At Media Jobs we like to bring you the most innoÂvÂaÂtive comÂpaÂnies. In this interÂview we will learn about a new comÂpaÂny that is blendÂing ecomÂmerce and social sharÂing in a monÂey makÂing opporÂtuÂniÂty for conÂsumers. ImagÂine being able to buy clothes for a profÂit. You could buy an endÂless amount of clothes as long as all the purÂchasÂes were profÂitable. Fapl.co could be the best thing since sliced bread for those with a good eye for fashion.
LisÂten in as Roy WeissÂman of MediaJobs.com interÂviews the CEO and Founder of Fapl.co, Paul Ahn.
| Roy: | This is Roy WeissÂman from MediaJobs.com, and we’re talkÂing with Paul Ahn, the CEO of FAPL.co. What is FAPL.co, and where did this come from? Can you help us out?
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| Paul: | FAPL is a social sharÂing platÂform where peoÂple can also monÂeÂtize by sharÂing what they’re wearÂing. Just by simÂple linkÂing. Also, every style they see is buy-able.
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| Roy: | What’s the difÂferÂence between sharÂing on InstaÂgram or FaceÂbook, and tell my friends and get an affilÂiÂate link? CouldÂn’t I make monÂey that way?
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| Paul: | When you share on InstaÂgram or FaceÂbook, all they can do is hashÂtag what they’re wearÂing, or give the URL to where they can buy. On our platÂform, just by searchÂing through the brand name, every prodÂuct is all right there so that they can buy with simÂple one-click.
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| Roy: | What do you mean every product?
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| Paul: | ProdÂuct is all proÂvidÂed by all the brands. They can creÂate a brands account on a web, and everyÂthing is purÂchasable that way, with an invenÂtoÂry manÂageÂment system.
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| Roy: | Wait a minute, I’m a conÂsumer, I’m postÂing on InstaÂgram. Do you want me to post on your webÂsite? If you had to pick one, you want the brands, or do you want the conÂsumers more?
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| Paul: | If I had to pick one, I’ll start with the brands, because brands can also unload their own style looks. Users can unload their own looks and just link any brands that they’re wearÂing, that way if some prodÂuct is purÂchased through your phoÂto, they can make monÂey. The minÂiÂmum is 3%. We’ll give them in terms of points, and points is equal to cash on our platform.
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| Roy: | Wait a minute. Now you just threw someÂthing else in. Who is makÂing the 3%? The brand, or the consumer?
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| Paul: | The conÂsumer is makÂing the 3%.
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| Roy: | So, a nice woman, she realÂly dressÂes nice, she uploads a picÂture of herÂself, and she tags or links her items, and then if someÂbody buys the shoes she’s wearÂing, she makes 3%?
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| Paul: | Yes, corÂrect. There’s anothÂer incenÂtive for users to unload on our platÂform. The reaÂsons whenÂevÂer item is linked, it’ll be notiÂfied to the brands on the brand manÂagÂing web, and whenÂevÂer they approve your phoÂto, the user becomes a modÂel for the brands. Let’s say if you tag a GucÂci shirt, and then GucÂci approves your look, then every GucÂci folÂlowÂer will be seeÂing you, as a user, and they get to folÂlow you. That way you can increase your followers.
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| Roy: | Now you added anothÂer eleÂment. I upload my picÂture. Either GucÂci likes it, approves me, or they don’t? If they don’t approve me, what happens?
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| Paul: | Then only your folÂlowÂers will be seeÂing your photo.
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| Roy: | But if they do approve me, what happens?
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| Paul: | GucÂci folÂlowÂers will be seeÂing you, also. On top of that, GucÂci folÂlowÂers will be seeÂing you.
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| Roy: | GucÂci folÂlowÂers are on your platform?
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| Paul: | Yes, corÂrect.
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| Roy: | GucÂci could have a milÂlion folÂlowÂers, if they approve me, then all those million-
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| Paul: | Yes. You’ll be seen by a milÂlion people.
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| Roy: | Wow. All these women that are shopÂping like maniÂacs, spendÂing their whole payÂcheck, they can now make monÂey on every shopÂping trip?
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| Paul: | CorÂrect. They can make on shopÂping trip. Maybe, if they’re hot enough they can make more monÂey than what they spent.
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| Roy: | Maybe, like, Justin Bieber will see them and they’ll become famous like that woman on InstaÂgram a few years ago. Where do you enviÂsion this going? Have you figÂured out the size of the marÂket for this? How do you calÂcuÂlate the marÂket? How do you approach this?
