Wattpad

Celebrating the Unintended but Obvious Impact of Wattpad on International Women’s Day

It’s been almost three years since I stepped aside from my role as CEO of Wattpad, yet I’m still amazed by the reactions I get when I bump into people who have been part of the Wattpad story. The impact continues to surface in unexpected and inspiring ways frequently.

Wattpad has always been a platform built on storytelling for all ages and genders. That being said, our core demographic—roughly 50% of our users—has been teenage girls. Young women have always played a pivotal role in the Wattpad community.

Next year, Wattpad will turn 20 (!)—a milestone that feels both surreal and deeply rewarding. When we started in 2006, we couldn’t have imagined the journey ahead. But one thing is certain: our early users have grown up, and many of them are now in their 20s and 30s, making their mark on the world in remarkable ways.

A perfect example: at our recent masterclass at the University of Toronto, I ran into Nour. A decade ago, she was pulling all-nighters reading on Wattpad. Today, she’s an Engineering Science student at the University of Toronto, specializing in machine intelligence. Her story is not unique. Over the years, I’ve met countless female Wattpad users who are now scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, building startups and pushing boundaries in STEM fields.

This is incredibly fulfilling. Many of them have told me that they looked up to Wattpad and our journey as a source of inspiration. The idea that something we built has played even a small role in shaping their ambitions is humbling.

Now, as an investor at Two Small Fish, I’m excited about the prospect of supporting these entrepreneurs in the next stage of their journey. Some of these Wattpad users will go on to build the next great startups, and it would be incredible to be part of their success, just as they were part of Wattpad’s.

On this International Women’s Day, I want to celebrate this unintended but, in hindsight, obvious outcome: a generation of young women who grew up on Wattpad are now stepping into leadership roles in tech and beyond. They are the next wave of innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs, and I can’t wait to see what they build next.

P.S. This blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given.

How We Built a Truly Global Powerhouse with 100 Million Users

Most people don’t realize just how global Wattpad’s business is. Here are a few fun facts:

• Only 25% of our 100 million users are from North America, while 25% come from LATAM, 25% from Europe, and 25% from Asia.

• Of the 50 languages on Wattpad, the most popular isn’t English—it’s Spanish. Other widely used languages include Bahasa Indonesia (10 million users) and Tagalog (6 million users), with millions more reading and writing in Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Vietnamese, and many others.

• Not only have our print books (yes, we’re a book publisher too) been New York Times bestsellers, but they’ve also hit #1 in multiple countries, including Germany and Colombia.

• #1 on Netflix globally and other streaming platforms? We’ve done that many times—including the Spanish smash hit A Través De Mi Ventana (Through My Window), which we co-produced with Netflix. Many #1-rated TV shows worldwide are based on Wattpad stories—and we co-produce them.

• #1 at the box office? We’ve achieved that in multiple countries as well.

How did we build this?

A lot of things made this happen, but I’ll highlight a few. It started on day one. Here’s a screenshot of our website when we launched in 2006.

Notice that we already supported many key languages worldwide. Why? Because only about 400 million people speak English as their first language—that’s less than 5% of the world’s population.

And we were right! The first language that took off wasn’t something we predicted—it was Vietnamese. We couldn’t have guessed that!

When the first Android phone came out (the T-Mobile G1), we were one of the first to support it. At that time, the iPhone was primarily a high-GDP country phenomenon, while low-GDP countries were dominated by $30 Android phones. When I travelled to these regions, I frequently brought back bags of inexpensive phones so our team could test and ensure our app worked on low-end devices. This allowed us to dominate globally.

When we raised growth capital, we didn’t just seek funding from Silicon Valley investors—we broadened our investor base to include backers from other countries. This helped us learn the nuances of international expansion while gaining support from investors who understood these markets.

When we launched subscriptions, we recognized that a one-size-fits-all model wouldn’t work. Some countries preferred à la carte purchases over all-you-can-read models. So, we introduced our own virtual currency, allowing users to buy content à la carte.

