Fandrop won a free entry to the founder showcase competition and subsequently won the demo table competition along with an opportunity to pitch on stage to all the investors.
Web discovery, reinvented! Startup/business
California,
United States
United States http://www.fandrop.com
Fandrop is a fast, elegant and fun way to discover and share the best content on the web while preserving their look and feel. It's as easy as pie. It's web surfing, reinvented.
Thanks for everyone that voted and made Fandrop top 3 of round 2 of the competition. We have good news that Kevjumba, one of the biggest youtube stars, is partnering up with Fandrop. We've also set up College campaigns at Stanford, Berkeley, U of O in the coming weeks.
on September 14
Fandrop just partnered up with some great bands/brands including Public Enemy for their 25th anniversary campaign, Taylor Maddona, Mister Loverless, Justkiddingfilms... and many more!
on September 11
Fandrop is a fast, elegant and fun way to discover and share the best content on the web while preserving their look and feel. It's as easy as pie. It's web surfing, reinvented.
Most people are frustrated with discovering and saving relevant web content. Existing tools had relatively rigid features and were not built to have network effect.
Fandrop allows users to accurately capture the best part of their web browsing experience and share to any network. Any fragments (videos, maps, flash games, images, articles...) of a page can be saved and shared at ease, while preserving their original functionalities. We have filed for a provisional patent on some of the technologies we are using.
As Fandrop gather the best curated content from users, it's effectively breaking down the web into fragments via collective intelligence. Content distribution and discovery will no longer be based on plain URLs or links, instead they will be based on highly relevant fragments of the best browsing experience. It's internet indexing, reinvented.
Competitive advantage:
1.
Existing discovery tools had relatively rigid features and were not built for viral sharing. Existing products also focus only on only a subset of the problem but not trying to solve the big picture. In order for the mass to adopt, the service needs to cover all bases and be so intuitive to use that once you look at it, you get it.
Fandrop solves the pain points of web discovery and content sharing with ease by combing the best elements of existing tools. The interface is intuitive and anyone can figure out quickly. It’s easy to organize and can be accessed from anywhere, anytime.
2.
The Fandrop team has the technical advantage of being very product oriented. We have filed for a provisional patent on some of the technologies we are using. We are data driven and extremely analytical. We understand marketing of this app would depend greatly on network effect and viral growth.
3.
In terms of user acquisition, we do not have a chicken and egg problem. First of all, the fact that it is a utility itself, does not require other users to be in the network to begin with. Secondly, as you join through existing networks (facebook, twitter), we automatic pull all the content you have previously shared and save to the app. This enrichment of content from the get go yields high conversion rate. Thirdly, the app itself has built in virility as every time content’s being saved to the user’s account, it has the opportunity to spread through the user’s other networks (facebook, twitter etc).
Team
Ken Zi Wang, CEO and Founder, developer / architect, Columbia grad with honors, serial entreprenuear
Alexi Nedeltchev, CTO and Founder, developer / project manager, Phd grad with high honor, serial entreprenuear, ex startup guy, 6 years experience in managing development teams;
Dmitry Kashlev, Chief Front End, developer/ UX UI / mobile, MIT grad with honor, ex PARC, ex google, ex oracle, 6 years experience in web focused technologies;
Ray Xu, Chief Back End, developer / back end, NYU grad with honor, 4 years experience developing and architecting stable IT infrastructure and software for high traffic services
Chris Lipp, Director of Marketing, UX UI / Marketing, Cal EE grad, Stanford faculty, award winning pubclic speaker, 8 years experience in the space of enterprise business, including ecommerce and SaaS for SMBs and larger corporations.
Business model
Fandrop’s platform allows for revenue generation through three possible sources.
1. Targeted advertising. Targeted advertising promotes strategic brand exposure and increases ad click-through. Since we allow users to save all kinds of web browsing experience. Our data set can lead to highly targeted ads.
Such data provides an abundance of consumer information useful for segmentation. With a 2011F of $28.6b+ online advertising revenue and 90% of corporations engaged in social media marketing, targeted ads provide a lucrative market for generating revenue.
2. Premium community features. Through offering corporations the ability to host and facilitate online communities. Online communities are essential for successful consumer interaction regarding brands or products. However, communities are challenged to attract active users who will fuel conversation.
Communities created through Fandrop are integrated with the interest graph and thus easily discoverable through Fandrop’s network. Corporations currently use 3rd-party vendors to develop communities, investing on average $129k into their platforms. While the creation of a community on Fandrop is free, for a premium Fandrop offers businesses the opportunity to develop customized communities. Fandrop also offers businesses the opportunity to interact in pre-existing communities in a non-intrusive way.
3. Freemium model / gamification. Through preliminary gamification testing, we found increased user engagement with both the mobile and web version of the app. It's possible we could tie gamification as well as additional features to freemium model in the future.
Competitive advantage
1.
Existing discovery tools had relatively rigid features and were not built for viral sharing. Existing products also focus only on only a subset of the problem but not trying to solve the big picture. In order for the mass to adopt, the service needs to cover all bases and be so intuitive to use that once you look at it, you get it.
Fandrop solves the pain points of web discovery and content sharing with ease by combing the best elements of existing tools. The interface is intuitive and anyone can figure out quickly. It’s easy to organize and can be accessed from anywhere, anytime.
2.
The Fandrop team has the technical advantage of being very product oriented. We have filed for a provisional patent on some of the technologies we are using. We are data driven and extremely analytical. We understand marketing of this app would depend greatly on network effect and viral growth.
3.
In terms of user acquisition, we do not have a chicken and egg problem. First of all, the fact that it is a utility itself, does not require other users to be in the network to begin with. Secondly, as you join through existing networks (facebook, twitter), we automatic pull all the content you have previously shared and save to the app. This enrichment of content from the get go yields high conversion rate. Thirdly, the app itself has built in virility as every time content’s being saved to the user’s account, it has the opportunity to spread through the user’s other networks (facebook, twitter etc).
Ken Zi Wang
I like this update!