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| Paul: | Where it startÂed from was that I have expeÂriÂence runÂning an e‑commerce on a fashÂion platÂform, and I realÂized no platÂform, until now, have difÂferÂenÂtiÂatÂed two difÂferÂent phoÂtos, the prodÂuct picÂture and lifestyle phoÂto. We’ve done that, and what it allowed is it can work for not just fashÂion verÂtiÂcal, it can work for any othÂer verÂtiÂcal, as well. We have patent on that. Just talkÂing about fashÂion indusÂtry, it’s at 250 bilÂlion dolÂlar revÂenue withÂin the UnitÂed States alone. Eighty bilÂlion dolÂlars is from e‑commerce, so we want to go where a fashÂion brand doesÂn’t need to a webÂsite to sell stuff, they can just creÂate this simÂple thing to sell stuff. By creÂatÂing a webÂsite, they have to do all difÂferÂent marÂketÂing efforts, putting it on social media, write to magÂaÂzine, write to blogÂgers, and nothÂing realÂly returns the effort. Now we want an organÂic way for peoÂple to see the style and able to purÂchase it right away.
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| Roy: | WasÂn’t there anothÂer site called FanÂcy, or someÂthing, an e‑commerce site, where peoÂple would post picÂtures of stuff they liked, and made monÂey with it?
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| Paul: | It’s just a picÂture, and then they … Right now, what we’ve done is there’s a prodÂuct and there’s lifestyle shots. It’s clear, sepÂaÂrate catÂeÂgoÂry and the relaÂtionÂship can be built between the two. FanÂcy, what it does is, you just unload a phoÂto and you need to indiÂcate what the item is, and it’s just like affilÂiÂate marketing.
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| Roy: | I noticed, on your site you were showÂing me, you showed a picÂture of a woman, and she might be wearÂing one kind of shoes, a difÂferÂent dress, difÂferÂent handÂbag, so she’d be makÂing 3% no matÂter who buys this?
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| Paul: | CorÂrect. That is correct.
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| Roy: | She would also, potenÂtialÂly if she’s approved, be on three or four difÂferÂent comÂpaÂny lists?
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| Paul: | Yes, corÂrect.
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| Roy: | -getÂting their followers.
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| Paul: | Yes, and she’ll be seen by milÂlions. Also, when a comÂpaÂny approves, for each like, the user is able to earn points, too.
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| Roy: | Do I earn monÂey or points?
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| Paul: | Points is equal to cash.
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| Roy: | So I can cash in the points?
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| Paul: | Yes, you can cash out the points after it gets a cerÂtain amount of points.
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| Roy: | What is your backÂground? Tell us a litÂtle bit about where you learned your stuff.
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| Paul: | I majored in ecoÂnomÂics, I went to a school in Upstate New York called CorÂnell UniÂverÂsiÂty, and then I creÂatÂed my own fashÂion brand called Rare Footwear … It nevÂer slipped on any type of surÂface … To the conÂsumer marÂket. We creÂatÂed a shoe brand. We had a sucÂcessÂful kick start camÂpaign, but after that it was imposÂsiÂble for me to driÂve trafÂfic to our webÂsite. I had the expeÂriÂence of writÂing to blogÂgers, writÂers, at least thouÂsands of emails a day, and doing social media camÂpaigns, and spendÂing tons of marÂketÂing monÂey on social media, but it nevÂer returned how I wantÂed to be. I knew there had to be a betÂter way, so we decidÂed to start the idea of FAPL from there.
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| Roy: | Your frusÂtraÂtion of difÂfiÂculÂty of getÂting trafÂfic is what drove your motiÂvaÂtion to start this business?
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| Paul: | CorÂrect, and throughÂout the research I found out there are more than two milÂlion fashÂion brands throughÂout the world. More than 90% of the fashÂion brands are havÂing trouÂble to be seen, so I wantÂed to solve that for that mass audience.
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| Roy: | How are you going to get trafÂfic for this site, now?
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| Paul: | As a user, we are workÂing with the influÂencer netÂwork. They are conÂstantÂly sharÂing their phoÂtos on our platÂform, and also linkÂing the items. They can share that phoÂto to othÂer social media, such as InstaÂgram, FaceÂbook, TwitÂter, and we have a unique patent of sharÂing that, it just doesÂn’t share the phoÂto, it shares along with the items that they’re wearÂing, so it driÂves interÂest from that social media platÂform, and it driÂves trafÂfic back to our ad.
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| Roy: | I don’t underÂstand. You say it shares more than the … If I share onto InstaÂgram with my phoÂto onto FAPL, what’s the difÂferÂence than any othÂer photo?
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| Paul: | Each of the items that you link on our platÂform will be shared togethÂer, right there with your photo.
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| Roy: | It would show my phoÂto, and then show a picÂture of the Coach bag, a picÂture of the shoes … each individual?
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| Paul: | CorÂrect. You got the perfect-
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| Roy: | And that’s withÂin the terms of serÂvice of InstaÂgram? TryÂing to sell prodÂucts on their platform?
