Picwing (YC S08) Reboots With An iPhone App That Prints Photos For Your Mom(techcrunch.com)
techcrunch.com
Picwing (YC S08) Reboots With An iPhone App That Prints Photos For Your Mom
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/picwing-reboots-iphone-mom/
8 comments
"This was a great business pivot."
Yes, indeed. Would love to hear more details about it. Mixergy interview maybe?
Yes, indeed. Would love to hear more details about it. Mixergy interview maybe?
It was actually a really tough decision to make. Having to let go of something you poured blood (literally), sweat and tears over. In the end, the decision was the right one. The business Picwing is in now is profitable, has a much larger market, and scales better. Plus, something about mailing baby photos to grandparents makes me feel good inside.
this is actually the #1 benefit of going after a large market and why VCs often invest (1) in the market (2) in the team and (3) in the current product (in that order).
If you are in a good market, and spend enough time slamming your head against the wall, you'll probably find a way to make money.
If you are in a good market, and spend enough time slamming your head against the wall, you'll probably find a way to make money.
Alright, I have to ask.
>blood (literally)
Care to elaborate?
>blood (literally)
Care to elaborate?
We were manually putting together the Picwing frames, and drilling holes were involved. The spinning drill bit slipped out of the hole and went into my forearm. A trip to the ER, a few stitches and tetanus shots, and a couple thousand dollars later, I was good to go =)
Ouch. Yet another reason to use VPSes/cloud hosting :)
That's a nearly Reddit-level non-sequiter ;)
The "Picwing frame" is/was an actual photo frame - http://www.picwing.com/blog/?p=22; I don't think edawerd drilled into himself assembling a server.
The "Picwing frame" is/was an actual photo frame - http://www.picwing.com/blog/?p=22; I don't think edawerd drilled into himself assembling a server.
Oh, ok. I hadn't heard of it and wasn't reading carefully, so I was thinking a server rack
It was a very good decision. My wife will become a customer about 12 seconds after I tell her about it tonight.
I love Picwing! In fact, I was just uploading my latest installment of photos when I noticed this article came out. This is the only way my grandmother gets to see photos of her great grandson. I also have Picwing set to mail me the photos, so I actually have prints to frame or put in a baby album. Otherwise, it just wouldn't happen.
I'm glad you use Picwing just as we had hoped people would use it!
Wow, as soon as I read the description of the service, I instantly saw a need for this and realized it hasn't been met. I'm not a parent, but I can definitely see the value here.
Guys, I wish you all the best.
P.S., this brings up the market for services that operate with the real world without your direct intervention. I'm sure there can be other uses for this.
Guys, I wish you all the best.
P.S., this brings up the market for services that operate with the real world without your direct intervention. I'm sure there can be other uses for this.
There definitely are other uses. We've had customers using Picwing to automatically send prints to soldiers deployed in Iraq, convicts in prison, and other interesting use cases.
With that said, 95% of our customers sending prints through us are parents sending photos of their babies.
With that said, 95% of our customers sending prints through us are parents sending photos of their babies.
I wish someone would run with the original business and fix digital photo frames... I've spent so much time on the phone with my parents and mother in law trying to keep their Flickr feed of granddaughter pictures working. The Kodak connected picture frames are god awful.
Perhaps devices like the iPad are making the original business irrelevant?
Granted, $500 is a lot of money for a digital frame–but the iPad has a great digital frame mode, so I think its not too far off.
Granted, $500 is a lot of money for a digital frame–but the iPad has a great digital frame mode, so I think its not too far off.
It's a good point, I'm sure it won't be too long before there's a $300 Android tablet that would do the job well.
Yet another reason to use Picwing Prints. There's no tech support for opening photos in the mail =)
What happens with the frame? Wifi connection problems?
Do they do email distribution? I personally just throw out every non-digital picture I get (after scanning the ones I want to keep). I may be an anomaly in that regard now, but I won't be in 10 years.
Either way, it would be relatively easy to add more digital methods of distribution if the market shifts that way.
Either way, it would be relatively easy to add more digital methods of distribution if the market shifts that way.
Yes, email distribution is way easier than prints, so I think you can count on them implementing that feature, certainly before you're a grandparent. :-)
I sense brlewis and ourdoings will be adding a new feature soon ...
Heh. I'm actually busy with features current users are asking for. But the "The reason this is so valuable" paragraph does sound like exactly the people we help. Some kind of integration is probably in our future. Of course, all Picwing has to do is pull from RSS feeds and they'll be integrated with everybody.
Actually, we also just released an API so other services can send their photos to Picwing.
http://www.picwing.com/apidocs
Would love to work with OurDoings. Wanna chat about this sometime?
http://www.picwing.com/apidocs
Would love to work with OurDoings. Wanna chat about this sometime?
Sounds intriguing. I'll get in touch...probably next week.
I'm actually bummed they ditched the picture frames. I tried to order one from the first batch but they were out. My mom and dad would be stoked.
Have to say I love the title.
"So what do you do?"
"I print photos for your mom"
"So what do you do?"
"I print photos for your mom"
This was a great business pivot. I really hope it works out - and i think it will - you could be doing some serious revenue in no time.