Travis Smith has been modelling for only two years, but has worked in London, NYC, Paris, Milan, and Singapore, is ranked at #28 on models.com, and has worked for some major clients. But at only 20 years old, he’s dived into entrepreneurship by launching ModelFolio, an iPad portfolio app designed for exactly what working models need — no more, no less.<\/p>\n
TBM: How did the idea for ModelFolio come to be?<\/p>\n
TS: I was modelling in Singapore and saw models using iPads at castings. I was tired of my own hard copy; it\u2019s heavy and prints are expensive. So I figured all these models were using an app that I should be using too, but it turned out there wasn\u2019t anything out there like that. My roommate and I went home, brainstormed for three weeks, and ended up with what basically became a ten-page essay on all the intricacies of the app.<\/p>\n
TBM: So it is a partnership?<\/p>\n
TS: Originally it was a partnership. It was just as much his idea as mine. But I recently bought his share of the company.<\/p>\n
TBM: Was is difficult forging a partnership with a friend?<\/p>\n
TS: Not really. We\u2019d only known each other for a few weeks and all we really talked about were ideas. I mean, we didn\u2019t talk much about girls, or whatever else. So when the idea of the app came up, we both just ran with it.<\/p>\n
TBM: Did you have any formal business and\/or technology experience prior to this venture? Did you go to university?<\/p>\n
TS: No, not at all. I\u2019m only 20, and really had no experience with apps or business. Developing ModelFolio has forced me to learn a lot very quickly about marketing, the app industry, etc.<\/p>\n
TBM: Where are you from? When and how did you begin modelling?<\/p>\n
TS: I\u2019m from Hawaii and there’s really no fashion there. I went to a school where you didn\u2019t even have to wear shoes and guys could turn up to class shirtless. I just had my braces taken off and was maybe 17 or 18 when I got scouted outside Ala Moana shopping centre. This person handed me this really shabby-looking business card with ripped-up edges and wrinkles, and told me to call them if I ever wanted to model. I showed it to my mom, but was like, \u201cI never want to be a model.\u201d It was really ridiculous to me. But my mom actually set up a secret test shoot behind my back. The pictures were pretty terrible I think.<\/p>\n
TBM: What has been the hardest part about starting ModelFolio?<\/p>\n
TS: Publicity is really hard. I mean, there is only so much you can do on social media and it\u2019s not like we have a huge budget.<\/p>\n
It was also really hard to get ModelFolio off the ground. After we had our idea, we needed to find a programmer. It\u2019s really expensive to get an app made, and if we had hired someone over the Internet for $1000USD or something it would have been a really terrible product. I ended up meeting with Eight Inc. just by chance and they offered to do it for us, in exchange for owning one-third of the company. And they\u2019ve done work for ESPN and CitiBank, and they\u2019ve been pretty great to us.<\/p>\n
TBM: Do you think with the increase of models using iPads you may be dealing with competitors soon?<\/p>\n
TS: Of course. There\u2019s always going to be competition. I think that right now we\u2019re the best one on the market, and we just have to continue to be so.<\/p>\n
TBM: What is the difference between the Free app and the $4.99 app?<\/p>\n
TS: Well, the free app is pretty much a way for models to try-out the app without committing to a purchase. It only lets you upload 3 photos, so it isn\u2019t as effective as a portfolio. But it allows you to see if you like the way it works, and if you do, then you can purchase the $4.99 version, which is unlimited.<\/p>\n
TBM: What do your bookers think of your using the app over the traditional portfolio? Do they encourage it? Overall, have they been supportive?<\/p>\n
TS: Yeah they\u2019ve been really supportive. And I\u2019m pretty independent in terms of managing my career. As an example, I know when I have new images coming out and if I can\u2019t find them myself, I\u2019ll ask my bookers. So I\u2019m really on-top of keeping my portfolio up-to-date.<\/p>\n
TBM: Are reactions from clients\/casting directors usually positive?<\/p>\n
TS: Yeah, especially because it\u2019s so user-friendly. There have only been one or two clients who haven\u2019t reacted so well, because they just didn\u2019t know how to use an iPad. I think that is a pretty temporary drawback though.<\/p>\n
TBM: Yeah, everything is touch screen now.<\/p>\n
TS: Yeah, everything is touch screen and I think the hard-copy portfolio will definitely not be around forever. I think eventually instead of going into your agency and picking-up your updated book, you\u2019ll just hand them your iPad, they\u2019ll upload the photo(s), put it where it needs to go, and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
TBM: No need to lay out all your photos on the floor and rearrange your book manually. I hated doing that.<\/p>\n
TS: Exactly! And it\u2019s not necessary. Every other industry has become so digitized in the past few years. Fashion hasn\u2019t really taken advantage of technology yet, but it will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Travis Smith has been modelling for only two years, but has worked in London, NYC, Paris, Milan, and Singapore, is ranked at #28 on models.com, and has worked for some major clients. But at only 20 years old, he’s dived into entrepreneurship by launching ModelFolio, an iPad portfolio app designed for exactly what working models […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1382,625,791,1387,646,470,1384,94,1386,606,1389,1388,933,1275,1385,1383],"class_list":["post-10759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american","tag-casting","tag-editorial","tag-entrepreneur","tag-male","tag-male-model","tag-models-com","tag-portfolio","tag-product","tag-review","tag-start-up","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-top-model","tag-travis-smith","tag-versus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10761,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10759\/revisions\/10761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}