As a follow-up on my post about our MassChallenge Early Stage Start-up Application, GreatAlbum was not admitted into the 2022 U.S. Early Stage Cohort. That wasn't a big surprise. I've heard from a number of founders who have gone through the program that they were admitted on their second or third application. It was nice to be able to attend the Boston Reception for the program on October 19th.
Below is feedback we received from the seven judges on our application.
Round 1
Judge Ratings of GreatAlbum
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Judge - Executive 1
6 Customer Pain and Solution
6 Overall Impact
6 Customer Needs and Acquisition
4 Industry and Competitors
5 Financials / Business Model
- Regulation and IP
6 Team and Advisors / Investors
Written Feedback to the Startup
While you have a good start for your team you would benefit by adding a person with experience marketing with the tools you want to use to reach your customers.
Judge - Executive
10 Customer Pain and Solution
6 Overall Impact
9 Customer Needs and Acquisition
7 Industry and Competitors
9 Financials / Business Model
9 Regulation and IP
6 Team and Advisors / Investors
Written Feedback to the Startup
Overall I think a solid concept that definitely fills a need - I feel this pain personally and would love to add some product suggestions (eliminating very similar photos etc.). The business model is solid and the team looks relatively strong, although it seems to be missing the sales/ marketing element that will be needed for success. I also feel some work needs to be done to differentiate between Apple photos which generates albums based on people/places/time periods etc and allows these albums to be shared. Why would I pay for GreatAlbums unless I can see a clear benefit from what Apple does for free?
Judge - Executive
7 Customer Pain and Solution
4 Overall Impact
6 Customer Needs and Acquisition
6 Industry and Competitors
3 Financials / Business Model
5 Regulation and IP
7 Team and Advisors / Investors
Written Feedback to the Startup
Good idea but monetization is going to be a challenge. Freemium is the way to go but converting the free riders into paying is not going to be an easy task. There has to be a very compelling reason for them to embrace a paid subscription model.
Judge - Executive
6 Customer Pain and Solution
6 Overall Impact
5 Customer Needs and Acquisition
6 Industry and Competitors
5 Financials / Business Model
7 Regulation and IP
7 Team and Advisors / Investors
Are there ways to make the concept come alive for the audience, to really understand it? More detail on the business model would be helpful. Would also like to see some traction or more evidence of demand.
Judge - Other
7 Customer Pain and Solution
6 Overall Impact
6 Customer Needs and Acquisition
7 Industry and Competitors
5 Financials / Business Model
5 Regulation and IP
3 Team and Advisors / Investors
Written Feedback to the Startup
How will you effectively compete against google photos, who could easily move into this space (and already does some of this through its auto-generated albums with the advantage of having your address book)? Overall, compelling idea. Would be good to articulate the trend for more curation and privacy online, which strengthens your business case, as well as the year-by-year build of a large social network.
Judge - Other
6 Customer Pain and Solution
6 Overall Impact
4 Customer Needs and Acquisition
5 Industry and Competitors
5 Financials / Business Model
4 Regulation and IP
5 Team and Advisors / Investors
Written Feedback to the Startup
Honestly I personally am not able to imagine a big market for the product, however as said in the pitch, there may be a niche demand for small unit communities that would like to share photos and memories in a personalized and customizable way. UI and UX design would be the key element to attract users, which from this pitch information I am not able to judge. Would hope to see further developments.
Judge - Other
5 Customer Pain and Solution
3 Overall Impact
5 Customer Needs and Acquisition
5 Industry and Competitors
6 Financials / Business Model
7 Regulation and IP
5 Team and Advisors / Investors
Written Feedback to the Startup
Although you mention you're different from Google Photos, they can automatically sort your photos into groups based on facial recognition, date, location, and you can make albums that are only viewable/shared with people you choose. I would like to see more information on how exactly you're different and would recommend doing more customer discovery than 100+ people to get a better sense of the demand and use-cases.