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| Paul: | It is imposÂsiÂble for InstaÂgram, or FaceÂbook, or PinÂterÂest to make this hapÂpen. The reaÂson is because they don’t have the clear sepÂaÂraÂtion between a prodÂuct and a phoÂto. They treat phoÂto as just a phoÂto. ProdÂuct picÂture is a phoÂto, any lifestyle picÂture is a phoÂto, so they couldÂn’t build a relaÂtionÂship in between. Our platÂform, this is … if InstaÂgram wants to do it, they’ll have to start from the scratch.
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| Roy: | Your difÂferÂenÂtiÂaÂtion is you sepÂaÂrate the prodÂucts and the phoÂtos? But is It legal withÂin the terms of serÂvice of FaceÂbook and InstaÂgram, or twitÂter, to start postÂing these things to sell prodÂucts with links to sales?
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| Paul: | Yes. We already have inteÂgratÂed FaceÂbook. Right now, we’re workÂing through the API to inteÂgrate into InstaÂgram. We will get into FaceÂbook and InstaÂgram before this August.
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| Roy: | You’re launchÂing, when?
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| Paul: | CurÂrentÂly, we’re in closed beta. EveryÂone can sign up on our webÂsite, FAPL.co. We’ll be launchÂing fulÂly in earÂly SepÂtemÂber, at the latest.
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| Roy: | Who would be comÂpeÂtiÂtion for you?
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| Paul: | Right now, we realÂly … I’ve known this indusÂtry for more than three years, researched it, there is no sinÂgle direct comÂpeÂtiÂtion, but there are a couÂple style-sharÂing apps that we direct. SomeÂthing like, Gilt co-founder made an app called Project SepÂtemÂber, which you see a style that you like and it rediÂrects to the webÂsite. That’s one of the comÂpeÂtiÂtion. AnothÂer one will probÂaÂbly be Shop Spring. They just show you a bunch of prodÂuct picÂtures. One of the difÂferÂences is, that prodÂuct picÂture is nevÂer interÂestÂing. What motiÂvates peoÂple to see more is the lifestyle shots and the videos. Through that, usuÂalÂly when they see a picÂture they like on norÂmal social media, or in magÂaÂzine, they would norÂmalÂly have to go search on Google, then they will send us to ecomÂmerce and search for the prodÂuct again. We minÂiÂmize all the efforts of that into just one sinÂgle button.
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| Roy: | You aggreÂgatÂed everyÂthing. Make it easÂiÂer and easÂiÂer for peoÂple to spend more and more money?
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| Paul: | Yes, hopeÂfulÂly.
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| Roy: | And I can make monÂey. I can buy the clothes, then take my picÂture, put it up here, and make it back.
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| Paul: | That’s the whole idea. One of the good things that we’re doing for all the peoÂple and brands is … ActuÂalÂly, annuÂalÂly, fashÂion brands are spendÂing between sixÂteen to twenÂty perÂcent of their revÂenue back into the marÂketÂing. But I know marÂketÂing does not help the brands prodÂuct betÂter, or it doesÂn’t driÂve any conÂsumers, so I want to return that 16% back into hands of conÂsumers and fashÂion brands.
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| Roy: | Have you raised any monÂey so far?
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| Paul: | Yes, from day zero, we raised two milÂlion dolÂlars. One milÂlion in the bank, and one milÂlion line of credÂit. Now, after we launch we are going for series A, for much faster moveÂment, and … After conÂcept proven we want to get bigÂger, faster, growth.
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| Roy: | You’ve been marÂketÂing this in Beta? Have you gotÂten sales, or no?
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| Paul: | We haven’t marÂketÂed anyÂthing. We just came to TechCrunch to show we are now going to start, but already more than 120 fashÂion brands have signed up, because it’s a no-brainÂer. There’s no cost for fashÂion brands. We only make monÂey … We grow as fashÂion brands grow, and we only grow as users make money.
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| Roy: | That sounds great. Where are you guys based?
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| Paul: | We’re based in Los AngeÂles, California.
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| Roy: | How many peoÂple are workÂing? Is it just you, or do you have a couÂple people?
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| Paul: | No, now our team grew quite a bit. IncludÂing interns, we have twelve peoÂple in our team now.
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| Roy: | Are you lookÂing to hire anyÂbody? If so, what kind of people?
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| Paul: | Yes, we are. We are tryÂing to hire more peoÂple for our engiÂneerÂing team, we have five engiÂneers curÂrentÂly, but in order to move faster, we’ll need more engiÂneers. We use two lanÂguages for the comÂmerce part. We are creÂatÂing a sales team now, which we are callÂing brand evanÂgeÂlists. WhenÂevÂer brands have a quesÂtion, we need someÂone to answer that, so we are creÂatÂing those two new teams right now.
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| Roy: | That sounds great. AnyÂthing else you want to say that we didÂn’t discuss?
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| Paul: | Sign up on FAPL.co!
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