Pictures keep the memories fresh and so they must be treasured for lifetime. Abhi and Alex, two recently graduated folks from University of Florida, came up with this wonderful product 'Fracture-The New Picture Frame'. Fracture's vision is 'to make printing as customized and personal as the pictures themselves and to make decorating as easy and exciting as taking the picture was'.
Fracture is a one piece picture and frame made from printed glass. You can view a sample by visiting their website 'FractureMe', where you can upload your photo, and enjoy heaps of creative options that can add flavour to your picture. The price ranges from $8 to $35, depending upon the varied sizes of the frame available. This innovative invention is a perfect answer to the new style of photo decor and adds another reason to our list of 'why we love pictures'!
Abhi and Alex, the founders of 'Fracture', have been very kind to spare some time for a small interview with us to tell us more about their innovative product and the story behind it. Catch it below:
Abhi and Alex, please introduce yourself to E-junkies.
Hey there. We're Abhi and Alex, co-founders of the photo decor startup Fracture. We're both recent graduates of the University of Florida, and met through a mutual friend from a non-profit venture during our undergrad days.
Enlighten our readers with some information about your innovative product-Fracture. How did 'Fracture' start? Tell us about the inception of 'Fracture'.
Fracture was really the culmination of about 3 years of learning as much as we could about the process of selling art online, branding it, and packaging it as a final product. As part of the non-profit venture we mentioned before, we ran a small online art gallery that generated revenue for our non-profit. We learned an incredible amount about marketing, sales, the buying behavior of consumers regarding art, and essentially the inefficiencies of printing and framing art and digital photography today.
We began to realize that there was an opportunity to create well designed photo decor that was both affordable and intuitive to make and buy. We wanted to provide a comprehensive solution to the dilemma of photo framing being so expensive and impractical.
The conception of Fracture truly was a joint effort between Alex and I. Alex is the technical visionary behind the product, it's functionality, and how it translates from a digital entity to a real product. I'm fortunate to work with a guy like Alex who has so many skill sets. I was able to bring some business knowledge and networking to the table. My role is to really flesh out Alex's technical vision, create the best team to deliver the product, and identify business opportunities to scale and grow the company.
In today's world, the latest and greatest have been apps/websites/social networks: What made you all want to create a "tangible product startup" in digital world?
We love the fact that we work with people's visual memories. We wanted to create a real product that people could touch, feel, and see. We believe that Fracture is actually the best of both the digital and the tangible worlds. We allow people to have a really smooth, simple web experience that ends up creating a truly unique physical product. Creating a tangible product really makes us stand out. Our business model is pretty old-school: we create a great, original product that people can buy. It's just not something you see often these days. We don't do banner ads, search advertising, drop shipping from a third party supplier, etc.
What are the challenges/benefits of your unique business model (eCommerce / production hybrid)?
I think having such a unique business model is really a double-edged sword. In the same way that we get so excited to work with individuals, systems, and processes from both e-commerce and production like web developers, graphic designers, industrial engineers, technicians, building contractors, photographers, etc. we also juggle the overhead and costs from both worlds. Not only do we have to worry about maintaining our servers, website, digital images, and e-commerce/order processing systems, but we have to think about manufacturing equipment, freightt shipping, cost of goods sold, automation processes, production workflows, etc. At the end of the day though, we love that it's such a multi-disciplinary venture. We are constantly learning so much from each type of individual.
What do you think about social media as a promotional tool?
Social media is a great promotional tool, but it's often deceptive how much effort is required for social media marketing/advertising to pay off. You have to be focused and quite persistent in order to make your social media outreach efforts worthwhile. One tweet, blog post, or Facebook update usually won't cut it. It's been a constant learning experience for us, and we're still figuring it out. There are so many platforms and avenues to choose from these days, that the best thing you can do is to narrow down exactly what you want to do, how you want to accomplish it, and which tools can get you there. It's really easy to get lost and overwhelmed.
What's your take on E-commerce? How does it help a small business owner to grow?
E-commerce, if done right, is the way of the future in terms of how businesses deliver products to their customers. E-commerce allows for a level of product personalization that you simply can't get with a traditional brick and mortar business. However, the flip-side of that is the danger of losing the humanity and personal communication with your customers. You don't want to end up as a digital product vending machine. You want to convey your personality, your company culture, and the fact that it's a team of passionate, driven individuals behind your product.
Another great thing about e-commerce for a growing small business is that it is much easier to scale virtually. You don't necessarily have to worry about stock inventory, employees, retail space, etc. Since we are essentially a hybrid, we do take some of those factors into consideration, but we still appreciate the beauty of e-commerce. It's amazing to see what you can do these days.
What are your dreams and visions for Fracture as a whole (not necessarily the product, but what is it you want to deliver to the world)?
Our vision is to create the 21st century answer to photo decor. We want people to start printing out all the incredible pictures they take. We're all essentially global citizens, we travel farther every day, and we explore such incredible destinations, even in our daily lives. With hi-res camera technology being so affordable and accessible, we want to provide the world with an outlet to print, display and share those great pictures. That's what excites us. Also, with the strength and flexibility of e-commerce and industrial technology these days, we can come up with so many different products. Our heads are always spinning with the possibilities, and often times the hardest thing to do is to focus on the present without getting too ahead of ourselves.
Any project on the cards in future? Is there any dream project common to both of you?
Honestly, there are too many exciting projects for us to count. There are so many applications and demographics that Fracture appeals to, from families to young professionals to photographers and businesses. Our dream project is simply being able to tap into the incredible high quality images people take from all over the world. It's already happening; every day we print images that are just stunning. That's when it hit's us; we're printing people's favorite memories from all over the world in a brand new way. That's pure gold.
What is that one golden advice you would like to give to other young entrepreneurs?
I'm going to cheat and try and slip in two pieces of advice. The first one is stolen from Nike. Just do it. Now. Sure, take the time to do your due diligence and research, but start it now and work on delivering a functional working prototype as soon as possible. There's never a better time. If the fear of failure is what's holding you back, learn to accept and embrace the fact that failure will come. It's inevitable. It's how you handle it that will distinguish you from others.
The second piece of advice is to not compare yourself to others. We're constantly flooded with information and news about the latest and greatest startups being overnight successes with millions of users and preposterous amounts of money being thrown at them from VC's and the like. The truth is there's no such thing as an overnight success. Sure, it may look like that, but ask those startup founders and they'll tell you how much thought and effort went into their ventures. Push yourself to be better than you were yesterday, to constantly put one foot in front of the other while challenging your own personal limits, and you'll find true success.
Alex and Abhi, thanks for a wonderful interview. We wish you all the very best!
Visit Fractureme.com for more information.
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Visit Fractureme.com for more information.
For more interviews of creative merchants like Alex and Abhi, you can subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.
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