Ok, it’s called ‘Instagram.’ So does it make any sense that you take your shot, then it takes how much time and frustration to crop it before you share it on Instagram?
With Cropr you can take your screenshot, crop it and share in10 seconds.
Cropr co-founder Ben Omesi is based at Cowork.rs, where he works in business development for SureDone. But when you work in a space where you’re surrounded by startups, is it possible that you’ll be bitten by the startup bug yourself, or is it something else that gets you going?
In Omesi’s case, it was c) all of the above.
“It annoyed me,” said Omesi, about how long it would take him to crop a picture he wanted to post, or repost. “I wanted to see what it would be like to take an idea and create an end product. I made it a point to go and build something.”
While his cousin, Haim, is a programmer, he’d never built an app before in his life. Nor did he own an Apple computer. So Ben bought him one, and the result is Cropr – everything that Ben wanted: no downloading, no editing, no manual cropping. The newly minted entrepreneur tells us more.
Tell us about the product.
As a solution to a personal need, cropr was created to remove the hassle of manually editing Instagram screen shots to simply obtain an image. In the past, I have always tried sharing pictures I saw on Instagram and noticed that there were no easy ways to do so. I had to take a screenshot, edit it manually, which took a few frustrating minutes, then go to the corresponding social platform to share it. I also noticed that other people were dealing with the same frustrations as I was, so I decided to do something about it. I took it on as a personal project with my cousin, Haim, and developed my first iOS app. I know that there are many people that could save time and benefit from cropr, all they need is an introduction.
How is it different?
I’ve noticed that other apps that offer similar services are often very complicated, freeze up our phones, and are not intuitive. With cropr, there is a fast, effortless, and natural process to automatically crop and share the photos you see on Instagram. We have proprietary algorithms that extract Instagram screenshots from your phone’s camera roll and crop them *automagically,* starting with the most recent screenshot. The purpose behind this is so that when you see something on your Instagram feed, you can take a screenshot, open cropr, and with the click of 1 button, the photo is cropped and ready to share via Facebook, Twitter, text message, or right back to Instagram directly from the app.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
Our market consists of every Instagram user out there. As of four months ago, our market reached a new milestone of 200 million monthly active users. With over 20 billion photos shared on Instagram to date, there is plenty of potential for us to penetrate the market and thrive amongst Instagram users.
What is the business model?
My goal is to make people’s lives easier and get rid of an annoying process that I know many face. Because of this, I’m currently offering the app with full functionality for free, with no advertisements or fees. This will also help gain traction amongst users before cropr enters the monetization stage. My monetization strategy is to ultimately offer a combination of IAP (In-App Purchases), gamification, and interstitial ads, once there are enough users and proven adhesion in the market.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within 6 months?
I plan to launch a version for Android, which will further expand target users and lead into gaining enough traction to begin monetizing the app. I believe that it is only a matter of time (hopefully within 6 months) before cropr reaches at least 100,000 end-users.
If you could be put in touch with one investor in the New York community who would it be and why?
Being that we are still in our infancy stage, we’re currently not seeking any investments. We would, however, be interested in getting product validation and advice from investors with experience and involvement in our space.
Why are you launching in New York?
I was born and raised here. I love New York and all of its people, and considering the fact that we are all always on the run and are critical of being efficient, why not launch here? FYI, the app can be used globally, and is not confined to only NYC users.
Where do you go for the best falafel in NYC?
Hoomoos Asli on 100 Kenmare Street – AMAZING!
