Find Home Design Inspiration With Houzz’s 170,000+ Photo Library

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Houzz

Quick Pitch: Users browse its library of 170,000 photos to make ideabooks of home design possibilities.

Genius Idea: Using content that professionals upload themselves.

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Clipping photos from magazines seems like an antiquated brainstorming method for covering blank walls or redoing a bedroom.

Houzz is bringing the process into the digital age by creating a database of more than 170,000 home design photos sorted by room, style and geographic location. Users can add photos to their own virtual “ideabooks” or look through curated volumes for inspiration.

Houzz combines browsing magazines with researching designers. Eager designers can show off their work by creating profiles on the site. Users can then contact professionals with questions or job offers.

About 25,000 interior designers, architects and general contractors have used the site to display their work.

“We’re sort of the middle man,” Head of Business Development Katherine Nannizzi says. “We’re giving the tools to the home design professionals to upload their portfolios, and hopefully giving the tools to users to be able to search through this database of photos, find what they’re looking for, and connect with the professionals if they so choose.”

The site started as the pet project of husband-and-wife team Alon Cohen and Adi Tatarko. As the startup raised a $2 million round of funding last fall, it launched an iPad app and began working to monetize its photo service.

Because each photo on Houzz is, as Nannizzi puts it, “tagged 10 ways to Sunday,” it’s easy to figure out what type of products individual users are interested in purchasing. This makes it a great platform for advertisers — a revenue stream the startup has recently started pursuing.

Houzz has also started tagging individual items in photos with descriptions and a link to where they can be purchased. Right now, the links don’t bring in revenue, but it’s conceivable Houzz could one day collect referral fees.

Charging designers is another potential source of revenue, although Nannizzi says the plan is to keep the site’s current services free. This makes sense, as designer content is largely what distinguishes Houzz from other online home design tools.

“We don’t have a lot of competitors who are working directly with designers,” Nannizzi says. “Technology is really disrupting a lot of word of mouth industries because it is allowing them to have a bigger platform, and this is definitely one area where you see that.”

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, kourafas5

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Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: bizspark, design, home design, Houzz

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