In this podcast:
Startups • Creating Culture • Scaling A Business • A Company As A Product
“The mentality of recognising the probability that what you are doing isn’t going to work but building that into how you structure yourself”
Based out of Toronto, Grant Munro is the founder and CEO of FlashStock. Munro’s company helps brands and agencies connect to create custom imagery. With a background in software development and product management through working in a social media services startup he discovered the importance of having a low cost source of content. Blackberry was one his first clients, and allowed him to see first hand the exponential costs of sending a team around the world to create lifestyle content. He figured the process could be more cost efficient if he hired a local in the area. The company he started would source these creatives and connect them to brands. FlashStock was to be an alternative to using stock photography.
Grant appreciated the importance of relevant content to the consumer on social media which was exemplified through his first client Budweiser. Despite being a US centric company, like Australia there is a vast array of diverse regions. Flashstock was creating content that relates towards the local market and seasons. It wouldn’t have made sense to sell beer in snowy regions with adverts like this:
When it comes to startups, Grant believes that the big idea was not as important as the segment or industry the startup is going for. He spoke of the agile mindset he applied to his business, to think about the customers and what their actual problems are. Ultimately, to create a product or service people will want to pay for. The acquirement of FlashStock by Shutterstock was unintentional and stemmed from a dodgy press release landing on the right person’s desk which quickly created a valuable industry relationship. Grant and Shutter Stock did not consider a merger till the two realised through broader industry conversations that they were on the same trajectory.
The final thought Munro left regarding startups was: “Talk is cheap, just do it, there is an overabundance of ideas and a shortage of actual doing. If you really want to do it, it’s not going to work unless you do it.”
Mentioned in the podcast:
Stutterstock Custom (previously FlashStock)
Shutterstock
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