© FocalPop

FocalPop is a startup company that offers an online custom photography marketplace. It was born from a group of friends in the University of Texas MBA program and developed through a series of new venture competitions. The concept is pretty simple:

photo seekers provide details around the photo they want and how much they’ll pay, without having to dig through thousands of images or spend a large amount of time

photographers submit their shots (currently there aren’t limits on the number of photos) matching the request details meeting buyers who are actively looking to buy right now

photo seekers select the photos they want to buy and the transactions are processed through the FocalPop site.

The standard commission rate for a FocalPop photographer is 70% and the membership is free. The works are under non-exclusive royalty-free content license.

You can read a detailed step-by-step “How it works“  and browse the ongoing Requests.

In February, the FocalPop team won Texas Moot Corp, which earned them a place in the Global Moot Corp competition, considered the “Super Bowl of world business-plan competitions”. This year, 40 teams from 11 different countries competed in the event.

© Erick Nguyen – Fotolia.com

I’ve asked Becky Parker – FocalPop’s Co-Founder / VP of Marketing – about next features and first market reaction to this new project:

“- There are lots of new features we want to add. One notable addition is the Suggest Pricing tool, which will calculate a suggested price for the Seeker, based on what rights they want, size of the photo, turnaround time, etc. The Seeker will still be able to name the price, but the tool will help them understand the market value for the shot so they know what photographers will expect to be paid. We also plan to add more ways for members to learn and share – such as community forums and integration with social networking sites like Facebook.
- We have done extensive research and learned that there is a great need in the market for this type of solution. Image seekers often have trouble finding the exact shot that they want and end up spending much more time than they should digging through photos that aren’t quite what they’re picturing. Photographers often have to guess what it is that image seekers will want without knowing with certainty that it will sell. Photographers also want an easier way to find buyers without having to jump through so many hoops. Overall, there is excitement on both sides of the market for this type of solution and we’re happy to be bringing it to them.”

Update December 8, 09

FocalPop is out of beta and officially launched, here the full Press about the launch

FocalPop launched a beta version of the site in September and has received an enthusiastic response from the photographer community. “Our research coupled with the initial response from both photographers and buyers has validated the great need for this type of solution” says Brian Romanko, president “We collected valuable feedback from photographers throughout our three month beta period and look forward to continually optimizing the site based on customer needs as we continue FocalPop’s growth.” During the beta period, over 2,000 visitors from 63 countries helped fulfill requests for photos like “Lonely Guitar,” “Greasy Plate of Food,” and “Happy Dog.” The winners of all completed requests as well as all the photos submitted can be seen at www.focalpop.com.

For additional information on the Launch of FocalPop.com contact Becky Parker or visit www.focalpop.com.

ABOUT FOCALPOP – FocalPop is a web-based platform that allows companies to finally get the exact photo that they need by allowing them to crowdsource their image requests via a community of photographers across the world. For more information on FocalPop, contact Becky Parker (becky@focalpop.com) or follow them on twitter: www.twitter.com/focalpop.