When Vidyard was coming up with a theme for a conference that embodied everything the video marketing startup stands for, it wanted something fun, something futuristic, something that kids long for.

Thus Space Camp was born.

Space Camp is the Kitchener company’s conference taking place in Tuesday and Wednesday in San Francisco. As Vidyard says on the event’s website, “Space Camp is where you go to learn the possibilities of video marketing.” Like space itself, it aims to capture the imagination of the 400 or so marketers in attendance and test the limits of this relatively young marketing tool.

“When you were a kid, where would you like to go?” asked Tyler Lessard, Chief Marketing Officer, sitting in the company’s head office on King Street. “We wanted something that offered that sort of youthful yearning for knowledge and wonder. We believed we could create an experience around space and make it memorable.”

Targeting Vidyard’s customers and other marketing professions, Space Camp offers two days of talks and networking, including a keynote talk by Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut who commanded the International Space Station.  The other speakers include such Earthlings as Heidi Bullock, Vice-President of Demand Gen at Marketo; Sourabh Kothari, Head of Media Rich at Cisco; and Rich Kline, Vice-President of Solutions Engineering at Salesforce.

Space Camp is just one manifestation of the stellar growth of Vidyard, a company viewed as one of the leading startups not just in Kitchener-Waterloo but in Canada. The company was formed by Co-Founders CEO Michael Litt, Devon Galloway and Edward Wu four years ago to develop software to host marketing videos and analyze their performance. Vidyard in January said its sales had risen 1,000 percent in 18 months, and Lessard said the growth since has been “consistent.”

Last year, the young company moved into a 140-year-old commercial building, renovating it but preserving the planked floors and exposed brick. It expanded into the floor just below, and now it is planning to move again as its workforce – now 80 strong – is outgrowing the premises.

Lessard said the company’s culture is such that Litt wants all the employees together – Vidyard even brings in food every day so everyone can have lunch together.

The company has raised a total of $27 million and Litt likes to say he is always raising. Lessard said the company has ambitious growth targets and will require capital to maintain and meet them. There's strong speculation the eventual goal is an IPO.

Vidyard has been releasing a steady stream of new features, and three weeks ago at Dreamforce announced its new Video for Salesforce Communities feature. The company is expected to have more announcements on products at Space Camp.

Lessard said the company has had two to two-and-a-half years of solid product growth, which has resulted in a strong take-up in the mid-market. Now Vidyard is focusing on sales to large corporations and has hired a new enterprise sales team. They’re hoping to link up with marketing professionals from blue chip companies at Space Camp and show them the creative flourish of this young company.

“Video as a medium and market tactic is highly creative,” said Lessard, “and we want our own brand to resonate with that."