George Junginger Of Group Story To Speak At PitchCamp
September 18, 2010
I'm pleased to annouce that George Junginger, Founder of Group Story will be giving a 10 minute pitch at PitchCamp and our expert panel will provide advice and a critique of Group Story's pitch and business model.
Group Story is a start-up photo sharing social network, members of a group join Group Story, share photos privately, collaborate and build a customized book together.
Below is an overview of Group Story's model, and if you are interested in sitting on one of the panels at PitchCamp email me, comment here or tweet me, or if you just want to attend PitchCamp sign up at the ConverageSouth registration page.
George: Imagine a market that has grown from $44 million in 2004 to nearly $400 million in 2009. According to some projections, sales are expected to grow to over $1 billion in 2013 in the United States. Yet research shows that 50% of the consumers who started at least one photo book in 2008 did not complete it. According to the Photo Marketing Association (PMA), the two most commonly cited reasons that they didn't complete their purchase were (1) they did not have enough photos to fill a 20 page book, and (2) it simply took too much time.
Group Story’s solution is based on the observation that no one lives their life in isolation, and that our memories are intertwined with the experience of others. In a Group Story book, everyone in a group (a soccer team, a sorority, friends traveling together) share their photos in a protected space. Each person then uses whichever photos they want to create pages (from templates) about the experience. The pages are then shared among the entire group, and each person picks and choose those pages they want to make a customized book. Group Story’s technology actively reflects the fact that we are social creatures AND solves the problems identified above. Since its focus is on user generated content, there are plenty of photos available. It is no longer a tedious process to create a book since each user need only create as few or as many pages from their own perspective.