Kyle
Now that I’m in my 30’s it seems that every time I go home to visit my parents I go through photo albums and unless the photo is blatantly obvious, you know like the Magic Kingdom castle is in the background, I have no idea the context for the photo. Mom did a decent job of handwriting notes on the back but that still doesn’t give the photos a real good back story.
Fast forward to the internet age and I’ve got digital photos going back to the mid 90’s. All in all I probably have near 100,000 photos. I’m a big picture taker. The problem is, just like with those traditional photo albums, I have no idea the context on lots of them.
Imagine if the photos talked? Well they can now thanks to Orlando startup PicVoice. Currently PicVoice is a web application that allows you to sign in through Facebook, upload photos and then add up to 30 seconds of audio to accompany the photo. Now your photos can really tell a story.
As we learned in our interview below with Founder and CEO Matt Andrews, they’re working on a mobile app right now. They aren’t alone in this space though. Atlanta startup StoryMark also allows you to add audio to photos. They went the other route and put together a great mobile app first, without a web app. That makes StoryMark great for taking photos and posting them with audio. PicVoice on the other hand is great for people who have thousands of photos that are just waiting for a story.
Check out our interview with Andrews below:
What is Picvoice?
Picvoice is a web based application that empowers users to attach voice stories to their photos.
In layman’s terms, how does it work?
Users login in through their Facebook or Instagram accounts and upload photos from each network . Once the photos are uploaded onto Picvoice, users can record 30-second long voice stories and attach to their photos.
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
Matthew Andrews (CEO / Founder) Current Solutions Engineer at SAP. Passionate about photography, social media, and peoples’ stories.
Hassan Seguias (Co-founder / Lead Creative and User Experience at Picvoice): An award-winning graphic interface designer, and a relentless perfectionist, focused on user experience and product development.
Kenny Taht, GoConvergence Inc. (Advisor): Award winning commercial director and direct response 1/2 hour program director with decades of product and brand launch experience.
Where are you based?
Orlando, Florida… The story capital of the world!
What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?
Incredible. Florida was one of the highest ranked states in venture capital deals this year, most of them focusing on tech startups. The Orlando startup scene is growing exponentially with help from incubators and local universities. We wouldn’t be where we are today without Startup Weekend Orlando!
How did you come up with the idea for PicVoice?
Great question! The idea stemmed from looking at past family photos and not being able to tell the true stories behind these photos. The truth is that still pictures don’t always capture the true emotion or mood behind the photo. Adding a new layer of invaluable information to photos, like attaching a voice story to them, allows users to share memories in a way never thought possible before.
How did you come up with the name?
Think about it!
What problem does Picvoice solve?
Pictures are just still images without a voice behind them. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram do not allow users to share their voice through their photos. Everyone wants to share their priceless moments in time and people want to understand what they are looking at in pictures. They want the story behind the photo.
What’s your secret sauce?
Our team. We have the passion, drive, and experience to withstand any obstacle in our way. Not to mention, our ability to laugh at everything! Also, our user interface and web design has received amazing feedback from almost everyone who visits our site.
What’s one dilemma you’ve encountered in the startup process?
Time. Startups take a lot of time to get off the ground and once you put in the hard work and manpower, it becomes a roller coaster ride. Lucky for us, we have seat belts.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
Funding for the mobile app. We were able to follow the lean startup process with our website but found it to be more of a challenge when working with mobility. This has forced us to tap our network and we’ve had the opportunity to meet several great people in the startup community with great ideas when it comes to funding. This has also led us to think outside the box when it comes to funding sources!
Who are some of your mentors and business role models?
We have been extremely fortunate from the start in terms of mentors. The Startup Weekend Orlando victory placed us into the Startup Orange County incubator program where we received expert advice from local entrepreneurs like Tom Cannon (BungoBox) and investment advice from Eric Kovar and Ron Ben-Zeev. We were also awarded legal services from Ed Alexander at the Entrepreneurship Law Firm in Orlando. Our internal team has done amazing work from our incredible UX created by Hassan Seguias and our development work with Arun Sreedharan and the Zoondia team, we have come a long way. Not to mention our personal adviser, Kenny Taht, a genius in story making.
What’s next for Picvoice?
We recently released our website and were amazed by the feedback from our users. Because of this, we are working on building the mobile app, which will be released later this year! We haven’t turned down investors either so feel free to bring your wallets…
Linkage:
Check out Picvoice here at picvoice.com
I use Picvoice to explain ideas for teachers. My colleagues love that I can annotate a picture of a strategy or skill we are teaching. I can take a picture of an anchor chart or center and use my voice to explain how to use the resource. Love it!
PicVoice is ok. I sure do miss the founder’s old project – ChamberDOME tho. Now THAT was a great idea. Bring back the DOME!
Are YOU in the DOME, my son?