This article has been updated from the original.
People Magazine, TMZ and Us Weekly know celebrity photos are pay dirt.
Steve Granitz and Justin Kahn do as well. After selling their celebrity image gallery WireImage to Getty Images Inc. of Seattle in 2007 for about $200 million, Granitz and Kahn have been fishing around for a way to get back into the industry.
Now they think they’ve found it. In August, they launched FirstLook, an image app that aims to cut out glossy magazines from the celebrity photo market. Pulling directly from licensing deals with press photographers and galleries such as Getty Images, FirstLook has amassed more than 25 million photos of 100,000 major and minor stars. Some 15,000 to 20,000 images are added each day, said Kahn.
Direct relationships with photographers and image galleries give FirstLook users much wider access to celebrity images, he said.
“Instead of seeing one or two photos that are selected by the editor, (we’re) giving them access to the whole set,” Kahn explained.
Because receiving thousands of celebrity photos a day would be like drinking out of a fire hose, FirstLook users are sent a smaller stream of images based on their profile settings and topics they follow.
“If you are a ‘Game of Thrones’ fan and you are following the ‘Game of Thrones’ cast, you will see today’s Emilia Clarke images,” said Kahn.
The app is also organized into content sections including hunk of the day, babe of the day and band of the week as well as by events, such as awards ceremonies, concerts and film fests. Paparazzi images are offered, too, though Kahn said only public celebrity sightings are accepted, meaning covert photos taken from the bushes or a helicopter are out.
Images can be shared on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. The snaps are watermarked with FirstLook’s logo to help drive traffic back to the app.
FirstLook has raised $2.75 million from investors including Baroda Ventures in Beverly Hills, said Kahn. The startup also has gained traction with professional celebrity photographers by offering them stock in the company.
Like most image apps, FirstLook aims to make money through advertisements. The startup is considering selling corporate sponsorships for the events it covers. For example, a media company might want to sponsor photos related to the Academy Awards.
Stand on Productivity
Fancy automated standing desks aren’t just for tech executives and venture capitalists anymore. Pasadena’s Stir, a manufacturer of such desks, is convincing call centers to buy them, too.
Stir makes sleek computer-controlled desks that adjust their height automatically, allowing users to work while sitting or standing. When the desk’s sensors notice a user has been sitting for too long it nudges upward an inch, prompting the person to stand. Height can also be controlled by a touchscreen monitor embedded in the desk’s top.
But the desks don’t come cheap. The company’s flagship F1 costs $4,990 and the newer M1 runs $2,990.
Stir’s adjustable desks are touted as a tool to reduce back pain, alleviate muscle fatigue and burn calories something the desk’s computer also tracks. But now the company is generating interest from call centers looking to improve the productivity of their workers.
Stir cites a study from Miami University that says workers who were prompted to stand took less breaks than nonstanders. Over the course of three days, the study found nonstanders spent almost four times more on breaks than standers, which accounted for a 288 percent increase in break time.
Stir Chief Executive JP Labrosse, whose previous experience includes leading the engineering teams for two of the early Apple Inc. iPod programs, said the appeal to call centers is obvious.
“Call centers are just a place where companies are actively measuring productivity,” he said. “It goes straight back to the bottom line.”
And it’s not just call centers filled with hourly workers that see the productivity appeal of Stir’s automated desks, said Labrosse.
“The salary for the average worker is about $53,000 per year,” he said. “So if you think about it from that perspective, if over the course of the year you get a 6 percent productivity benefit, you can afford a $3,000 desk.”
New Chief
Mojix’s longtime chief executive and founder, Dr. Ramin Sadr, has stepped down.
Santa Monica’s Mojix makes a radio receiver that locates radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on clothing in retail shops as well as parts in manufacturing facilities or goods being shipped.
Sadr founded Mojix in 2003 and will continue to serve on the company’s board. He was replaced by Dan Doles, who was chief executive of WhereNet, a Santa Clara locations systems company, from 1997 to 2007.
Staff reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 232.
