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There are probably a lot of readers who don’t know anything about you, so who are you ?
I’m a serial entrepreneur since 1982 when I was 15, I started developing software for TV on Apple II, then on Amiga and on Olivetti. From programming to computer graphics in both 2D and 3D. From CG to multimedia application, starting with authoring and then moving onto project management. From MM to Marketing mainly for museums and cultural sector. From Marketing to Communication and social media (guest-author in a Philip Kotler book). From 2007 award winning professional photographer. So it was just a natural evolution, when I had the idea of PhotoSpotLand (May 5th 2012 at 20:25), to create a startup around my skills and on the base of my experience. With the useful thing that all of them are key parts of PhotoSpotLand.
Can you tell us what PhotoSpotLand is about?
PhotoSpotLand is an oriented community about travel for passionate photographers. Whether amateur, professional, or blind photographers, PhotoSpotLand allows people with a common passion to be in touch and even meet in real life. It is the Social Operating System for travel and passionate photographers, learning how to shoot great photos in great places with great people with a plethora of information on where, how, when and with whom to shoot. Instead of sharing photos PhotoSpotLand guides users to how and where to shoot great pictures, offering the best shared experience in travel photography. In addition, the mobile app also allows the user to interact with nearby photographers.
People love to share great photos. PhotoSpotLand helps to connect people with this common passion and suggests great places to photograph and create a great shooting experience. PhotoSpotLand is the platform where people who love photography can share the best locations and events for shooting great photos, including how, when, and with whom to shoot. “Spot”, because we are interested in whatever interests our users – whether landscapes, coastlines, mountain ranges, buildings or bridges, religious events (like Easter in Seville), cultural events, festivals, carnivals (the Rio or Venice carnivals), or even once-in-a- lifetime events such as volcano eruptions or lunar eclipses. For every spot in PhotoSpotLand, the user will find a great deal of information, ideal shooting data (e.g. whether a tripod or a flash is needed, the best time of day or best season to shoot), as well as how to get there, accessibility info, weather, sunrise/sunset timing, nearest food and accommodations, etc.
Use PhotoSpotLand before arriving at your destination to find out if any other photographer is visiting the Spot at the same time and how they are planning their trip. The user will also receive information regarding weather forecasts, traffic, and anything else a photographer needs to prepare for a shoot. After reaching the site, the mobile version of PhotoSpotLand will send the photographer immediate updates (from both the provider and other photographers) about parking, weather, potentially dangerous situations, and everything else relevant to the shoot. The PhotoSpotLand mobile app will also reveal the locations of the nearest photographers, share what photographic equipment they are using and show who is available to give advice and interact with others. Therefore, if a photographer is at a Spot and encounters technical problems (like a battery failure) or needs different camera gear, others in the vicinity may be located for help.
The only startup in the travel and photo industry that doesn’t share photos.
We hear stories about Entrepreneurs finding their ideas in the craziest places ever or by simply filling a need they had. In the best cases a small need that a single human being had, becomes a product used by millions of people, so how did you come up with the idea behind PhotoSpotLand?
I was on May the 5th in 2012 to shoot the ‘great moon’ to rise behind Acitrezza’s Faraglioni, when a young girl, an amateur photographer, saw me with my camera, tripod, remote cable, on the pier and asked me if I was waiting for the moon. I told her I was waiting for the bus n.28, but it was too late. Jokes aside, I looked around me and found a number of spontaneous micro community aggregating amateur and enthusiast photographers around a special event and in the same mythological place. When I came back home, I started thinking on how to “use” those micro communities and day after day, based on my skills and on the deep knowledge of the sector and users needs, plus studying existing platforms, from this I created the PhotoSpotLand project.
Where are you currently placed?
We are based in Catania, Sicily, at the moment, but we are ready to move to London (or NYC) with the management team, while the technical and editorial team will remain in Catania.
Is there something that really motivates you in pushing PhotoShopLand forward?
We are doing something new, with a new approach for everyone shooting photos, either with a smartphone or with a reflex. A new challenge and the opportunity to make a lot of money, because all things in PhotoSpotLand are planned to generate an exit by acquisition.
We know you are italian, so how do you see the startup scene in Italy?
Bad and good. There is a large number of talented people, but mainly on the technical side. A lack of people in management, marketing expertise and in general people with an entrepreneurial vision and strategy. Too many talented young people create a startup not on market research, users or market needs, but only upon cool name and non-marketable ideas. On the investor side the situation is ridiculous. Investors are few and mostly alien to the real concept of startup valuation. Many incubators / accelerators with the main mission to cannibalise quotes in startups created by young founders. And a very scandalous situation on public fund management, especially for dedicated funds for startups in the south part of Italy.
Did you get any funding?
We got € 22.000 in cash and € 20.000 from friends and fools. We are looking for a an ideal amount of € 250.000, our attention is focused on SEIS law in UK. We hope something similar will be created in Italy from the government.
Where do you see your startup in the next 5 years?
Acquired by big players. And I see myself working on new startups that I have already in my mind.
When are you planning to leave the beta stage?
When did Gmail get out from beta stage? Beta is a default and never-finish stage for every startup.
What would you say to the dozens of italian Entrepreneurs who are struggling to find funding and to launch their ideas?
Test the idea, do some market research, ask friends and potential users what they want, if they will use and why the service / product proposed. Create immediately something for the worldwide market, forget the Italian market, forget the Italian language. Create the legal entity only when needed, it’s often possible to run a startup without any legal entity and when you are ready DON’T create it in Italy. Go to the UK or the USA where the legal form allow to assign and sell shares, where it’s not expensive as Italy to create legal entity. But, operate the company at international level, it’s stupid to create a company in the UK or the USA without also operating from there. If and when you have a business or staff in Italy, create an Italian fiscal representative or a legal entity owned from the main legal entity in the US or UK. Creating a legal entity abroad isn’t about taxes (we’re happy to pay tax as a startup, but this means that the company produce revenue enough to pay tax) but is about passive tax, bureaucracy and hidden costs. Another piece of advice is to not go looking for a large amount of money. At the most basic level, less is much. Avoid idiots asking you a business plan or financial forecast over 6 months. Tell them “do you think my name is Aladdin? Do you see any lamp in front of me?” of course numbers are important, but to develop forecasts for internal usage, if someone it’s really interested you can show it, explain your vision and how you get the results.
