GigaOM » Daniel Raffel

Snapguide brings its how-to guides to iPad

Erica Ogg — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:00:04 +0000

Since Snapguide’s iPhone app went live in March, it is up to about 1 million active users, who are uploading quick how-to guides on everything from how to clean your Keurig brewer to making salted caramel glaze to switching your iPhone to a prepaid AT&T subscription plan. In all, there are “tens of thousands” of quick how-to guides uploaded to the service so far. Having realized success on the iPhone, now Snapguide is now making the leap to the big screen. On Thursday, the iPad app will go live in the iOS App Store.

The app has come a long way from creator Daniel Raffel’s initial inspiration to share a complicated sourdough bread recipe with a couple of his friends. The app has always been mobile first: the initial idea was to use the iPhone’s high-quality built-in camera to take a few snaps of the steps of your activity, then quickly tap in a few instructions, then upload to the site no matter where you happen to be. But now that the content is there, the team at Heavy Bits, which makes Snapguide, wants to broaden its user base — that’s where Apple’s iPad comes in.

“The iPhone is probably more natural [for uploading guides], but for consumption, the iPad is a bit better,” Raffel told me. “For us, we want people to create content regardless of platform.”

Snapguide not only has been embraced by users, but Apple has heavily featured it in the App Store as well. Still, Raffel doesn’t want to be just an iOS app. He foresees an Android app someday, but also wants to be a resource for those on the web too. That’s where the big opportunities for expansion is going to come, he said.

“I’d love to see us in first couple Google results. To me, that’s what success ultimately starts to look like — when people on the internet are stumbling on our content when they’re trying to learn to do things,” Raffel said.

The way he envisions doing that is hooking up with a big brand or publisher to share content. He has nothing to share on that just yet, but it’s a good hint about what to expect next from the app. “You can imagine a large magazine or brand creating content on our platform and being promoted; being able to click and find out where to buy the supplies [in a guide] … we want to leverage a bunch of awesome content creators that have existing networks and brands to distribute their content here as well.”

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How to cash in on creativity: Snapguide grabs $5M round

Erica Ogg — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:49:43 +0000

Creativity apps on Apple’s iOS platform aren’t just a consumer fad — investors want in too. Snapguide, an app that lets anyone create an easy how-to guide with their iPhone, has snapped up a $5 million investment round, according to an SEC filing and later confirmed by CEO Daniel Raffel on Twitter.

The Series A round comes from Atlas Venture, Index Ventures and CrunchFund, and arrives not too long after the app’s debut in late March. Snapguide was an insta-hit with DIY-ers, and recently kicked off an integration deal with the other service popular with the creative set, Pinterest. In late April, CEO and co-founder Raffel said the app had “hundreds of thousands of users” who were spending an average of 23 minutes within the app.

Snapguide is one of several recently launched apps and services that tap into the creative and productive potential of mobile devices, particularly the iOS platform. Snapguide and its ilk are part of a larger trend, something that has only begun to be realized with powerful mobile devices. As Raffel told me in April when talking about Snapguide’s sometimes surprising appeal: ”What I didn’t realize is that we were building a platform for people to participate in a public talent show. They can share all these things they’re good at — it’s something that’s clearly been missing.”

Here’s a video Raffel did with GigaOM recently where he explains how to hire the right people:

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Snapguide is the first mobile app with Pinterest integration

Laura Hazard Owen — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:54:47 +0000

Snapguide, the three-week-old iPhone and web app that lets users create “how-to” guides with pictures and videos, is the first mobile app to integrate with Pinterest for “seamless sharing.”

To get Pinterest integration, Snapguide users have to have the latest version of the Pinterest iOS app installed.

Pinterest has not yet released its API to the public, and Snapguide worked with Pinterest to make the integration happen. “I am confident they are doing everything they can to give developers high-quality APIs to interact with,” Snapguide founder Daniel Raffel told me. “I’m sure some great news will be coming soon and that when they launch developers will be very happy.”

Raffel said that since its launch, Snapguide has gained “hundreds of thousands of users” who spend an average of 23 minutes within the app.

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How to hire a killer product launch team

Chris Albrecht — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:00:51 +0000

When Daniel Raffel started working on Snapguide, he knew that building the right launch team was as important as the idea itself. As he looked for the right partner and developers, he looked back at all his previous team experience — including his time working in star chef Thomas Keller‘s kitchen.

In this episode of See Founders Run, Raffel shares:

What you need to do before you even think about hiring
How you can research potential hires
How getting personal can help you compete for top level talent
The team-building philosophy he learned from Thomas Keller

Want more great guidance from a startup founder? Check out our episode with Jetpac’s Derek Dukes on running product iterations.

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