The day after they threw a going-away party for a college friend, Daniel Arvidsson, Dan Korman, and Sam Marley realized that they didn’t have photos of the event. It took several days to track down a shot of the whole group—enough time for the roommates to come up with the idea for Blurr, a hyperlocal photo-sharing platform that lets you connect with other people at the same event. “None of us knew about being an entrepreneur,” says Marley. “We were all finance majors.” That didn’t stop the three Northeastern University students who within 18 months had secured a $200,000 round of funding, pulled up stakes in Boston, and moved across country to Los Angeles. All before they turned 23.
Our company is all about connecting people who are at the same place at the same time. There’s something great about building community in a way nobody else has done before.
Sam Marley
Still roommates, in L.A. they are launching an updated version of their boundary-shattering app. How does it work? If you’re at a Jets game, you can share photos with somebody 10 rows back who got the money shot. “You’re sharing just with other people at the stadium,” says Korman, “and that makes the connection so much stronger.” At a concert? You can simultaneously see photos from the crowd and selfies the band takes backstage. What makes it unique? “You’re interacting with a performer before, during, and after the show,” explains Arvidsson. A few days after they moved into an office at Los Angeles’ WeWork 12655 W Jefferson Blvd, they took home $25,000 after pitching their idea at WeWork Demo Day. “You can bet we’re going to use it to take our company to the next level,” says Marley.
