[ibimage==21812==Small==none==self==ibimage_align-right]We visited Digital Fridge in their DTC offics and sat down with co-founders Peter Lynch and Rob de Grasse. Digital Fridge is an app that helps people manage their media on their phone, combining photos, video, audio, notes, Foursquare all in one place. Utilizing the CafePress API, you can also purchase customized goods through the app.
Where did the idea for DIgital Fridge come from?
Peter: I have three kids. Every Friday, they bring home all of their artwork, and my wife and I have do decide what we’re going to keep and what we’re going to “hide” in the garbage. (We can't put all of it up every week - there wouldn't be an empty wall in the house!)
I loved one piece that my daughter did, and knowing that we wouldn't keep it forever, I took a picture on my phone. Then I thought to myself, "why isn’t there something that’s driving people to digitize non-digital assets?" I’d been wanting to build an app and had a few ideas – this got me started down this path.
As I got into it, I became aware of how people use their media. Think about how, when you want to show someone a picture on your phone, you're just scrolling through your pictures, and it's so hard to find the one you're looking for. Our app solves that problem.
We all used to have other cameras, but now everything is on the phone. Framed around this idea that the phone is how most people engage with all of their pictures and videos and everything, we thought that we’d work with the organization of digital content.
As I started thinking about how to organize things, the logical place I went was “where are the memories in my house stored?” they’re on my fridge. The thing is covered on three sides with notes, calendars, pictures... you name it. If it's important in my life, it's there. And that's how we got the idea of the "Digital Fridge."
"Stacks" of images, videos, etc., hanging on the front of one of the "Digital Fridges":
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How did you get started?
It's actually a fantastic story. I was going to do this really small scale, just bootstrap it. Then one day in October of 2011 Rob and I were sitting at a restaurant and Rob said he had a friend in town. He was an investor looking for his next investment, and here I was telling Rob my idea.Rob thought his friend might be interested, so I went up later that week and skied with him and here we are, Rob and I on either side of this guy on the chairlift, and in between each run we're sharing a little bit more of the idea. By the end of the day he was interested, and wanted to see our business plan.
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We went home worked nonstop Thursday to Sunday, went back Sunday and presented the business plan. At this point we had all of the financials and everything; he was in by the end of dinner; he fully funded us.
From there, we really hit the ground running. We started to work with a development company out of Austin and built the framework of the app; once we got through the artwork and wireframing, we came to the conclusion that the app was far more complex than we thought.
Now, this was during the time that the Instagram acquisition happened – dev costs were going through the roof, and we had to raise more capital. We raised the money mostly internally and moved forward. We’ve been in development officially since August. We were accepted into the iPhone app store on January 3, and we’ve had 1 iteration so far. We just pushed next version yesterday, so it should be in the app store next week - it had some good fixes. We’re now to the final runway, and the next version will be the one we spend all of our marketing money on.
It sounds like things are going really well! What would you consider you biggest successes so far?
We’ve already been downloaded in 31 countries as of this morning, and have gotten some really good press. We were part of the Techstars tech cocktail event, we've had 9News cover us, we were on a news feature in San Antionio, and we also did a local radio show.
But really, it was putting something on paper, having an idea and turning it into something I can hold in my hand and always wished I’d be able to do. The level of complication and how challenging it was, when we saw the first time it came out, I was like “wow, this was amazing.”
I think the happiest I’ve been in the whole process, and when I felt like we had really accomplished something was one time when I was using the app and I saw a woman in Asia who had posted pictures of her kids. I realized that we had created something that someone on another continent who doesn’t speak our language was using to capture her life, her memories, and share them with the people who were important to her.
What we’re finding is that once we share the concepts and ideas of the app – it really connects with people and it makes sense. The functionality really fits with peoples’ lives.
It’s been painful, amazing, a learning experience. It’s been one of the coolest things in my life. We really built this for ourselves. If this isn’t successful, it’ll be disappointing, but I won’t regret a single second of it. Its’ just about etting the launch and adoption.
That must have been an amazing feeling. Have you had any failures or mistakes you'd be willing to share?
Not understanding the full scope of what we were trying to do was a big one. We were so excited and enthusiastic that there were certain pieces we just didn’t do right. It hurt us – when we had to go out and get more money we had to change our corporate structure and everything.
(Rob) At the very beginning we scaled back the dollar amount before we went to seek investment and we cut it back too thin. If I were to do this again, I’d pad with more contingency, marketing dollars, and things that are later in the business process.
Second, although we saw it at the beginning, we sort of accepted the devs' non-deadline schedules – it’s killed us. It’s been hard – when we looked at devs there were really none that would take that on but I would never do it again without at least a worst-case scenario deadline.
On the corporate structure side we wouldv’ve done it differently and left some flexibility and had more clarity with the original shareholders. So that everyone’s on the same page.
Why did you decide to be based in Denver?
(Peter) We love Denver. Three of the founders already lived here and the fourth comes here for at least a month every year. Second, honestly, the community is amazing. The CTA, TechStars, StartupDenver events – I’ve had people agree to sit down with me, there are people to get insight from. I have tech connections around servers – we’ve just found great skills and it is an amazing place. We all came here because of what Denver has.
(Rob) Every time I go to an event, I find peole who have skills I could leverage, they promote us, get behind us, ask us if we need assistance. I think that, long-term, Denver really has the opportunity to expand.
(Peter) I think Denver is a prime place for a lot of reasons – it’s so attractive, you have high-tech companies that are bringing amazing skill here.
What advice would you give to a new founder?
Find people who’ve done it before – network with them, pick their brain, make sure you have energy and enthusiasm for what you’re doing. Over the last six months, we’ve spent every weekend reviewing betas and giving feedback. We work hundreds of hours every week.
You have to be passionate about it and really believe in what you’re doing. We could have stopped so many times.
(Rob) If you think it’s going to be hard, triple it. It’s going to be harder than you imagine – but it will be equally fulfilling. You can’t expect it to happen on its own – you have to have the right people, the willingness to put the time in and to work through the problems, because they will be there.
On that note, are there any resources, tools, apps, etc. that you'd recommend?
(Peter) Dropbox. It’s invaluable. There are other similar solutions but it allows people to connect across organizations and servers.
(Rob) Without a doubt, the most important tool is persistence. Honestly – we’ve gotten RT’s from Tori Spelling and her husband out of nothing more than sheer will.
(Peter) I'd second that. Every one of us are in our 40’s or 50’s. We’re not your typical starup group. It’s something I love – “it’s never too late to be who you always thought you would be.” Start whenever – if you have passion, an idea, and the will, you can make it happen.
Where’s do you see your app going? What goals do you have?
We’d love to get 100k downloads in the first few months once we launch this next iteration. We have enough momentum to have the second-level pieces that will really solidify the app.
Learn more about Digital Fridge in their company profile, via their website, on LinkedIn, follow them on Twitter @fridgeapp, or like their Facebook page.
This week we also visited FluentStream Technologies and RentBits. Learn more about the Startup Tour and find links to past weeks' profiles here.
