June 19, 2012 at 13:02How to find an investor for 2 cups of coffee
The post is a fascinating story that everything impossible is possible.
We promised to tell why we are so burning with the Gfranq project , we are developing rapidly and are becoming more confident that we have created a useful service. We are telling.
Gfranq is the brainchild of Artyom Orlov, programmer, developer, and simply ideological person. Not the first and not the most difficult project. On his account, the gaming social network CtrlRpg.com , several entertainment sites, work with government orders. But it was for the sake of this project that Artem decided to assemble a team and go for investments.
Gfranq was not created from scratch. Before him, the niche of online photo editors was investigated using the Pichapi.com project .- Polaroid style photo processing service. Pichapi statistics showed that it is important for people, especially young people, to quickly and without much effort make something interesting and fashionable from their photos. Show off in social networks, be “in trend”. In general, we were counting on this.
Contrary to popular belief that Gfranq was reaching for Instagram, let us clarify: we knew dimly about the existence of this social network. Yes, yes, this can happen if you do not have an iPhone. Gfranq grew out of the idea that every person, regardless of their knowledge and skills, the presence of a professional camera or phone of a certain brand, should be given the opportunity to make stylish and high-quality photos. Fast and easy. Artyom embodied this idea in the beta version of gfranq.com.
The first month we tested the site, created its “face”. Then about 8,000 users came to us. They may remember that the symbol of Gfranq was for the first time a nested doll. Barbel Dzhifrank came later, along with the fateful appearance in our lives of the investor Ryabenky Igor Arkadevich. And he appeared miraculously.
In any free time, our team gathered in Moscow coffee shops and composed a business plan. It was not easy for the programmer, advertiser and philologist, what can I say. Therefore, one day we called for a meeting with a friend of a businessman who was sympathetic to startups like us. Over a cup of coffee, we discussed the prospects, and he gave us a phone number that gave Gfranq a ticket to life. The number belonged to Ryaben'kyi Igor Arkadevich. All that we knew about Igor at that time - he is a business angel with extensive experience in investing in IT, co-investor of a successful online tutor LinguaLeo.ru. All that he heard from us is an idea, a development plan and current statistics. The second “golden” cup of coffee Artyom and Vlada (SMO project) drank already in Igor’s office. According to him, he never made a decision on investing so quickly. On the same day, after only two hours of conversation, Gfranq received the investment and the key to the world of “IT startup hangouts”. We are grateful and proud of it. The fact that a professional believed in us has become a great help, moral and material. By the way, we did not finish the business plan then, the investor was found earlier.
Since the launch of gfranq.com, a little more than 3 months have passed. The site’s interface has changed, the number has increased and the quality of filters has improved, new functions have appeared, the application for Android has been updated , the mobile version of the site, very soon the application will be released on the iPhone. We see where and how we grow, we listen to the wishes of users. But most importantly, we are receiving more and more positive reviews, which is as important for our confidence as bad reviews are for constant motivation.
And here is the very first cup, the photo is random and clumsy - no one expected what kind of gift it would give us
We promised to tell why we are so burning with the Gfranq project , we are developing rapidly and are becoming more confident that we have created a useful service. We are telling.
Gfranq is the brainchild of Artyom Orlov, programmer, developer, and simply ideological person. Not the first and not the most difficult project. On his account, the gaming social network CtrlRpg.com , several entertainment sites, work with government orders. But it was for the sake of this project that Artem decided to assemble a team and go for investments.
Gfranq was not created from scratch. Before him, the niche of online photo editors was investigated using the Pichapi.com project .- Polaroid style photo processing service. Pichapi statistics showed that it is important for people, especially young people, to quickly and without much effort make something interesting and fashionable from their photos. Show off in social networks, be “in trend”. In general, we were counting on this.
Contrary to popular belief that Gfranq was reaching for Instagram, let us clarify: we knew dimly about the existence of this social network. Yes, yes, this can happen if you do not have an iPhone. Gfranq grew out of the idea that every person, regardless of their knowledge and skills, the presence of a professional camera or phone of a certain brand, should be given the opportunity to make stylish and high-quality photos. Fast and easy. Artyom embodied this idea in the beta version of gfranq.com.
The first month we tested the site, created its “face”. Then about 8,000 users came to us. They may remember that the symbol of Gfranq was for the first time a nested doll. Barbel Dzhifrank came later, along with the fateful appearance in our lives of the investor Ryabenky Igor Arkadevich. And he appeared miraculously.
In any free time, our team gathered in Moscow coffee shops and composed a business plan. It was not easy for the programmer, advertiser and philologist, what can I say. Therefore, one day we called for a meeting with a friend of a businessman who was sympathetic to startups like us. Over a cup of coffee, we discussed the prospects, and he gave us a phone number that gave Gfranq a ticket to life. The number belonged to Ryaben'kyi Igor Arkadevich. All that we knew about Igor at that time - he is a business angel with extensive experience in investing in IT, co-investor of a successful online tutor LinguaLeo.ru. All that he heard from us is an idea, a development plan and current statistics. The second “golden” cup of coffee Artyom and Vlada (SMO project) drank already in Igor’s office. According to him, he never made a decision on investing so quickly. On the same day, after only two hours of conversation, Gfranq received the investment and the key to the world of “IT startup hangouts”. We are grateful and proud of it. The fact that a professional believed in us has become a great help, moral and material. By the way, we did not finish the business plan then, the investor was found earlier.
Since the launch of gfranq.com, a little more than 3 months have passed. The site’s interface has changed, the number has increased and the quality of filters has improved, new functions have appeared, the application for Android has been updated , the mobile version of the site, very soon the application will be released on the iPhone. We see where and how we grow, we listen to the wishes of users. But most importantly, we are receiving more and more positive reviews, which is as important for our confidence as bad reviews are for constant motivation.
And here is the very first cup, the photo is random and clumsy - no one expected what kind of gift it would give us