When we expanded into movies and TV shows, we didn’t just partner with Hollywood studios—we forged partnerships with entertainment companies across five continents. This ensured Wattpad story adaptations could be seen everywhere.

And the list goes on.

None of this happened automagically. It took years of conscious, deliberate effort. But once we built the foundation, expanding into new countries became incremental. There’s no free lunch, but it’s also not rocket science—it got easier and easier as we grew.

We built a truly global powerhouse with 100 million users.

If we could do it, you can too.

Choosing between the U.S. and international expansion is a false dichotomy—you can do both. As the world shifts toward intangible assets, building a global business is easier than ever.

Keep in mind that while the U.S. is the largest economy, it only accounts for approximately 26% of the world’s GDP. To create true optionality, not expanding globally—especially beyond the U.S.—is not an option.

Our experience in building a successful global business also allows us to help our portfolio companies scale internationally. We’ve been through the challenges of global expansion firsthand, and we actively share these insights to support the next generation of world-changing companies. Reach out to us if you want to be part of it!

P.S. This blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given.

Bags 2 Riches

Episode 4 of Bags 2 Riches is live! The docuseries features the roots of seven notable immigrants’ journeys while sharing their new life in Canada. The series relives the lows and celebrates the highs as each individual recounts the tests they faced.

I am honoured to be featured alongside NBA star Chris Boucher, Syrian-born chocolatier Tareq Hadhad, broadcast pioneer Shushma Datt and a few others. We are all immigrants who call Canada home, and we all want to contribute to this amazing country.

Thanks Simplii Financial for giving me the space to share my story!

It’s The Final Curtain Call. A New Story Begins.

After spending 15 years at the helm of Wattpad, today I am starting a new role as Executive Advisor to the WEBTOON family of brands. That’s right, I’m stepping aside as CEO of Wattpad to apply my experience and skills to this new role alongside my other activities as an investor and board member.

As I reflect on the journey of building Wattpad over the years I am amazed at what I’ve accomplished together with my co-founder Ivan Yuen and the entire Wattpad team.

What started as a place to read and write stories on your mobile device, has grown into a product and community loved by close to 100 million people.

We pioneered storytelling technology, changed how people read, write and engage with fictional stories, and transformed the entertainment and publishing industries. Leveraging our massive built-in fandoms and data, we turned numerous top Wattpad stories into hit movies, TV shows, and bestselling books. These movies and shows have topped the box office and ‘most watched’ charts on streaming services, gone on to win Teen Choice Awards, a People’s Choice Award, and even received Emmy nominations, and all have changed the lives of a new generation of creators. It’s been an honour and privilege to democratize who gets to tell their story and redefine how the world reads and shares fiction.

We raised record amounts of capital at the time from top-tier investors in Canada, US, and Asia. We were one of the first to commit to scaling our company in Toronto and then successfully proved you could build a world-class tech company here. We played a part in re-shaping the overall narrative of the innovation ecosystem in Canada.

These are the things you simply don’t think about when you’re starting out, writing code, and bringing an idea to life. To say I am incredibly proud is an understatement.

The past year was record-breaking for Wattpad. Since the acquisition – one of the largest for a Canadian technology company – we have never grown faster. With the Grand Plan in place, it’s the perfect time to pass the baton to Wattpad President Jeanne Lam and Wattpad WEBTOON Studios’ President Aron Levitz in leading the team to achieve the vision. With such strong leaders, Wattpad is in great hands.

I’ve always been a natural builder and I will continue to help build the “next big thing” as Executive Advisor to WEBTOON, as a venture partner of Two Small Fish Ventures, and board member of two of Canada’s most important cultural and innovation organizations, the Toronto International Film Festival and MaRS.

It has been a life-changing 15-year journey for me, my family, the Wattpad team, and millions of Wattpadders around the world. Thanks for all your support. Thanks for sharing all the emotions. Thanks for all the wonderful times and good memories. Thanks for being here with me. I can’t say thank you enough.

