Local boys take on big dogs with easy SimplePrints app

‘Iolani graduates Matthew Sullivan and Landen Buckley have just made SimplePrints, their photo book creation app, available on Android, and its iOS version for iPhones already has hit the 1 million installations mark.

Wait, you mean a couple of Hawaii boys took on photo book industry big dogs Shutterfly and Snapfish?

Yes.

First you should know that photo books are bound books of photos you have taken.

In the old days it was about getting your film developed into prints and putting them manually into a photo album or scrapbook, but more recently you have been able to upload images from a digital camera or smartphone to a website, customizing the final look of the book based on various options.

The website then professionally reproduces and binds the book and mails it to you.

The idea for SimplePrints was spawned by conversations with loved ones and friends about how long it took them to use the established companies’ sites to create a photo book.

"Both of our moms have the same problem," said Sullivan, founder and chief executive officer. "They want to make a book for a trip they’ve taken," and because they know it’s going to take a long time, they keep putting it off but then wind up setting aside 10 hours over a weekend to create the book.

With SimplePrints "you can make it while you’re sitting at the airport, in 20 minutes, on your phone," he told TheBuzz.

The SimplePrints app is free to download.

Shutterfly’s photo books start at $12.99, unless there is some sort of discount promotion going on.

Snapfish sells photo books from $11.99 for the 5-by-7-inch size, or higher prices for larger books.

Both companies also sell other customizable products.

SimplePrints’ books start at $14.95 for hardback or softcover. While the company doesn’t compete on price, and it only deals in photo books at the moment, one of its main selling points is ease of use.

The team created the app without "all the distracting features that users get hung up on (on competing sites) and created a pretty frictionless experience," Sullivan said in a statement.

Apparently, it is even simple enough for the tech-averse beloved elder in your life.

The 2004 ‘Iolani grads have collected testimonials from customers including Hilda Take­yama, who said, "I am a grandmother and not as quick with all of this technology stuff compared to my children and grandchildren. I love your product and had a great time creating my first photo journal," and she thanked them.

A younger customer who is a new mom also is apparently a big fan.

"I’m so busy as a working mom and now I don’t have to feel bad not being able to take the time to scrapbook everything," said Susan O’Sullivan. "The fact that I don’t have to take the pics and print them somewhere else is awesome. I’ve documented my son’s six months in six different books and it only took an hour!"

The partners are approaching 100,000 orders, and 93 percent of SimplePrints customers "say they’re going to buy again … they’re happy with the product in general," Sullivan said.

In the near future, upgrades to the app will include automatic recommendations of users’ best photos, enhanced detection of blurry images, and facial recognition.

Neither Sullivan nor Buckley are code-writers, so they have a team of people who created the nuts and bolts of the SimplePrints app based on their vision.

Buckley, who has a law degree, is SimplePrints’ head of product. He looks forward to the day when Hawaii’s entrepreneurially inclined won’t feel the need to relocate to Silicon Valley to launch a tech company.

"I’ve been seeing the needs of the entrepreneur community in Hawaii," he said. "There have been interesting things happening with tech incubators and small-business centers," and "hopefully in five or 10 years things are going to get better … so people don’t have to leave."

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On the Net:

» www.getsimpleprints.com

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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.