This live stream episode of “Coffee with Cher” features host Chereese Jervis-Hill interviewing entrepreneur Donvil Collins about his journey building a successful production company. The conversation explores how Collins grew VeeKast from a college side project helping churches into a full-service video and event production company over 17 years. Key topics include differentiating your business, adapting services during market changes, strategic branding techniques, and practical advice for new entrepreneurs about taking calculated risks and avoiding perfectionism.

Guest Biography:

Donvil Collins is the founder and CEO of VeeKast, a full-service video and event audiovisual production company. He started the business in 2006 during his second year of college, initially focusing on helping churches in the Bronx. Over 17 years, he has grown the company into a successful operation serving both corporate and nonprofit clients, with the business more than doubling during recent years.

Top Discussion Topics:

Building a Production Business from Church Roots

Collins started VeeKast by serving churches in the Bronx as a teenager, later formalizing the business in college. This foundation in church production prepared him perfectly for the virtual event boom during the pandemic. His early experience with live streaming and audiovisual services positioned the company to scale rapidly when organizations needed high-quality remote event production.

Two Key Business Differentiators

VeeKast sets itself apart through goal-focused service delivery and exceptional client relationships. Collins emphasizes understanding the client’s end objectives first, then tailoring all technical services toward those outcomes. The second differentiator is being “tech people who are also people people” – deliberately hiring team members who can build genuine relationships rather than just deliver technical services.

Strategic Rebranding Using Apple’s Playbook

Collins applied Apple’s branding strategy by creating unique names for existing services rather than competing in crowded categories. Instead of calling themselves another “streaming company,” they branded their service as VirtEventPro™. This approach helped them dominate search results and own their market category, contributing to tripling their business growth.

Don’t Over-Calculate – Just Execute

The key advice for new entrepreneurs is to stop over-analyzing and start doing. Collins advocates going 100% into your business without backup plans, comparing it to learning basketball – you improve faster by shooting than by calculating angles. He shared spending over $100,000 testing different growth strategies, with most failing, but the learning was invaluable for future decisions.