Calling this a new chapter or the next season would be a misnomer – it’s the final curtain call of my career as a CEO. But I’m not done yet! I’m still at the top of my game. I’m still hungry for more wins. I still want to make an even bigger impact. My new story begins today.

Building a Company for Everyone

I wholeheartedly believe that diversity is a strength. Entrepreneurs can’t build a global product without understanding and embracing the spectrum of identity, gender, ethnicity and language found all around the world. Building a diverse team that reflects the people you serve is crucial to long-term success. It’s easy to say diversity is important, but how do you measure it?

Today’s post is from Wattpad’s Head of Product and Head of Wattpad Labs Seema Lakhani. Like me, Seema is a huge champion of inclusion and diversity. Her post outlines the results of Wattpad’s 2018 Diversity and Inclusion survey that aims to understand how employees self-identify and tracks how empowered they feel within the company.

I strongly encourage all companies – startups, scaleups and corporate giants – to track and share results of their diversity and inclusion efforts. The first step in creating a diverse and inclusive tech industry for the future is to understand where you are right now.

Here’s the full post:

2018 has been a year of challenge and (some) change for the diversity movement in tech. The struggles of minority groups in the industry are finally a mainstream conversation, even as real change lags for many.

At Wattpad, we’ve long recognized that diversity is our strength. Our company culture, our teams, our ability to innovate, and ultimately our product, are all made stronger by the variety of perspectives, experiences, and voices that make up Wattpad.

Wattpad’s commitment to diversity has been established since Day 1. The fact that we were founded by two people of colour (one of whom is an immigrant), in Canada (one of the most diverse countries in the world), has helped us maintain a more diverse perspective than most technology companies. Early in Wattpad’s existence, we made the decision to make Wattpad community safety a top priority. This ethos deeply informs how we approach our platform and how we build our teams. As a result, Wattpad has always been a safe and diverse place for both users and employees.

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

It’s been a year since we released the results of our 2017 Diversity & Inclusion Survey. Our goal is to be a leader in transparency around these issues, showing exactly what we’ve done to create an inclusive workplace.

We’ve now completed our 2018 Diversity & Inclusion Survey.* This year, we’ve expanded the survey for a better understanding both the representation and sentiment for different groups across Wattpad. We know that building a diverse workplace isn’t just a matter of numbers; it’s equally important to understand that people will have different experiences of a workplace. This year’s Diversity & Inclusion Survey attempts to understand how people feel about diversity at Wattpad and if our efforts towards inclusivity account for how marginalized people experience life here.

DIVERSITY AT WATTPAD  

Today, we’re proud to say that a majority–56%–of Wattpad employees are women. That strong representation is reflected across most teams: women make up 50% of our Leadership Team, 50% of our User Experience and Design Team, and 100% of our Product Team.

We’re incredibly proud of those numbers, but know there is still work to do. For example, less than a quarter of our Engineering team are women, so that will be a continued area of focus for us in the coming year.  

For a more intersectional look at our team composition, we’re proud to say that People of Colour make up close to half (45%) of all Wattpad employees and 41% of our Leadership Team. Company-wide, 21% of Wattpad employees are Women of Colour, 15% are non-native English speakers, 8% identify as having a disability, 13% identify as LGBTQ+, and 3% are transgender.

Diversity at Wattpad – Highlights

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Charts_POCINCLUSION AT WATTPAD  

Sentiment questions help us better understand how marginalized people feel about working at Wattpad. We know the experiences of a workplace–its communication styles, and organizational structures and processes–can be different for men, women, people of colour, and LGBTQ+ folks. So, it’s important that we create a space in our survey for people to express those experiences, helping us understand if we’re headed in the right direction.

We were happy to hear that, in most instances, there were no large gaps in sentiment among the diverse groups and identities that make up the team at Wattpad. While there is room for improvement, there were no major disparities between how different groups experience life at Wattpad. All areas saw an increase in sentiment from 2017.

