Dealflicks Help Theaters Fill Their Seats Last Minute
Launched in beta July last year in Oakland, San Francisco, Dealflicks is a price line for movie tickets and gives movie tickets and concessions for up to 60% off to help theaters get butts in their seats.
Sean Wycliffe told TechZulu that they love movies like Star Wars and popcorn and have seen thousands of films but they were hit when they noticed that several movie theaters were not as filled up as they expected. They did some research, and found that around 88 percent of seats were empty and about 95 percent of seats were empty after opening weekend. They then decided to do something about it.
Tell us more about yourself ?
I am Sean Wycliffe, I am CEO and co-founder, Dealflicks. UCB Economics 2010 summa cum laude. Built last business (sold cell phones and communications products) to $1.5M+ in revenues. I love movies, basketball, skiing, and snorkeling (especially in Maui).
Zachary Cancio (CTO, co-founder) Duke ECE/CS 2009. 3rd Startup. Worked at Cisco, Microsoft, and Deloitte. Python programmer and iOS developer. Loves movies, snowboarding, and cooking.
Kevin Hong (VP Biz Dev, co-founder) UCR Finance. Stock Trader/Researcher at E-Trade, Zecco Trading, and William O’neil. Worked with Sean almost 10 years ago. Loves to follow financial market, huge Boston celtics fan. Grew up in Seoul and is bilingual and bicultural.
We love movies. Everything from Skyfall in a packed auditorium on opening night to It’s a Wonderful Life on Netflix to Ponyo in an art house on a small screen. We love popcorn and we’ve seen thousands of films. But one thing we noticed was that movie theaters are empty. After doing some research, we found that ~88% of seats are empty. In fact. ~95% of seats are empty after opening weekend. Something was broken, and we knew we could fix it.
Is the sector lucrative?
Over $40,000,000,000 is spent each year on movie tickets, popcorn, and soda alone. This doesn’t even include nachos. A record $10,800,000,000 was spent this past year on just tickets in the US alone.
How many signups now?
Thousands, and growing at 70%+ MoM.
How does Dealflicks work?
Go to Dealflicks.com and select a movie at a theater near you. Select your showtime, and choose your deal (tickets and sometimes popcorn/soda, up to 60% off). Checkout, then show the email confirmation to the box office using your phone or by printing it out. That’s it! Our iPhone app is coming soon :)
How do you earn from this, and how do Cinema theater owners gain?
We currently take a percentage of revenues that come in (currently 10%). Theater owners love us because we bring them new customers without having to pay any setup fees, monthly fees, or monthly minimums. It’s a win-win :)
Any competitors?
You can sometimes get movie ticket deals from daily deal sites.
How unique are you from them?
We charge our theater partners less and offer them more customization. We provide movie deals to our customers 24/7.
Any funding yet? How much?
We previously raised $115K. We’re currently raising a $250K advisory round.
How many partners?
We’ve partnered with 70+ theaters and are constantly adding new locations.
Any challenges?
Growing our base of theaters as fast as possible to match our customer demand.
What are you 2013 plans?
Fully build out our product and expand nationally.
