Webex is the collaboration platform born from one of the web's first conferencing companies and now run by Cisco. It bundles meetings, calling, messaging, webinars, contact center, and a line of conference-room hardware into a single suite, layered with AI for transcription, real-time translation across dozens of languages, and agent assistance. It serves enterprises, governments, schools, and hospitals that need secure, large-scale communication for distributed teams.
Zoom is the San Jose-based communications company that turned 'let's hop on a Zoom' into a verb. Once a single-product video conferencing app, it now ships Zoom Workplace - an all-in-one collaboration suite spanning meetings, phone, chat, email, whiteboard, and contact center - all wrapped around an AI assistant called AI Companion. After dropping 'Video' from its legal name in late 2024, Zoom reframes itself as an AI-first platform aiming to turn conversations into completed work.
Darren Hakeman is the CEO of Genesis Digital LLC, the company behind Kartra, WebinarJam, and EverWebinar - software tools powering the creator economy for 25,000+ entrepreneurs worldwide. A Stanford-trained electrical engineer, Hakeman spent decades in enterprise tech - from RFID logistics at Savi Technology to scaling 8x8's ARR 5x to over $500 million through eight acquisitions - before stepping into the CEO role at Genesis Digital in April 2024, where the company has processed over $1 billion in transactions for small business owners seeking financial freedom.