Photo-sharing site launches at Bunbury Music Festival

College students are known for a variety of photo-worthy road trip experiences, but not all of these images are intended for future employers. At this summer’s Bunbury Music Festival, a new website, Capstory, launched with the promise of creating a safe online space for group photo sharing. The website was created by Mason native Suprasanna Mishra and his Ohio State University roommate, Dustin Studer, after their own road trip to California. Mishra and Studer are slated to be juniors at OSU next year, though they’re considering taking time away from school to work on their business full-time. They’ve already received an Imagining Grant from CincyTech and a round of funding. Unlike many cell-phone-driven products aimed at millennials, Capstory doesn’t require a smartphone. Mishra says this is a nod to groups of students, not all of whom can afford higher-priced data plans. Whoever creates a Capstory capsule must log-in to the company’s website and create a temporary password. From there, other participants are notified via email or text message, and can contribute photographs to the capsule simply by texting them in. Later, users log-in to the website to see the compiled media. Best of all, “the only people who can see it [the capsule] are whoever you invite,” says Mishra. Capstory is currently in beta testing after sparking interest at the Bunbury Music Festival, where a public capsule was set up to show attendees how the website works. Mishra says the product’s target demographic is college students, so he and Studer plan to keep Capstory free to end-users; a plan to monetize the website without charging users is under development. Most of all, says Mishra, “We hope our demographic finds Capstory useful and easy.” By Robin Donovan