For Mark Mahoney, the idea for a tech startup started with a bad tattoo.
He wanted a chest piece that included the words "The Greatest Lovers Were Murderers First," lyrics from the band Every Time I Die, and visited four cities trying to find the right artist for the piece. Finally, he got sick of searching. Mahoney chose an artist who's work he admired, but didn't specialize in lettering pieces. Certain letters were drawn too thin and the overall piece ended up too small. The experience spooked Mahoney, and the tattoo industry temporarily lost a customer: He didn't get another tattoo for six years.
"Once you get a bad tattoo, it’s kind of tough to do it again," he said.
Now he's about to launch an app that he hopes will prevent tattoo regret, as well as better help tattoo artists market their work.
It's called FindMeInk, and it's an app that connects tattoo customers to artists in a given area. It's a photo-heavy app where customers can browse the work of local artists or artists that are in town for a tattoo convention to see if they specialize in the style they seek, and send tattoo artists information and images about their proposed project and price range. Tattoo artists can use the app as a way to find customers whose projects best fit their work, as well a one-stop platform to market their work, book consultations, message with potential clients and list any events or conventions where they'll be working.
FindMeInk also employs tattoo reps that go to conventions, on-board customers to the app, and connect clients to tattoo artists on the platform that fit their interests. Part of the platform is also devoted to tattoo removal and cover up services.
It's a tech solution to an industry that Mahoney, a serial entrepreneur, believes has been long overlooked.
There's no exact numbers on the size of the tattoo industry given tattoo parlors are listed under different industries based on the country, city or state. Plus, many artists work on their own or part-time, and transactions are often done via cash, which skews revenue numbers. Industry analysts estimate the market size at $1 billion in revenue, but in researching the industry (including hundreds of interviews and questionnaires with customers and artists) Mahoney believes it's much larger than that.
As mainstream acceptance of tattoos grows in the workplace and elsewhere, Mahoney believes the industry is going to grow. They're targeting first time customers that might be intimidated by the "sex and badass-ery" image of the tattoo industry, as well as customers who just moved to a new area or lost a tattoo artist that moved away.
Mahoney has been running a beta of FindMeInk for two years and in that time facilitated 700,000 consultations that amounted to $106 million in tattoo services (the beta ran so long because Mahoney said it could be difficult to convince investors and developers to work on a project in the tattoo industry, given there's been so little research on the industry). The average cost of a tattoo that's discussed on their platform is about $360.
They've raised a $225,000 friends and family round, and they're aiming to raise a seed round next. FindMeInk will make revenue through a $33 monthly fee for individual tattoo artists to use the platform and $150 per month for a parlor (which comes with 10 artist accounts).
They pre-registered 8,400 artists, and about 5,600 of those were active during the beta program (which was free). When the app officially launches on April 20, they have 384 artists and parlors who will be paying for the platform.
While the interest is clearly there, FindMeInk is also competing against Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as marketing tools for artists. However, Mahoney said it's far more expensive to advertise on those platforms and artists compete with thousands of other people on the same hashtags.
And Mahoney is committed to working on the app while integrated in the industry. They developed the app with a tattoo artist advisory board, who worked with the development team to develop modules and even acted as product managers. FindMeInk's 11 person team is currently working out of a back office and basement at the Black Atlas Studios tattoo parlor in Bridgeport.
If nothing else, FindMeInk has succeeded in convincing at least one person that a bad tattoo doesn't have to be the end of the ink road. Since launching the beta, Mahoney has gotten seven more tattoos through artists on the platform, including a colorful, realistic Star Wars bicep sleeve that he certainly doesn't regret.
