A very unusual idea for a business, what's the story?
My friends and I came up with the idea at university in France. If you can believe it, we used to strap a GoPro to our foreheads and record our activities during nights out and at concerts and events. The next day we would gather in our flat and watch all the footage back and re-live every moment from the night before, some of which had become rather hazy! The more we used to do this, the more it dawned on us that we had to incorporate this idea into an app, and that's exactly what we have done. I'm also not ashamed to admit to being inspired by the ending credits of The Hangover...
Were you always looking for a business opportunity?
I wasn't actively looking for a business opportunity to be completely honest. At university I didn't think I had what was needed to build a business of my own. I was not the most academically gifted student, and suffered with dyslexia for a large portion of my education. At school, I failed my final exams and saw all my friends leaving for university, as I had to stay one extra year. For me that was a real defining moment, when my confidence was rock-bottom. I can still remember the exact words of my maths teacher, advising me to drop out and find a job. Since that day I firmly believe I'm in control of my own career path.
How does it work?
The app allows friends to create a shared photo album at an event or night out, with images collated from all members of a pre-selected group. However, the images and videos taken via the app disappear instantly, only to be revealed the day after, at noon precisely, allowing the group to discover the night before from a new perspective.
Does this give you a younger demographic exclusively?
Not exclusively, but naturally many of our users are younger, aged between 16 and 26 most commonly. But Flashgap can be used in many different ways by different people, such as at a football match, wedding or camping trip. We've even seen some people using Flashgap in a competitive manner, such as who can take the best photo.
How do you monetise the app?
For now the exact business model is not confirmed, but we have had initial discussions about the ways in which we can monetise it, such as printing out the albums as a gift idea. The nature of the app means we have plenty of options when the time is right to start thinking about this properly.
Has finance been a problem?
For the first two months we had no cash at
all. But since the turn of the year, the traction we have achieved for Flashgap
has meant sourcing funding wasn't too difficult. In short, finance is not a
problem as
it stands.
Is this country-specific and how do you see the business developing?
Flashgap has users in over 110 countries, but we officially operate in four, including the UK, France, USA and Germany. Over the next 12 months we want to take the app to as many different countries as possible.
