Last month, Apple’s iTunes App Store saw more than one billion apps downloaded. One of the top-paid apps is the Ocarina, whose creator is Smule. The Ocarina turns the iPhone into a flute. This week, we take a look at Smule by watching co-founder Jeff Smith’s pitch. Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga, was our guest host, joining me, Ezra Roizen and Zynga’s mascot – Lyla.
Here are some observations and highlights.
– Excellent pitch. Great idea. It’s a simple enough idea that anyone from a brilliant venture capitalist to a brilliant waiter can say, “I get it.” This is “exactly something I’d invest in,” said Pincus, who likes the macro opportunity.
– The Ocarina costs $.99 to download and Smule is generating money today, making it even more attractive from an investment standpoint.
– There’s a rich opportunity to position Smule as a mission-based company since it’s introducing something amazing to the world.
– While Smule has turned our phones into a musical instrument, is it really bringing music to the masses if it requires a lot of skill to play it? It’s one thing to quietly playing Texas Hold’Em while sitting in a crowded airport. It’s quite another to be playing the Ocarina.
– Clearly this company requires a significantly high IQ to work there. It’s created something groundbreaking and novel.
– We’d like to see Smule turn the IPhone into a guitar or piano and we’d like to see Smule sell sheet music through the iPhone.
