry, it’s this: relationships matter. They always have. You don’t get far in this business without a network built on trust, respect, and time in the trenches together. And at Telestream, those relationships have been central to our success.
Over the years, we’ve become a critical piece of our customers’ workflows. We don’t take that for granted. But during the last transition, we lost our footing. Our technology advanced, but how we brought it to market took a step back. In the process, we strained some of the very relationships that got us here.
For those who stayed with us, thank you. Your loyalty doesn’t go unnoticed. We’re doubling down on what matters most: making sure our solutions meet real needs, solving real problems, and giving you the tools to thrive in a world that never stops moving.
Term and Tone
There’s a phrase I often come back to with the team: the two T’s—Term and Tone. Term is what you say. Tone is how you say it.
At some point, we lost the balance. Our tone became rigid, and our term too prescriptive. Instead of listening first, we told customers how things should be done. That’s not how trusted partnerships are built, and our customers know this. Some walked away.
When you lose that customer-first tone, even the best product in the world can’t fix the damage. So we started the hard work of repairing our relationships, one conversation at a time, with term focused on innovation and our tone rooted in respect.
Sitting down face-to-face reminded us of something essential: our role is not to dictate; it’s to empower. Our customers are already navigating complex challenges. The last thing they need is a technology partner adding friction. What they need is a partner who listens, adapts, and supports without ego or agenda.
Addressing our past tone and term isn’t a quick fix. We are recalibrating who we are and how we show up. This means re-engaging the voices and values that built this company but also bringing in fresh perspectives. The balance we’re striving for is simple: move faster, innovate boldly, but never lose sight of why we’re here—our customers. This is our core purpose, and it isn’t optional.
Where We’re Headed
Over the next six months, we’re focused on tuning our high-performance workflow and test and measurement solutions. We are enhancing our core offering by leveraging AI to allow our customers to go faster, automate where they can and reach further for a broader audience.
Longer term, we’re moving with purpose. First, we will meet our customers where they are—on premise, cloud and/or both—with the business model they want—subscriptions, SaaS, or perpetual licenses. Then you’ll see us bring foundational building blocks to market, with a friction-free, API-first, ecosystem-first mindset, helping build efficient glass-to-glass workflows for all content creators and distributors. And yes, we will look at possible strategic acquisitions in the future (as we have done 16 to date) but our focus at the moment is organic expansion of what we do based on our incredible engineering teams.
Telestream has always operated across the full content lifecycle, from creation to packaging to delivery. That’s a wide scope, but it’s also our strength. We see the whole media ecosystem and we know how the pieces fit together. You can count on us to build value across this ecosystem, not chase trends. And that means doing the hard work, staying humble, and showing up every day with the intent to serve.
To our customers, our partners, and the Telestream team: thank you for your continued trust and collaboration in building something better.
—Dan