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This App Makes It Easier To Combine Photos Into One Shared Album

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Photo Butler

Over 2 billion people have smartphones and they’re snapping photos 24/7. But one of the biggest challenges following an event like a wedding, a birthday party, a graduation party, a sports game, a concert, etc. is getting people to share their photos – particularly genuine, candid ones, free from filters and hashtags. Photo Butler aims to solve this problem by offering a free mobile app for users to automatically share their best photos in one central location. With Photo Butler, hosts can create or schedule a photo stream for a specific event and invite guests to view and contribute without having to manually send text messages or emails with downgraded images or file storage service links.

Based in Boston, Photo Butler was founded by Andy Goldfarb. The team behind Photo Butler have worked with each other multiple times at Apple and several other Boston startups such as Quattro, m-Qube, BlueFin Labs, Care.com, Nanigans and Upromise. In fact, the company has over 60 connections as a group.

Goldfarb conceived of the idea for Photo Butler in February 2015 and brought on Joe Cuccinelli, COO, and David Benaim, CTO, as co-founders in 2016. After the company added several more technology, operational and marketing professionals, the Photo Butler app was released on the Apple App Store in March 2017.

The person that starts the photo stream on Photo Butler can invite others to contribute using a personalized code or SMS. To make the process of sharing photos easier during that moment, that photo will be shared instantly and automatically to a private album. And Photo Butler’s patented algorithms will display the best shots so viewers aren’t bogged down viewing duplicate or blurry photos. Plus, there is advanced facial recognition technology for identifying people to offer easier search.

Photo Butler

Photo Butler has attracted a number of regional and national organizations. For example, Bridal Wars, a national competition and bridal show, has been creating photo streams using Photo Butler for all their events. And the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), a two-day fundraising bike-a-thon that raises more money for charity than any other athletic fundraising event in the country, did as well. Cuccinelli told me that Photo Butler partnered with PMC because he is an avid cyclist and was committed to riding in his 5th challenge with the organization as part of Team Kermit.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to bring my personal and professional worlds together. We approached PMC with the idea of sponsoring the 2017 event and the rest is history. Six-hundred riders participated in the streams and shared over 9,000 photos during the two-day event,” said Cuccinelli.

When I asked Photo Butler founder and Chief Butler Andy Goldfarb how the idea for the company came together, he told me that he was always passionate about photography and organized more than 70,000 family photos over the years.

Photo Butler

“I ended up helping other people with their memories – bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, 75th birthday parties, you name it. When I realized how busy I was with other things, I decided that I needed to give everyone their own butler – their own photo butler. I told my daughter my idea and she said, why don’t you call the company Photo Butler?” said Goldfarb in the interview. Goldfarb pointed out that it only takes a second or two to take a photo, but it takes 45 seconds or more to upload and text it and/or post it which takes you out of the moment. Photo Butler does the sharing for you so that you can stay in the moment, free of distraction.

Often times, people share photos using hashtags for Instagram or shared albums on Google Photos. But Photo Butler offers several advantages over other services.

“Photo Butler is uncurated content, shared auto-magically, privately with friends, family or attendees at an event. Our algorithms allow you to relive memories in an instant without the hassle of labeling and sorting through photos. For example, the average wedding will get between 500-1500 photos, and we identify the best 200-300 photos. Photo Butler captures, shares, saves and sorts your photos so you can live life fully present, free of distraction,” added Goldfarb. “We don’t compete with social networks. We’re a social media enhancer. We provide a richer set of user-generated content. We help brands, influencers and celebrities share photos with their fans more easily, and with algorithms to make it easier to digest. Our engagement is impressive, with over 3x views per photo and 95 percent of streams viewed, and we’ll continue to build on that engagement. Our content really connects with people because it is from people that they care about and events that matter to them.”

What does the future hold for Photo Butler? The company plans to partner with more organizations across different verticals in the near future.

“People are taking more pictures than ever before,” noted Goldfarb, “but the ability to share these photos hasn’t kept pace. Life is a collaborative experience; photo sharing should be too. Photo Butler is changing the way the world shares memories.”