When asked if they agree that “People from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to succeed at my company,” 75% of women and 77% of People of Colour agreed. At Wattpad as a whole, 80% agreed.

Similarly, when asked if they agree that “My Company Values Diversity,” 92% of women and 91% of People of Colour agreed. Company-wide, 94% agreed with this statement in 2018, up from 85% in 2017 and a true testament to our Diversity & Inclusions Committee’s hard work throughout the year. When asked if they agree that “I can be my authentic self at work,” 82% of women and 77% of People of Colour agreed. Eighty-one per cent of Wattpad employees overall agreed. When we dug even deeper into the intersectional data for this question, we found that while 88% of white men and 85% of white women agreed they can be their authentic self at work, only 80% of men of colour and 75% of women of colour agreed.

When it comes to voice, 79% of employees and 75% of women agreed that “When I speak up my opinion is valued.” This number was lower for People of Colour (68%) and Non-Native English speakers (58%). While both of these were improvements from last year, they still highlight the work we need to do to ensure all employees feel safe and valued when contributing at Wattpad.

Inclusion at Wattpad – Highlights

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charts_straight_authenticWHAT’S NEXT?

2018 has been a year of growth and expansion at Wattpad. We’ve grown our team, expanded our work in entertainment around the world, continued to lead the future of interactive storytelling, and deepened the learnings and applications from Machine Learning to the more than 500 million story uploads on Wattpad. Our community is growing every day. This means new voices coming to Wattpad from all over the world. A diverse and inclusive company culture means more voices and experiences to challenge assumptions. It means broader perspective and fewer blind spots. It means better products for users everywhere, built by happy, safe employees, who can truly be themselves and thrive.  

Our Diversity & Inclusion Survey is the result of a team of people who have worked hard to better understand and improve our workplace. These results show what is possible when a company empowers employees with the financial and people resources to research, listen, and take action on diversity and inclusion initiatives. But they also demonstrate areas for improvement.

Diversity at Wattpad is about creating more diversity in tech overall. We’ve taken a leadership position in transparency, holding ourselves accountable to continually do better and making sure our stakeholders are aware of our efforts to create a more diverse company. Our team should match our community, which is why we’ll keep listening, learning, and pushing ourselves to do better, until we get there.

*Results for our 2018 Diversity & Inclusion Survey are based on participation from 84% of employees.  

Halo Indonesia!

Building a global product requires intent and sustained commitment. From launch day, entrepreneurs need to think globally and take international users, their interests and habits into account. When Wattpad launched over a decade ago, some of our very first users were based in Asia. our international community has thrived since then, and now we have 65 million users in nearly every country of the world and support over 50 languages.

Today is a huge milestone for Toronto-based Wattpad: We announced a landmark production deal with Indonesian-based iflix, the world’s leading entertainment service for emerging markets, to bring Wattpad stories to millions of iflix users across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Over the next year, iflix and Wattpad will co-produce dozens of original movies based on Wattpad stories from Indonesia. You can read all about it in the official blog post here.

Wattpad has more than 17 million users in Southeast Asia, and Indonesia is one of our fastest-growing markets. Fans of the six million original Indonesian stories on Wattpad will soon be able to enjoy them in a completely new format.

Wattpad adaptations can be massively successful (Netflix’s The Kissing Booth, anyone?) Stories that are adapted into other formats already have a built-in audience that love and follow the story on and off the Wattpad platform. Our proprietary data gives producers insights into the story they can’t find anywhere else. We can tell production teams what characters resonate with the audience, what plot points generate the most intense reaction from fans and more. These detailed insights lead to more awesome adaptations. Then, when an adaptation is ready, Wattpad has the ability to promote the book/movie/series to a global audience of over 65 million people, including targeted marketing to the story’s original fans.  

This iflix partnership is one more step towards cementing Wattpad as a global entertainment powerhouse. We know that Wattpad can dramatically improve the success of traditional entertainment projects, and the industry is catching on.

Read all about the news here.