Gadget Flow: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 06:12, 11 April 2016

Comment: "awesome products" "working constantly to take the platform to the next level" - these are statements from an advert, not an encyclopedia article. If you are wishing to advertise, WP does not accept that kind of content. LaMona (talk) 21:03, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Comment: Still not enough in-depth third-party sources overall. SwisterTwister talk 05:14, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

Launched in mid 2012, the Gadget Flow ^[1]is a product discovery platform on the web. The platform is a Greek-based startup [^[2]] [^[3]] ^[4] {{^[5]} founded by Evan Varsamis^[6], Cassie Ousta and Mike Chlionakis which now has its headquarters in Delaware, USA. It helps anyone interested with product discovery ^[7]] come across ten new products every day, all throughout the year. From creating custom feeds, search based on pricing, a private or public wishlist to exclusive discounts, the Gadget Flow ^[8]] provides a versatile platform to their users for a better online shopping experience.

Today, with a remote workforce of 18 members spread across the globe, the site^[9] has managed to receive over 200M visits and 450K mobile app downloads (Android and iOS). They feature products from crowdfunding platforms, marketplaces like Fancy, Amazon, Etsy as well as standalone ecommerce shops after going through a product evaluation process done by the team. The site viewers are mostly from the US (70%) followed by Europe (21%) and rest of the world (9%). Their popular customers include Polaroid, Satechi, Sony and more.

Early Days

Evan Varsamis, Cassie Ousta, and Mike Chliounakis ^[10] met at BCA college in 2009 in Athens, Greece. Mike was studying marketing while Cassie and Evan majored in shipping and finance. They met after class almost every day in order to work on their blog, write new content, and find potential advertisers. While researching for products to include on a blog roundup, the trio found it difficult to come across unique products on the web. Thereafter, they started a brainstorming session to figure out a better way to discover quality products online. After a couple of days, on August 15, 2012, The Gadget Flow was born.

Evan, Cassie, and Mike started by developing a simple website after purchasing a theme from ThemeForest and shared hosting with a domain name by using GoDaddy. Within two days, the team discovered and published more than 150 products from third party sellers as well as Amazon and Etsy. Each product page consisted of high quality photos, a title, a brief product description, and was finished with a “Buy Now” button that took the visitor directly to the seller’s website. After a few days they created their Facebook fan page, newsletter list, and Google Analytics account. A week later, they had over 300 products on the website with around 10,000 visits. Evan used growth hacking techniques and cross-promotion which generated an incredible 100,000 visits within two months. Next, The Gadget Flow team started doing some affiliation with Amazon and added banner ads via buysellads.com and Google AdSense, all of which produced a four-figure revenue within three months of going live.

Meanwhile, in early 2013, the team opened a media agency to help companies with their digital advertising goals, web development needs, and social media strategies. Mike was Head of Operations and was managing the majority of the agency’s customers. After hiring their first developer, John Antoniou, in mid-2013, they decided to start working on a website redesign as well as launch an iOS app. A few months later, Gadget Flow 1.1 was launched with a redesigned, custom UI. The new design increased time on site by 60%, pageviews per user by 200%, and revenue by 140%. Realizing its potential, the team decided to close their media agency and started to work full-time on The Gadget Flow.

Business Model and Product Promotion

Currently the site takes product submissions from all types of ecommerce websites as well as crowdfunding projects from Kickstarter and Indiegogo and help them gain buyers and backers respectively. The product listing includes a feature on the site and rigorous social media promotion on the web. The process starts with an evaluation by the team regarding the product’s quality and features followed by a one-time payment via PayPal. Once the payment is done, the product gets listed on the site within 24-48 hours. The packages for promotion starts from $280 and goes as high as $4299, depending on the features of promotion chosen. Based on recent site statistics, around 3380 customers have already opted for the promotion packages, 62% of them being crowdfunding projects.

