INTERVIEW: “WE HAVE A PRODUCT THAT IS COMPLETELY NEW IN TERMS OF ITS TYPE AND FUNCTIONALITY”.

Axel Lilienblum is a physicist. Technically, that is. But today he is one thing above all: the founder of Grow.Photos, a start-up founded last year that takes a completely new approach to the subject of photo books. Grow.Photos is a photo book that literally grows with the user and is a subscription-based model. Axel Lilienblum talks to Bernd Zipper in the new episode of Zipper’s Insights to explain what it’s all about, what role apps and automation play, and what the functional principle is in general.

Read a slightly shortened version of the podcast interview here or listen to the conversation in full and in German on ZIPPERS INSIGHTS or on Spotify.

Bernd Zipper: Welcome to Zipper’s Insights and a new story about an “old” product. Today’s topic is photo books, but a very special one. For this we have Axel Lilienblum from Grow.Photos on the other end of the line. I’m calling Berlin, hello Axel.

Axel Lilienblum: Hello Bernd, hi.

Bernd Zipper: I’m curious if we can uncover today what’s so special about your photo book. But first let’s get to you, because you’re actually a physicist, right?

Axel Lilienblum: That’s right. Yes, I studied physics. At first, I thought I was going to be a physicist, but during my studies I realized that research is not right for me.

Bernd Zipper: I have quotes here, including ” You forgot me on the balcony,” “I’m here, but the front door isn’t,” or “Still drunk?”

Axel Lilienblum: Right, that rings a bell, yes.

Bernd Zipper: At the time, you reinvented yourself with a product for which you simply put curious SMS messages and chat histories on a website.

Axel Lilienblum: Exactly. But let us return to my studies in physics – it’s not necessarily clear and it’s not straightforward. After my studies, I first became a management consultant, for a short time. But then I wanted to become an entrepreneur and tried out all sorts of things. I was particularly interested in products and marketing. In the end, I founded the website ” SMS von gestern Nacht” (“Last night’s text messages”) together with a friend, where we did exactly what you just said: collected and published curious chat messages that users could send to us anonymously. That was in 2009, way before the smartphone boom. We went viral with that, although virality didn’t really exist in Germany yet. “SMS von gestern Nacht” went through the roof and was in all the media. Then Rowohlt Verlag approached us, and over the next few years we sold almost a million books with them, paperbacks featuring the all-time favorites. But the website itself was also super successful. Later, there were also apps, which were also very successful with a million downloads.

Bernd Zipper: The website itself is no longer online, but if you Google it, you can still find a bit. However: If you do something like that, how do you come to think about photo books?

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