startup idea/pitch - v01

Tools to visually navigate large image collections.

COCO -> Copies and Coincidences

need: fluidly explore large image collections to discover patterns and relations, in a subjective inspirational manner
problem: existing dataset exploration tools are targeted to research fields and image manipulation, not specifically built for the creative industries

use-case scenario:

Industrial designers: in the initial design phase, the background research takes care of understanding a product category, its origins and its biases. There's a reason why hairdryers are like they are now, and it is mostly cultural. The designer needs to understand those key visual and formal signs of a product, and this is currently done by accumulating images and visually exploring them.

Likewise, in the creation phase, the designer needs to verify that it is not producing something that is already out there. Be it a hairdryer, a lamp, a textile pattern or a logo. There’s a lack of design-oriented-reverse-image-search.

Datasets: each human-made product/stuff

COCO aims to build a large dataset of all the stuff ever created; companies already have public catalogues of their products.

Market: start with industrial design (the fonder's knowledge domain)

market 01 size: every product category X every design professional
expand to cultural institutions/ museums / heritage
byproducts / other markets: tools for photographers / NSFW

Business Model: freemium B2B

Proof of concept / existing solutions / approaches: AI based Image Sorting / AI moodboards