User Features

The list of features offered for the Gadget Flow users as of now includes:

Exclusive Discounts and Deals
Public or Private wish list
Live Currency Conversion (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP)
Custom Feed (based on their favorite Categories)
10 New Curated Products Every day

Mobile Apps

The Gadget Flow mobile apps are available on Android and iOS ^[11]. They have had over 450K downloads and are also recommended by App Picker ^[12] as one of the “Best iPad Apps for Gadgets” and by eConsultancy ^[13] as an “Inspirational Mobile Ecommerce Website”. Some of the iOS app reviews ^[14] say “This app has a sleek, modern look and is easy to use. They have a wide selection of gadgets that is constantly growing. Not to mention each gadget has its own description, so there is no questions about what anything is or does. All in all, it’s a great app that I would recommend to anyone looking for cool new gadgets” and “Wish list is perfect because I can remember the stuff I like and also save gift ideas.”

Event Participations

The Gadget Flow team has been participating in several tech events since 2014. Some of them being the Open Coffee Athens ^[15] held in October, 2014, Web Summit Dublin ^[16] ^[17]^[18]held in November 2014 and The Next Web Conference NYC ^[19] held in November 2015.

Team

The Gadget Flow^[20] team is a remote workforce with 18 members spread across the globe. They stay synced by using various online project management tools and apps such as Slack, Podio, Intercom, Invision and more. Their team details go as follows:

Evan Varsamis : Founder and CEO, Athens, Greece
Cassie Ousta : Co-Founder / Head of Sales, Athens, Greece
Mike Chlionakis : Co-Founder / Marketing Manager, Athens, Greece
John Antoniou : CTO, Athens, Greece
Madhurima Nag : Head of Operations, Kolkata, India
Weston Lanpher : Video Editor, Oklahoma, USA
Mark Myerson : Blog Author, Exeter, UK
Yannis Bassis : Front-End Developer, Athens, Greece
Ashley Timms : Editor-in-Chief, London. UK
Michael Cheng : Blog Author, Louisiana, USA
Kayla Matthews : Blog Author, New York, USA
David Reis : Front-End Developer, London, United Kingdom
Christina Tsakona : Legal, San Francisco, USA
Vasilis Fouroulis : App Developer, Athens, Greece
Yegor Karpechenkov : App Developer, Ukraine, Odessa
Paige Thompson : Customer Support, Washington DC, USA
John Varsamis : Tech Consultant, New York, USA
Sara Bisulli : Customer Support, Ravenna, Italy

Platform Updates

The site has had several updates ever since its launch. Their latest Platform Version 2.1.3 enlists a new feature such as live currency conversion for users to check the product pricing in USD, GBP, JPY, EUR. Some of their noteworthy previous updates include infinite scrolling, wishlist creation, trending section, discounts and deals section, custom feeds and more.

References

[1] ttp://thegadgetflow.com/ The Gadget Flow

[2] Τρεις Έλληνες, μια startup και 200 εκατ. επισκέπτες! http://www.fortunegreece.com/

[3] Εσύ ξέρεις το Gadget Flow http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/

[4] 7 Sites for Holiday Gift Inspiration http://mashable.com/

[5] ttp://cdn.thegadgetflow.com/pcmagazine.pdf PC Magazine USA}

[6] Athens Radio Interview

[7] Snap Munk http://www.snapmunk.com/

[8] Kickrank http://www.kickrank.com/

[9] 59Shopping online: 15 oggetti originali, che renderanno migliore la vostra giornata al lavoro http://www.elle.it/

[10] ttp://thegadgetflow.com/blog/gadget-flow-story-startup-greece/ The Gadget Flow Story

[11] Weekly Apps: KeyMe, We Heart It, Gadget Flow and more http://abduzeedo.com/

[12] The best iPad apps for gadgets http://www.apppicker.com/

[13] 14 inspiring mobile commerce websites https://econsultancy.com

[14] Gadget Flow App on iTunes

[15] Open Coffee Athens LXVII (Oct 3, 2014)

[16] Greece Lightning – 12 Great Startups from the South-East corner of Europe https://blog.websummit.net/

