ANDY GOLDFARB ON HIS NEWEST INVENTION

It is not often that you hear the words humble and tech titan to describe the same person. But then again Andy Goldfarb is no ordinary guy. As co-founder and Executive Managing Director of Globespan Capital Partners he is constantly on the go searching for new investment opportunities while evaluating and negotiating new investments. But this Boston-based venture capitalist does it with such a sense of grace and integrity that is unrivaled in the shark-infested, dog-eat-dog world of the alpha male driven realm of technology.

''I believe the two greatest gifts you can give are love and laughter,'' is very much his personal mantra and he exhibits that day in and day out. Already recognized by the influential Forbes magazine as one of the Top 100 Dealmakers in the world, you would never know it after spending some time with this visionary because he never flouts all the usual characteristics associated with the typical big shot mogul. These days, the genius tech titan is focused on Photo Butler, his latest invention. Photo Butler is an app with which he intends to re-invent the social media revolution. And he recently sat with the writer to talk up his newest baby.

GEORGE WAYNE -Talk about the origins, the early ideas, notion, for this new App creation Photo Butler.
ANDY GOLDFARB: I started Photo Butler because I believe the two greatest gifts you can give are love and laughter.

GW – Which is a great mantra to have and support – the gift of love and laughter. But how is Photo Butler a game changer in the world of social media applications?
AG – We are changing the way the world shares memories.

GW – In what way?
AG – We give you instant, automatic private photo sharing and there is no one else that can do this but Photo Butler. And so what we enable you to do is to set up a stream for an event and ''automagically'' the photos are shown. So basically, it takes three seconds to take a smartphone photo and forty seconds to post it. And I believe that people are so busy texting and sharing that they are actually missing the real moment, so I want people to really absorb the moment, the memories wherever they may be with this App. Simply meaning that with Photo Butler the minute you take an image it is ''automagically'' shared with your very select chosen group. So I want you to be able to share the memories and the love and the laughter and all the mundane moments free of distraction. So I want you to be able to share the memories and the connective essence without being distracted. Texting photos is so 2016.

GW – So Photo Butler is the future.
AG- Yes! What we have done is unique. So, for instance, say you are at a wedding where a hundred guests can take up to one thousand photos and all the guests have joined on to Photo Butler then document the event for a life time of memories. You download the Photo Butler and tap in the given code and it's as easy as that. One of the first huge events where we launched Photo Butler was the Pan Mass Challenge which is the largest athletic cancer charity event in the country. Over three days, 5,000 riders downloaded Photo Butler and were able to share their memories without the distraction of texting and posting. Once you do that — you will never again have to say text me a photo or can you take an image with my phone because all the images are shared amongst everyone. Being in the stream enables you to be fully present in ways like never before. And these images are only shared amongst all the people invited say to a wedding or maybe it's a charity event weekend. It's all shared ''auto-magically'.'

GW – And the launch was when?
AG – We launched quietly in March and the broad launch was in New York this past Fashion Week. And we already have thousands of users.

GW- And yet I will ask once again do we really need another App to crowd my Smartphone?
AG – This is unique – as I said – because it is the only way to ''automagically'' share photos to a vast controlled group and with immediate impact. There are a lot of other ways of sharing and they are all very manual. Photo Butler is unique for that one reason. Photos are not manually posted and it is far more seamless than any other App out there.

GW – So it is event specific.
AG – Yes, for the most part, but no event is too big or too small. It may be a dinner with three friends or it may be a beach party for three hundred. Whatever the event, this App allows you to truly enjoy the moment and collect the photo memories like never before. And so now the next effort is to work with bands and brands to better allow them to enable their audiences to have authentic user generated content. For instance, a band could use the Photo Butler backstage behind the scenes and share with their fan base in that context. What is more, we also have unique algorithms that sort through each and every photo to make sure the quality is pitch perfect. We analyze almost two hundred pieces of data for every photo so that every image is as photo perfect as possible. Photo Butler also allows us to customize the algorithms to provide more featured content. So, for instance, for the Pan Mass Challenge users wanted to highlight finish line photos or celebration photos and we were able to adjust the algorithms to provide that featured content. At the end of the day there is no question that Photo Butler will help enhance your social media presence.

GW – How did this idea come about ? Was it a brain storm session with a group of tech geeks over herbal tea?
AG – No. The idea was actually mine. I came up with it. I have been doing this for twenty years and it comes from my heart. I have been documenting my family for twenty years and then it dawned on me that I needed to give everyone their own Photo Butler. It was my daughter Lucy who insisted I call it Photo Butler and so I bought the domain name. I then wrote the business plan and assembled the team to create it. I have investments in over 150 companies and I recruited the best minds from all those companies to help create Photo Butler. Seventy percent of the team I assembled have worked together before and this is what we have created. We built this App because we want to change the way the world shares memories.

GW – And there is no doubt in my mind that you will Andy Goldfarb! GW completely and enthusiastically supports the notion that you are the coolest and smartest and nicest under-the-radar tech titan genius in America. And the world will come to know your name and acknowledge your particular genius and gifts to mankind in short order.