would select five of the 26 MassChallenge finalists for its FastTrack program, and provide seed investments to two of those five. McLaughlin says he’s in the process of raising a bigger seed round for the company.
Skype is the name in live video chatting, but as far as the asynchronous stuff goes, why not just e-mail or point someone to a YouTube clip?
“I think this idea of the attachments,” is what sets Vsnap apart, says McLaughlin. “Being able to use a short video and a really easy interface to provide context for the attachment personalizes it.”
This could come in handy for someone like a wedding vendor who sends out a bid and price rate to prospective customers and explains the nuances of the services or product they’re offering at that price, he says.
And the neatly packaged product and 60-second limit makes for a tighter presentation than directing someone to your business’ YouTube channel, says McLaughlin.
Vsnap certainly isn’t the only company thinking of new ways to deliver short, easy-to-produce web videos for customers. Another Mass Challenge 2011 contestant, 1Minute40Seconds, is working on it as well. That company going about it a bit differently, allowing users to input text, voice, and video content, and using its back-end technology to pop out a more produced video message.
McLaughlin is making it his aim to be the go-to technology in what he sees as a booming field. “We think that video messaging is going to be a common behavior in 24 months, and ubiquitous in 48 months,” he says McLaughlin. “Our goal is to make Vsnap the verb of that ubiquitous behavior.