[17] Eleutheros Typos

[18] Web Summit 2014: Οι εντυπώσεις των Ελλήνων http://www.fortunegreece.com/

[19] 5 startups to watch from the US East Coast http://thenextweb.com/

[20] Gadget Flow on Product Hunt https://www.producthunt.com/

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ----
-Launched in mid 2012, the Gadget Flow is a product discovery platform on the web. The platform is a Greek-based startup [<ref>[http://www.fortunegreece.com/article/tris-ellines-mia-startup-ke-200-ekat-episkeptes/ Τρεις Έλληνες, μια startup και 200 εκατ. επισκέπτες!] http://www.fortunegreece.com/</ref>] [<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/evan-varsamis/-gadget-flow_b_9296608.html Εσύ ξέρεις το Gadget Flow] http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/</ref>] <ref>[http://mashable.com/2013/11/29/gift-inspiration-sites/#gpZnB_dUfgq1 7 Sites for Holiday Gift Inspiration] http://mashable.com/</ref> <ref>[http://cdn.thegadgetflow.com/thegadgetflowusapcmagazine.pdf 10 best products of the year] PC Magazine USA</ref>founded by Evan Varsamis<ref>[http://cdn.thegadgetflow.com/984_radio_interview.mp3 Athens Radio Interview]</ref>, Cassie Ousta and Mike Chlionakis which now has its headquarters in Delaware, USA. It helps anyone interested with product discovery come across ten new products every day, all throughout the year. From creating custom feeds, search based on pricing, a private or public wishlist to exclusive discounts, the Gadget Flow provides a versatile platform to their users for a better online shopping experience.
+Launched in mid 2012, the Gadget Flow <ref>http://thegadgetflow.com/ The Gadget Flow</ref>is a product discovery platform on the web. The platform is a Greek-based startup [<ref>[http://www.fortunegreece.com/article/tris-ellines-mia-startup-ke-200-ekat-episkeptes/ Τρεις Έλληνες, μια startup και 200 εκατ. επισκέπτες!] http://www.fortunegreece.com/</ref>] [<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/evan-varsamis/-gadget-flow_b_9296608.html Εσύ ξέρεις το Gadget Flow] http://www.huffingtonpost.gr/</ref>] <ref>[http://mashable.com/2013/11/29/gift-inspiration-sites/#gpZnB_dUfgq1 7 Sites for Holiday Gift Inspiration] http://mashable.com/</ref> {{<ref>http://cdn.thegadgetflow.com/pcmagazine.pdf PC Magazine USA}</ref>} founded by Evan Varsamis<ref>[http://cdn.thegadgetflow.com/984_radio_interview.mp3 Athens Radio Interview]</ref>, Cassie Ousta and Mike Chlionakis which now has its headquarters in Delaware, USA. It helps anyone interested with product discovery <ref>[http://www.snapmunk.com/gadget-junkies-gift-shoppers-may-want-check-gadgetflow/ Snap Munk] http://www.snapmunk.com/</ref>] come across ten new products every day, all throughout the year. From creating custom feeds, search based on pricing, a private or public wishlist to exclusive discounts, the Gadget Flow <ref>[http://www.kickrank.com/the-gadget-flow-product-discovery-platform/ Kickrank] http://www.kickrank.com/</ref>] provides a versatile platform to their users for a better online shopping experience.
 Today, with a remote workforce of 18 members spread across the globe, the site<ref>[http://www.elle.it/Moda/Shopping/Shopping-online-15-oggetti-indispensabili-da-comprare-per-ufficio 59Shopping online: 15 oggetti originali, che renderanno migliore la vostra giornata al lavoro] http://www.elle.it/</ref> has managed to receive over 200M visits and 450K mobile app downloads (Android and iOS). They feature products from crowdfunding platforms, marketplaces like Fancy, Amazon, Etsy as well as standalone ecommerce shops after going through a product evaluation process done by the team. The site viewers are mostly from the US (70%) followed by Europe (21%) and rest of the world (9%). Their popular customers include Polaroid, Satechi, Sony and more.
@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 == Early Days ==
-Evan Varsamis, Cassie Ousta, and Mike Chliounakis met at BCA college in 2009 in [[Athens|Athens,]] Greece. Mike was studying marketing while Cassie and Evan majored in shipping and finance. They met after class almost every day in order to work on their blog, write new content, and find potential advertisers. While researching for products to include on a blog roundup, the trio found it difficult to come across unique products on the web. Thereafter, they started a brainstorming session to figure out a better way to discover quality products online. After a couple of days, on August 15, 2012, The Gadget Flow was born.
