20 Year Olds Get $100,000 Investment For Their Cincinnati Startup CapStory, Interview Here

Online privacy is not just a problem for Facebook users. The problem is shared across all social networks, especially ones that allow public searchable results. We’re not talking about those safety and security privacy concerns, we’re talking about those beer pong pics, jello shots and beer bongs that you don’t want that fortune 500 recruiter to see. Long gone are the days where you could share things care-free on Faccebook.

This is actually a real problem for many people .Sure the more conservative set may say you shouldn’t do those things but we’re willing to bet those people criticizing good ole college fun, had some good ole college fun themselves, back before Facebook.

It was just a few months ago where we reported on employers that actually asked interviewees for their social network accounts and their logins.

So where can you share and aggregate your photos, statuses and messages safely and privately? Where can you save them?

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Susprasanna Mishra & Dustin Studer co-founders of CapStory (photo: marketwire)

Well a Cincinnati startup called CapStory says they have the answer. We first met the guys from CapStory at Chicago TechWeek last month. Last week it was announced that they secured a $100,000 investment from CincyTech as part of their larger seed round.  CapStory plans on using the money to finish the user interface and complete the mobile version, and then roll it out on college campuses.

There are a few other startups that are trying to do what they do. BonFyre in St.Louis has a social network that is likened to Facebook before it opened up to everyone in the world over 13.

“There are other companies trying to do what Capstory is building, but the company’s emphasis on telling a story and its simple mobility are what set it apart from its competitors,” said Justin Thompson, senior analyst at CincyTech.

We got a chance to interview CapStory, check out the interview below.




What is Capstory?

Capstory gives its users a safe place to aggregate mobile-generated photos and quotes  from multiple users into a private capsule for events and groups of friends.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Suprasanna Mishra & Dustin Studer are the co-founders of Capstory.

Suprasanna is an honors junior student at The Ohio State University and is studying  Neuroscience & Entrepreneurship. Dustin is also an honors junior student at Ohio State  studying Biomedical engineering.

Mishra founded Kite5, a website design firm for small businesses, while a sophomore in  high school. He received a $10K Cincinnati Innovates award in 2010 for his concert-centric  application, Stageshark.

Studer started his first business as a freshman in high school: Signature Lawn Care – a  landscaping and lawn care company.

So What’s the startup scene like in Cincinnati?

Cincinnati has a very underrated startup scene. The best part about being here is that every  founder, investor, partner, advisor, etc we’ve wanted to talk to has been eager to help us out  and provide feedback along the way. It’s a very friendly community in the purest sense of the  word.

What problem does Capstory solve?

College is always cited as some of the best times of people’s lives. Students go out on weekends, meet tons of people, have an awesome time and take hundreds of photos. However, these pictures are always 1. Scattered across phones, Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts  and computers and 2. Not all media/memories are appropriate to be shared with strangers or everyone on Facebook.

There’s currently no way for college students to easily have all of this in one place and privately  share the story of their events & nights out. Capstory solves that problem by being the best way to grab all the media from any group of people and keeps them private to only that group. We think one of the main reasons people love Capstory is that it mimics real life relationships everyone has a core group of friends with whom they can let go with and truly be themselves.  Capstory lets you remember your great times without having hundreds of acquaintances judging you out of context as on Facebook or Twitter. We have created a platform that allows users to come to the site and remember those great nights out, weekend road-trips, and daily dorm life  events that all encapsulate the college experience.

What is your secret sauce?

Our magic is in our texting platform. If you can text a picture to a friend on your phone, you  can use Capstory – no smartphone app, complicated sign up process or even data plan required, and it is completely free. Every user can submit media to Capstory by texting it to “submit@capstory.com” (treat it just like a number) with their capsule’s unique @tag. This lets groups of friends include everyone they’d like – not just those who have iPhones & Androids. It’s easier than any other application out there by relying on the ubiquitous behavior of texting.

What is one dilemma you are facing in the startup process?

Our biggest dilemma has always been adding in features that our users request and that we  think of without burdening the user experience. It’s one thing to add in a bunch of features – that  just takes time and development. It’s a completely different beast to do all that progressively without straying away from our core value of being very useful yet dead simple to use. We stick to the lean startup principles which have gotten us to the product we offer today.

What is a challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?

One of our initial challenges was figuring out how to take the texting idea and make it a reality. Luckily we have an awesome team that, with a lot of effort, figured out how to make it happen.

What’s next for Capstory?

Our lifeblood comes from both feedback and our vision of letting everyone have a capsule where they can let go and be themselves with friends. We’ll be taking to students at colleges across the country and gaining users to help us make the product the best it can be. Luckily for us, the idea strikes a nerve with many students who immediately see the need and love the medium of texting.

Linkage:

Check out Capstory here at capstory.com

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