All entrepreneurs are gamblers, but building your startup on someone else’s platform sets you up to a few more opportunities for systemic risk than the average startup. Stockholm-based Copygram is having fun with Instagram’s API with a Instagram web-viewing platform and photo printing service. Now that Instagram is in the browser, Copygram is at an interesting stage of their company.
Copygram launched their web viewer well before Instagram had any native web viewing features, so they were able to build a solid online userbase through a well designed platform. Now that Instagram does give you some browser features, you would think their value proposition would have somewhat diminished. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. We hear their web view still sees more than 3,300,000 impressions a month.
“And we are not quting on the viewer, we are simply playing it soft, waiting on Instagram to make their next move, so that we can implement the things we want,” says Linus Ekenstam, co-founder of Copygram.
When asked if they were worried about building their product on someone else’s platform, Ekenstam responded, that they basically weren’t, but theres always a chance that they’ll change the API or simply shut Copygram out. “And if they do, we need to move on to plan B. Yes of course there is a plan B, you always need to be prepared,” he responded.
“We are working on something big that will change the market completly. As of now there is little we can mention on the subject, but we’ve been in stealth during the last couple of months.”
Getting back to their core features, Copygram is monetizing through Instagram printing services. They were one of the first Instagram printers on the market, and since launching they’ve been focusing simply on high quality 10×10 cm prints.
Copygram says that they’re building something that will completely change the market, but they’re not willing to discuss details at the moment. We’ll probably hear something soon because Copygram is currently building pre-round momentum on FundedByMe, a Swedish equity crowdfunding platform.
Instagram prints are cool, but it’s a crowded market. Luckily they put together a nice product with the right timing, allowing them to stand out and drive traffic organically. We’ll see what happens next.