+Evan Varsamis, Cassie Ousta, and Mike Chliounakis <ref>http://thegadgetflow.com/blog/gadget-flow-story-startup-greece/ The Gadget Flow Story</ref> met at BCA college in 2009 in [[Athens|Athens,]] Greece. Mike was studying marketing while Cassie and Evan majored in shipping and finance. They met after class almost every day in order to work on their blog, write new content, and find potential advertisers. While researching for products to include on a blog roundup, the trio found it difficult to come across unique products on the web. Thereafter, they started a brainstorming session to figure out a better way to discover quality products online. After a couple of days, on August 15, 2012, The Gadget Flow was born.
 Evan, Cassie, and Mike started by developing a simple website after purchasing a theme from [[ThemeForest]] and shared hosting with a domain name by using [[GoDaddy]]. Within two days, the team discovered and published more than 150 products from third party sellers as well as Amazon and Etsy. Each product page consisted of high quality photos, a title, a brief product description, and was finished with a “Buy Now” button that took the visitor directly to the seller’s website. After a few days they created their [[Facebook]] fan page, newsletter list, and [[Google Analytics]] account. A week later, they had over 300 products on the website with around 10,000 visits. Evan used growth hacking techniques and cross-promotion which generated an incredible 100,000 visits within two months. Next, The Gadget Flow team started doing some affiliation with Amazon and added banner ads via [[BuySellAds.com|buysellads.com]] and [[Google AdSense]], all of which produced a four-figure revenue within three months of going live.
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 Currently the site takes product submissions from all types of ecommerce websites as well as crowdfunding projects from [[Kickstarter]] and [[Indiegogo]] and help them gain buyers and backers respectively. The product listing includes a feature on the site and rigorous social media promotion on the web. The process starts with an evaluation by the team regarding the product’s quality and features followed by a one-time payment via [[PayPal]]. Once the payment is done, the product gets listed on the site within 24-48 hours. The packages for promotion starts from $280 and goes as high as $4299, depending on the features of promotion chosen. Based on recent site statistics, around 3380 customers have already opted for the promotion packages, 62% of them being crowdfunding projects.
-== Growth Hacks==
-Right from its launch, the Gadget Flow team has used several growth hacking techniques to grab more viewers. These include periodic giveaways of exclusive gadgets and services such as Dropbox and [[Evernote]]. From iPhone Cases to smart mattress covers to the [[Apple Watch]], they have been quite successful in generating better visits with lucrative sweepstakes. Two other features that came up as a result of their growth hacks are the Discounts and Deals section on the site as well as the Wishlist feature, all designed exclusively for Gadget Flow users who sign up on the site. While the former gives them premium access to discounts on major products, the latter helps in saving products for future reference.
 == User Features ==
@@ Line 74: / Line 70: @@
 The site has had several updates ever since its launch. Their latest Platform Version 2.1.3 enlists a new feature such as live currency conversion for users to check the product pricing in USD, GBP, JPY, EUR.  Some of their noteworthy previous updates include infinite scrolling, wishlist creation, trending section, discounts and deals section, custom feeds and more.
-== Funding ==
-The Gadget Flow is a self-sustained company with no funding acquired as of now.
-== Upcoming Features ==
-The new line of features coming up in the later half of 2016 would be a Subscription Box Service (bimonthly box with curated products selected by the team), [[Android Wear]] and Apple Watch apps.
 == References ==