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If you were chronically online in 2019, you may remember the viral phrase “VSCO Girls” coined to describe Gen Z users addicted to photo editing and sharing apps. yeah.
Offering a slew of editing tools, including filters, the app has become a go-to for influencers and everyday social media users, rivaling Instagram in prominence, if not size.
Eric Whitman, who was appointed CEO in September after serving as president since 2021, said, “What ended up happening is that I feel like we’ve moved away from our roots in many ways. ” he said.
VSCO has since doubled down on its mission to give users a space to create and share photos, while other platforms like Instagram have gone in the opposite direction. We also focused on our core demographic: photographers and content creators.
“They still want this safe space to find themselves as creative individuals. They want to find other people and build community,” Whitman said. .
The platform has added features such as “Spaces” (shared galleries), direct mail, and customizable profiles for paid members to help users get discovered and connect with potential customers. VSCO has adopted a freemium model since it launched paid memberships in 2017, and currently costs around $30 to $60 per year. Paid members also have access to VSCO’s video editing tools. VSCO memberships accounted for the majority of the company’s revenue last year, Whitman said, with the company expected to be profitable in the second half of 2022.
However, since gaining attention, VSCO’s growth has slowed. According to market intelligence firm SensorTower, VSCO downloads decreased by 47% and 36% year over year in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The company cited the rise of AI-powered apps and increased editing tools on existing platforms as a potential impact, including ByteDance’s CapCut and other trending AI photo editing apps.
“VSCO boasts a global community of over 200 million users,” Wittman told BI. “While we can’t speak to SensorTower’s data collection methods, viral moments are inherently ephemeral, so it’s natural for course corrections to occur after the release of a new app or major new feature. Our primary focus is catering to aspiring professional creators and photographers. Growing a broader consumer base has never been a key element of our strategy.”
Whitman told BI that VSCO is “capital efficient,” and a spokesperson confirmed that the company is profitable on a GAAP basis. The company last raised venture capital in 2015 in a Series B round of $50 million, bringing its total funding to $90 million. Whitman said the 105-employee company has avoided layoffs even during the recent technology downturn and is “always interested” in suitable acquisitions.
“We are very conscious of how we want to make money as a company, and we are very focused on adding value to creators and monetizing that value exchange directly with creators,” says Witt. Mr. Mann added. This is in contrast to ad-based social media companies like Meta, Snap, and TikTok.
VSCO, now 13 years old, isn’t as big as Meta or TikTok, but its longevity could serve as an example for other startups looking to build sustainable social media businesses. That’s probably- Just might – Startups don’t have to aim to be the biggest or beat their competitors to be successful.
Here are three lessons from VSCO’s CEO for startups entering the social media space in 2024.
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He wants tech startups to build a healthy blend of online and offline communities. “We have to go back to just re-establishing relationships that are not manipulated,” Whitman said. “I think post-COVID-19 people will be craving real relationships, and we already have enough market data that the rise in loneliness has increased dramatically in the last few years, especially in the U.S. You understand.”
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Social networks could benefit from a narrower focus. “Because traditional social media has become so noisy, new community and social network opportunities are focused on specific categories of people and subjects,” Whitman said. “It’s getting harder and harder to find people, people, or subjects that interest you.”
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Social startups will need to think critically about their business models more than ever. “Yes, you can start your own business for a long time, but at some point people have to pay the bills. If people take venture capital, at some point investors want to come back. will appear,” Whitman said. If the new network chooses advertising as its primary model, Wittman warns, it will “need massive scale” of at least 100 million users, which he says is 100 million users to make it work.
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