This is an interview done with the team behind Dupe Photos, read their story below! If you, or anyone you know, would like to be highlighted in The Zillennial Zine, shoot us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram!
Tell us your story! What made you want to start your own business and what has the process been like so far?
Payton and I (Cora) went to college together studying graphic design and have been besties ever since. I’m a social media manager and P is a creative director. We’ve both been in the creative industry for over 6 years and we always joke about how we’d be the perfect duo to start a business together, but we didn’t quite know what that business would look like.
We were hanging out one night, laughing about how we can’t believe we were still having to use the same websites we used 8 years ago to find stock photos. ALSO that we were still using the exact same images we used back in 2016 for creative projects today.
That’s when it hit us. THIS was the business we wanted to start. We both had massive camera rolls, we could start uploading our own photos and then get other creatives to upload their own photos. If only we had someone to build the site…?
Lucky for us, I’m dating Jimmy—our third co-founder that has an MS in Computer Science! It took a little convincing (imagine trying to tell a guy who has 9 photos on instagram, that you want to start a stock imagery website specifically for the social media + graphic design girlies). But we persuaded him, and a year later we launched Dupe!
What are some accomplishments or milestones you’ve reached lately? What makes you love what you do?
We just hit 10k followers on Instagram which is absolutely crazy knowing we had 200 followers less than a month ago. We also have over 5000 users on the site and that number is growing daily.
We truly wake up every day in awe of the amazing creators that are uploading on Dupe. We’re still small enough right now where we know a lot of them by name and have even started recognizing their style. Our conversations each morning sound something like this…
“Omg did you see (insert name)’s new uploads?” “YES! I’m obsessed with her. Her photos are so good, we should use one of them in our next post.”
We worked on Dupe for a year before we ever started promoting on social. The recent traction it has gained (completely organic) has been so affirming. We love knowing what we’ve created was desperately needed in the space and to know that it’s also introducing others to new creatives is the cherry on top.
Tell us all about Dupe and what it was made for!!
On the surface, we provide a relatable, social-first image bank and in doing so we support creators through connections and visibility. What we want to turn it into in the future is a platform for brands to hire creators for personalized content as well!
We realized quickly when we were building out the site that while gathering images, we were also gathering talent and we want to provide a starting point for the creators whose work is going unnoticed. But we have to have a community of creators before we can get brands interested. Our ultimate goal for Dupe is to get creators paid but it’s going to take some work getting there!
Do you have any advice for someone who is starting their own business?
Surround yourself with good people and stick with it. You are going to constantly question yourself and your business. Having people to help hold you accountable and lift you up when you’re doubting your process is key.
There’s also going to be days when you feel like nothing is moving the needle—the Tiktok views are low, no ones coming to the website, etc—you HAVE to focus on the small wins and keep working. It’s daunting but all part of the process!
What do you want our readers to know about you and your platform?
Truly how thankful we are for all the creators who have uploaded to Dupe solely in good faith because they are excited about this new platform. We get DMs and comments everyday thanking us for creating this site, but it wouldn’t exist without the support of all the amazing content creators we have on there already.
Check out Dupe Photos online!!
Instagram: @dupephotos
TikTok: @dupephotos
Website: http://www.dupephotos.com/
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