As postcards become obsolete, they have been replaced by sending pictures from your phone’s photo library with an impersonal “miss you” attached, and via text. While this may be more convenient, the personal touch has dissipated. MyPostcard ushers in the age of the digital postcard. Now available in 10+ languages with thousands of templates. the app allows you to seamlessly send printed postcard or even a greeting card with a few clicks on your phone. It merely costs $1.99 . per postcard with free worldwide shipping include.
AlleyWatch chatted with founder Oliver Kray about the company and its recent experience at PitchPeak.
Tell us about the product or service.
MyPostcard is an app that anyone, anywhere can use to send their personal photos as real, printed postcards or greeting cards at any time. In less than 5 minutes, you can write, design and send your real, printed cards worldwide.
How is it different?
We specialize in offering our service worldwide and we also print in various countries. What’s more, we’re not just the only app offering more than 10K template designs, but we’re also available in over 10 languages. MyPostcard is the easiest way of sending postcards on the go by app or online.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
We mainly concentrate on the B2C market, which worldwide is about $17B for postcards and greeting cards. Moreover, we always have more B2B2C and B2B bases where the market is about 3x bigger.
What is the business model?
It is easy. You create a card and pay $1.99, including worldwide shipping.
What inspired the business?
I was beginning to notice more and more that we’re all taking hundreds of photos, just to then only use them digitally. Besides which, it’s a massive pain to send postcards while on vacation in the traditional way. Buying old school postcards, getting stamps, finding a postbox; in the age of Instagram and WhatsApp absolutely nobody wants to have to put themselves through that anymore.
Your company recently participated in Peak Pitch. Would you tell us about your experience?
The experience was great. It was a top organized event and an amazing atmosphere. I never ever pitched my company so fast to so many in front of so many individual people. All in all, it was one of the best and most interesting pitch events in New York City; even if it was a bit cold outside in the mountains.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We want to continue growing as fast as possible and bring our worldwide organic online ranking up to number one. Additionally, we want to strengthen our brand in the travel sector, as well as gain a foothold in the area of B2B.
On top of that, we want to expand our successful app business with more Photo Print Apps in the world to become one of the top apps in the industry.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
Don’t start an app business, it’s really hard to acquire customers with a $1.99 product.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
I would be thrilled to meet Glenn D. Fogel of Booking Holdings for dinner and offer him promo-codes for all of his customers.
Why did you launch in New York?
We were quite luckily to be a part of the German Accelerator Incubator Program in New York City last year and personally, I really like the city’s tempo because it gives me the feeling that I’m too slow, which in turn really motivates me.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Locanda Verde, where Robert DeNiro’s the owner – great place, great food, great people.