While there are many stories in the media about startups that get millions of users or millions in funding or just a bunch of hype and get bought within a year or less (let’s be honest, these stories are good stories), it takes longer than a year to build a successful business for most entrepreneurs.

Pinterest has now become a classic example of this, as it was founded in 2008 and has only taken off recently. As I attended the LAUNCH Festival last week, entrepreneurs taking time to build out their product seemed to be the theme.15Five, for example, which got a funding offer right there on stage, was a year in the making.GetWear, a site that lets customers create their own customized pair of jeans, took 3 years to build.

When I saw Vokle trending on the StartupStats Twitter dashboard yesterday, it was just another reminder that startups take time to grow. Vokle is a web-based video platform that enables speakers to broadcast live video to their audience, while the audience can ask questions by calling or texting during the show.

Vokle was founded in 2008, and has done fairly well. They even had Richard Branson and Grammy-winner Imogen Heap use Vokle to raise moneyfor the Pakistan Relief Fundraiser in 2010. Since then, Vokle raised a total of$1.26M in funding throughout 2011, and they seemed to be really spending this money well, as you can see from their 2011Compete graphbelow.


Keep in mind that a lot of Vokle’s customers embed videos on their own site, so a lot of the traffic is unseen on this chart (with over $1M in funding, I’m going to assume that traffic is substantial). According to their Angel List profile update from 6 months ago, their new recording feature is the source of this increase in traffic to their site. Vokle is also growing on Twitter, with about 200 tweets linking Vokle.com every day - check out thestream of tweets for yourself!

Of course, Vokle has HUGE competition with MILLIONS in their pockets, including Justin.TV, LiveStream, Ustream, and more. This competition may just work out in their favor though, because as Vokle continues to grow, they might just be a perfect acquisition target for these same companies.

Do you think Vokle can continue to succeed after years of working on the same product?