- Best month ever in new users (+8,900), sales ($41K) and new photos (+86M)
- Everpix now has 45,000+ users including 5,500+ subscribers and 325M full-resolution photos
- Great organic press coverage (i.e. no PR firm involved)
- Everpix Android Uploader released on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everpix.android.uploader)
- No more cash left to pay salaries in September
The Verge just said Everpix the best solution for casual users in their extensive comparison (reporter told us privately Everpix was his favorite). That means a lot coming from a tech publication of this caliber: http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/29/4560364/best-cloud-storage-photo-apps.
Fast-co labs talked about us: http://www.fastcolabs.com/3016426/six-ways-to-automate-photo-backup-from-phone-to-cloud.
Gizmodo essentially said Apple should buy us: http://gizmodo.com/regular-people-have-no-idea-how-to-manage-photos-on-the-1081987451.
The Houston Chronicle from the writer behind all the "{…} for Dummies" books of the Apple ecosystem said that Everpix “is built to resolve the two biggest issues I have with my massive collection of digital images: Deciding which photos to sync to my i-devices, and organizing pictures and events so I can find them later”: http://www.chron.com/business/drmac/article/How-to-organize-44-259-photos-4708598.php.
We are continuously receiving phenomenal user reviews on the App Store (4.5 stars average rating on 1,000+ reviews). We have extremely positive feedback and engagement on Flashbacks (95% of users subscribed, 62% open rate, people tweet about them daily, etc…). We also just added geolocation and a bit of semantic analysis to Flashbacks, which will make them even more engaging. Here are some recent examples of user feedback:
Most importantly, the user retention shows beyond doubt that Everpix “sticks”: 45% of free users with 1+ photo synced have been active in the past 7 days and almost 60% in the past 30 days (active = used Web, iOS, Mac, Windows Everpix apps or opened a Flashback email).
We can now clearly demonstrate we've cracked the next generation of photo service and did so from several angles: organization, discovery, storage / backup. We have the momentum and the feature roadmap to accelerate things by EOY (new sharing, improved flashbacks, full Android support).
It's all about scaling now: the product is ready and works, users love it, the monetization works (13% conversion, 2X the ARPU of Evernote, 5X the one from 500px which just raised), the positioning works ("Solving the Photo Mess"), the revenue model works (we are almost cash flow positive on our variable costs).
On top of that we have very strong incoming BD interest: we signed a promo deal with Mixbook late July to expose us to [REDACTED] of their top users (and if it works we have potential access to [REDACTED]). Because of the uncertainty of Everpix’s future, this promotion deal had to be put on hold so this is affecting our momentum. We also have great ongoing discussions regarding distribution deals with both [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], which came to us months ago, and are now at VP / SVP level.
Even on Angel List Everpix is the 6th most popular photo startup out of 700+.
Unfortunately as [REDACTED] puts it: “The only way out that I see is to sell. Investors hate photo sharing as a category unless it has millions upon millions of users, and Index not leading is a very bad signal. Not a lot of choices here unless you can slash to profitability.”
Looking back, when we did our first Series A tour in February, we clearly were too early and weren’t able to convey what problem we solve and what the potential is, therefore the consistent feedback of “impressive product and team, but can’t build a $1B company”. For our second Series A tour in June, following our extensive positioning work with Julie Supan and the whole “solving the photo mess” concept, as well as a stronger product, VCs were now consistently saying we are solving the right problem, that they have it themselves, and that we have the best product but there are too many headwinds in the photo space, we will have to fight for users one by one, etc… Practically meaning that our metrics weren’t high enough. For our “second and a half” tour in August, following our great momentum and clear data points demonstrating Everpix works, we are now at a point where VCs’ reasons not to invest are out of our control:
- [REDACTED]: While [REDACTED] and I are both big fans of the product and the future vision for Everpix, we're going to have to pass on the opportunity. We don't have partner bandwidth at the moment to take a deeper look, and particularly not in the time frame you'd require for us to make a decision.
- [REDACTED]: We really liked the opportunity to learn about your vision and personally resonate with the problem as well. However the doubts linger about being able to scale a photo storage company internally. [...] I am actually surprised that your round is not done yet … you guys are a great team.
- [REDACTED]: We'd like to continue figuring out everpix because what you have accomplished is most impressive but we also need to ensure that we aren't on an eventual collision course with [REDACTED] where, as you know, we've been a longtime business partner. [Eventually decided to pass because of [REDACTED] on the day they were starting technical due diligence]
- [REDACTED]: I truly love the service and think you guys have done a phenomenal job. In short, I am a fan, but, unfortunately, I can't invest at this time. The big reason is we have a competitive deal in the space called Smile that is not as far along as you but will definitely create a conflict. I don't want to put either of you in that position.
We are now almost in a surreal situation where all our hard work from the past 18 months to research and build the mass market photo platform of the next 10 years is paying off, we have what appears to be a successful product / company from the outside, but we just can’t raise money and therefore have to either fold the company or sell it in the coming weeks.