That's a wrap! Where Flipside has been in 2017

December 22, 2017 - 4:30pm - by John Luxford

This year started with the decision to focus exclusively on Flipside as a company. That was a hard decision because up until that point we were a bootstrapped company relying on service-based income to survive. It was even harder because it meant deciding to cancel our then-imminent plans to release Lost Cities on the Oculus Rift. But far and away it was the right decision.

Our first show

We were just starting the art production on our first Flipside show, Super Secret Science Island, in collaboration with the super creative comedy duo Bucko. Super Secret Science Island is an improv comedy set on a deserted island which really stretched our multiplayer and avatar capabilities. It also taught us reams and reams about what actors need to perform well in a virtual environment (see our 3-part acting in VR series).

Maximum acceleration

We had also just been accepted into Tribe 9 of Boost VC, a startup accelerator focused on frontier tech companies like us working in areas like VR, AR, AI, and Blockchain. Boost VC believing in our vision was all the proof we needed that we made the right move. Throughout the program, we made some amazing relationships and connections, learned a metric ton, and moved our product forward by leaps and bounds.

While at Boost VC, we were connected with San Francisco comedian Jordan Cerminara, who became the writer and actor in our second Flipside show, Earth From Up Here. This show made extensive use of our camera system, our teleprompter, and our slideshow for delivering SNL Weekend Update-style news. In the show, Jordan plays Zeblo Gonzor, an alien newscaster who makes jokes about how crazy Earthly news must seem from the outside.

Learning and growth

Having produced a complete season of two shows, we went back to the drawing board and determined what it would take to provide the same experience for creators who could work on their own, without our help troubleshooting issues on the fly. We talked to lots of creators, and really honed our vision for what Flipside 1.0 ought to be.

We also demoed Flipside at a ton of events, from All Access to Vidcon, grew into our very own office space from our previous co-working spaces, and also grew to a team of seven. Compared to the year before, having a whole team working on a single shared vision has been amazing, to say the least.

Early access, at long last

And now, just in time for the holidays, we're sending our first Flipside Early Access release out into the wild to our first group of beta testers, warts and all.

They say if you're not at least a little embarrassed about showing your app to the world you've waited too long. I wouldn't say that we're embarrassed because we're all immensely proud of the work and creativity that's gone into this release, but there's a list a mile long of things we can't wait to fix or add in.

2017 has been the craziest year yet for us, and ending it by getting Flipside into the hands of its first users feels like exactly how it should end. I expect 2018 to be even crazier, with more beta updates, a budding new creator community to grow, a wider public release and more content in the works.

We'd like to end with a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been along for this ride, and who have supported us in any way this past year. Flipside is the most ambitious and creative thing I think any of us have attempted to make, and it wouldn't be where it is today without you.

And another huge THANK YOU to our creator community who have waited patiently for us to get Flipside into your hands. The desire to help people share their stories has been at the heart of our company from before the beginning, and we can't wait to see what all of you come up with!

Sincerely,
The Flipside Team

PS. Have a safe and warm holiday, and an inspired new year!