SARAH Stenhouse came up with the idea for Pixey.io in 2015 while trying to source an image in her former role at an advertising agency. A frequent Instagram user, Sarah knew the platform offered more creative photos that move away from the traditional staged stock photography. Pixey.io has plans to dominate the $3 billion stock photography market with help from the £243,000 funding it received from Equity Gap, Gabriel and Scottish Investment.
Name: Sarah Stenhouse
Age: 27
Position: CEO and founder
WHAT’S YOUR BUSINESS CALLED?
PIXEY.IO
WHERE IS IT BASED?
EDINBURGH but it is an international business.
WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
THE business was founded in 2015. I was working in advertising and a client wanted to do a fathers’ day campaign. The images I found were cheesy and not authentic. I knew that there were better and more realistic pictures on Instagram. I thought I would be able to buy images but there wasn’t an option to do that so I decided to fill a gap in the market.
We’re trying to combat stereotypes of what stock photography gives at the moment. There was a lot of press recently about how stock images present women on periods. It said stock photos are fuelling period shame. Thinking outside the box and using more creative and candid images can help to tackle issues like this.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
WE contact photographers on Instagram to request use of their images. We then negotiate copyright and payment with them. The payment is currently one off but we are looking into subscriptions in the future.
The Instagram user gets a licence fee – they can either get the price we suggest or they can sell their images for their own price.
If a newspaper or advertiser pays a fee we take half and the Instagram user takes the other half. However, a lot of the time photographers care more about getting recognition for their photos instead of money so we’re looking into giving the fee to a mental health charity instead. We’re hoping to support one that is worldwide because we are a global business.
We also have plans to set up our own charity in the future if we can’t find a suitable one to work with.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
OUR biggest competition is a German photography company called EyeEm. They are trying to create a community that photographers create an account on. We’re not asking users to do that – they don’t have to constantly update their Instagram for us to use their photos.
EyeEm is more focused on the community aspect and has a focus on digital marketing and website building. However, we do all the work for you. All you have to do is click a button saying you’re happy for us to use your images and it doesn’t cost any money.
WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?
WE are currently working with a large, very well-known UK high street bank and they are our biggest customer so far.
We are also working with a local investment firm looking to update their website.
The main focus right now is getting the business ready to integrate with other photography platforms like Squarespace or Wix. This will give us a bigger share of the market and means people who use the images we find don’t have to worry about copyright.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
The biggest highlight would have to be working with an amazing team. To have people buy into your vision and work with you towards a common goal is one of the best feelings in the world.
Another highlight was when we were a finalist in Deloitte’s Disrupt the Enterprise 2017 awards, which recognises technology start-ups with potential and it was good to get that recognition.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS?
STOCK photography is a $3 billion market and we would like to have a good percentage of that market. We would also like to increase brand trust by changing the way stock images are presented. We think we can provide that value.
We want to create a community with our photographers and provide a mixture of lifestyle and business content.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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