Olapic: Migrating the Business Model

This case deals with the implementation and launch of a start-up (Olapic) created by three Spanish graduates of the MBA program at Columbia Business School. Olapic, headquartered in New York, offers a visual commerce platform that lets any type of brand interact with its customers using photographs. The case accompanies the entrepreneurial process associated with the project, from the conception of the initial business model, the mobilization of resources, the initial validation of the value proposal, the modification of the business model to focus on new segments, the first financing round and the company's first income. The entrepreneurs redefined their business model more than once since the company was founded. Initially, they focused on the wedding industry, but later they detected a business opportunity in the media sector. As a result, they adopted their initial business model to meet the needs of that type of client, with the aim of taking advantage of the opportunity, which led them to earning their first income. Later on, in 2012, they identified a strong growth potential for their company with customers using e-commerce platforms as the main channel, or a complementary channel, for marketing their products. As such, they undertook a new adaptation of their platform and their business model, which slowly became the company's third business line. In less than two years, they were able to raise $800,000 in an initial financing round. These resources allowed them to lay the foundations for the new growth phase. In less than two years, they had grown from five to 20 employees and, in December 2012, they were generating monthly recurring revenue of more than $54,800 in the media segments (77%) and e-commerce (23%), to which they added $33,000 more each month in revenue from campaigns and trials, when just 12 months earlier they barely had any income at all.