Postcard on The Run was a photo-sharing software and printing mobile app owned by Josh Brooks. The app lets you take or upload pictures, customize them with notes and signatures. The app then turns these photos into a 4×6 postcard.
Users can deliver these postcards to any address in the world in just a few days. People can also record videos or audio messages from QR codes behind the Postcard.
The app was the brainchild of Josh Brooks who wanted to revolutionize photographs meaningfully. His app gives your photographs a more personal touch. The world is moving exceptionally fast but Postcard on the Run enables its users to stay connected.
Prior to featuring on the famous reality show Shark Tank, Josh had managed to gain investment for his app. Musician Selena Gomez is a notable investor, who helped Josh raise a whopping $750k. Selena Gomez publicized the app to her followers. This gave Postcard on the Run, decent recognition. He personally invested $30k in the business.
Josh featured on the fifth season of hit tv show The Shark Tanks, where he pitched the idea of Postcard on the Run.
Josh asked the Sharks for an investment of $300k for a 5% stake in his business. Four out of five sharks were not impressed. They foresaw the inevitable failure of Postcards on the Run. Robert Herjavec, agreed to invest in the app, however the value of Postcard on the Run did not impress him either. He did first offer Josh $300k for a 10% stake, but Josh did not agree. Eventually, Josh and Robert settled on a deal of $300k for a 7.5% share in Postcard on the Run.
Even after getting an investment from a Shark, Josh continued to struggle financially as he was not making any profit from the app. Eventually, Postcard on the Run could not thrive, and eventually, in 2015, Postcard on the Run discontinued its service, and in 2021, it completely closed all its operations because its service was no longer active.
Our Review of Postcard on the Run
Postcard on the Run was an ambitious and unique app. It took the old-school postcards and gave them a modern twist. The app had excellent user-friendly features that made customizing and sending postcards seem like an easy task.
This app was accessible to anyone, and the chance to send a postcard from your smartphone to any location in the world was beyond impressive. Even better, joining the app was simple and free.
Postcard on the Run was not making empty promises. In 21 months Josh Brooks sold $450k worth of postcards and the app was downloaded over 500,000 times. This reflects the popularity Postcard on the Run experienced in a short time.
These users did have some complaints about the app not functioning properly. They reported it as slow and difficult to use. Although some people genuinely liked Postcard on the Run. It was still not enough to sustain the app’s short success.
Financial aspect was not the only problem Postcard on the Run was facing. There were also other competitor apps in the market that worked similarly. Given the financial situation, the app failed to keep up with the market and ultimately Josh Brooks had to call an end to the business and delete the app.
Pros of Postcard on the Run
Even though the app is no longer functioning, there were many pros of this photo-sharing app.
Here is a list of some of these pros.
- It is a free app, so users only have to pay the fees to convert the photo into a postcard and get it delivered to the address.
- Postcard on the Run helps users stay connected to their friends and loved ones even when on vacation.
- It encouraged people to bring back the idea of sending postcards to people in a world that relies on other modes of connecting.
- The GPS Stamping is a cool feature that allows you to add location tags to your postcards.
Cons of Postcard on the Run
The app is no longer available, there were few cons that the app had, which could have possibly led to the app shutting down. Let us look at some of these cons.
- The app is no longer available for download and Josh Brooks has taken a different direction professionally. Even if the app had potential, there is no way to explore that.
- The app was slow and difficult in functioning, that must have potentially put customers off from using the app.
- While it brought back the trend of sending out postcards, the digital aspect cannot replace the old-fashioned feel of actual postcards with handwritten notes on it.
Who was Postcard on the Run for?
Postcard on the Run is for everyone who enjoys capturing moments on camera. People who want to share their travel stories through pictures.
At its peak, Postcard on the Run was most popular amongst teens, because of Selena Gomez promoting the app. Smartphones are also usually owned by the younger generation, so the inevitable target market of Postcard on the Run was young people.
Are There Any Alternatives?
The tech industry is large, and within the tech industry, there are numerous photo-sharing mobile applications. Competition is inevitably tough. Some of these apps are doing great with their service; these include:
- Felt
- My Postcard app
- Touchnote
The idea behind these apps is mostly the same as Postcard on the Run. And the procedure is also the same for the most part.
Final Thoughts
Postcard on the Run was an excellent idea, and the app had great potential to be successful and could have possibly dominated the market. The financial struggles that Josh Brooks was having kept getting more serious, and eventually, that is what led Josh Brooks to discontinue the app.
Josh Brook’s app was not the best or the worst product to be pitched on Shark Tanks, but it did experience a buzz, however short lasting that was.
