4 ms·

So this whole comment was an ad? Great marketing.

andygcook 9y ago
To be honest, I read the whole article from the parent, which got my thinking about my grandparents because this topic's been on my mind. Then I just started typing and didn't really have a plan of where it'd end up. We honestly don't really make much money on the whole project because the margins are razor thing. It's not software and there's a physical product that needs to be mailed, which costs a lot. We could jack up the price, but that would make it less affordable for most people. The real goal is to just do some good in the world and connect more families with their elders. Yes, will admit there's some gross margin, but it doesn't even cover server expenses, needed software, etc. Been funding it on my credit card.
- theklub 9y ago
  I think its a cool idea. I'm surprised there isn't something like that already.
  - andygcook 9y ago
    Yeah, I was surprised too. We tried looking for something so we didn't have to build it, but couldn't find anything that worked the way we wanted. There's a few services that let you send post cards, but it's hard to tell a compelling story with just one picture. They also don't look great framed. We've also seen some photo book services too, but they just tend to print on regular paper. We use real Kodak/Fujifilm photo paper, which look good around the house or in frames.
  - fjsolwmv 9y ago
    Of course there are many things like that already: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-share-digital-photos-with-gadget-free-family-members-1444930831 http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-share-digital-photos-with...
    - aacook 9y ago
      Thanks for sharing. Hadn't seen this yet. There are a ton of products in the space. One of the things that makes NanaGram different is the group aspect. Most photo sharing apps are one-to-one. Usually, it's one person curating the photos and printing them and in most cases, they're sending the photos to themselves. For example, Groovebook. We started as many-to-one with the first account being me and my 3 siblings curating photos together and sending them to our Grandparents. I think it was our 10th or so customer who asked us to create a way to send the same set of photos to multiple loved ones. That's when the service became many-to-many (or one-to-many if you're an only grandkid) and I started sending a copy of my Grandparents photos to myself. My youngest brother is the most interesting (and sometimes elusive) man in the family and it's always tough getting photos from him. But every month so far, sure enough, he's reminded and sends in a sweet photo or two.

To be honest, I read the whole article from the parent, which got my thinking about my grandparents because this topic's been on my mind. Then I just started typing and didn't really have a plan of where it'd end up. We honestly don't really make much money on the whole project because the margins are razor thing. It's not software and there's a physical product that needs to be mailed, which costs a lot. We could jack up the price, but that would make it less affordable for most people. The real goal is to just do some good in the world and connect more families with their elders. Yes, will admit there's some gross margin, but it doesn't even cover server expenses, needed software, etc. Been funding it on my credit card.

theklub 9y ago
I think its a cool idea. I'm surprised there isn't something like that already.
- andygcook 9y ago
  Yeah, I was surprised too. We tried looking for something so we didn't have to build it, but couldn't find anything that worked the way we wanted. There's a few services that let you send post cards, but it's hard to tell a compelling story with just one picture. They also don't look great framed. We've also seen some photo book services too, but they just tend to print on regular paper. We use real Kodak/Fujifilm photo paper, which look good around the house or in frames.
- fjsolwmv 9y ago
  Of course there are many things like that already: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-share-digital-photos-with-gadget-free-family-members-1444930831 http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-share-digital-photos-with...
  - aacook 9y ago
    Thanks for sharing. Hadn't seen this yet. There are a ton of products in the space. One of the things that makes NanaGram different is the group aspect. Most photo sharing apps are one-to-one. Usually, it's one person curating the photos and printing them and in most cases, they're sending the photos to themselves. For example, Groovebook. We started as many-to-one with the first account being me and my 3 siblings curating photos together and sending them to our Grandparents. I think it was our 10th or so customer who asked us to create a way to send the same set of photos to multiple loved ones. That's when the service became many-to-many (or one-to-many if you're an only grandkid) and I started sending a copy of my Grandparents photos to myself. My youngest brother is the most interesting (and sometimes elusive) man in the family and it's always tough getting photos from him. But every month so far, sure enough, he's reminded and sends in a sweet photo or two.