Lincoln Lin, Filmplace's Founder/CEO, on building the Airbnbs of filming locations

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.

10-years experience in media industry, 8+ years startup experience, worked with big brands like Google, Facebook, and Huawei.

What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?

Filmplace. We’re a marketplace that connects brands with unique locations. Just like AirBnB but for the film and media industry.

What is the origin story?

Filmplace was founded in 2019 to solve a global problem within the industry. Looking for a location for your videos or photos takes 4-7 days, and it cost tons. With Filmplace, you can secure locations within a matter of minutes and cut costs by over 80%!

What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?

We are a global team that consists of me (CEO), my CTO (technology), CSO (strategy), CFO (Finance). On top of that, we have the head of partnership, business development, tech, community team. We are young and passionate about what we do and always hungry to strive for more. With this mindset, we can achieve higher and reach for the stars.

If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing?

That’s a good question. I believe many people will answer they will work for some company but for myself, I just couldn’t imagine not building my startup. I always have 101 ideas that may potentially change the world. (Many people who know me will agree)

At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?

Success isn’t measured by numbers and metrics. Everyone has a different idea for success. As for myself, it would be building something that can excite everyone and at the same time, solving big problems globally.

What’s most exciting about your traction to date?

$0 cost per acquisition, but managed to get big brands that are already using Filmplace such as Tik Tok, Shopee, AirBnB, Microsoft, Dell, Warner Music, etc.

What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why?

Cybernetics. Can humans really live forever? Or will fully conscious AI take over humans one day?

What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?

Curiosity. Makes me feel like I’m in a global blackhat hacking community. (just kidding)

What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?

Please continue to do what I do and never give up. And continue to defer military until you build something first. lol (every Singaporean male needs to serve 2 years)