The future of content is vertical
Tags: Startup, Product Development, Entrepreneuship, Content

Illustration by Debora Kroneisen (http://deborakroneisen.de/)

Our mission has always been to create new perspectives and discover new ways of seeing the world around us. Therefore, we have been working hard to be able to offer you a variety of ideas and products that inspire you to create innovative and exciting content.

This goes beyond just throwing GoPros. To show you an example, take our newest addition to the AER family, the ‘GoPro Vertical Mount’. A sleek and rather simple tool to mount your GoPro vertically. In times of Instagram Stories, Reels and Tiktok this is becoming increasingly more relevant. Existing solutions, like combining a bunch of little GoPro connectors, are inconvenient, bulky and let’s be honest — they just don’t really look that sweet.

The future of content is vertical.

There are a couple of vertical mounts out there already, but after talking it through within our team, we set out to design our very own AER Vertical Mount. Some modeling, a couple 3D prints and the sourcing of aluminum GoPro screws’ later, we had a product we were happy with. The AER Vertical Mount was launched in week two of our for 4 WEEKS OF AER campaign this summer. We were super stoked to see you guys loving and embracing it so much. However, this wouldn’t be an AER blog post without a major plot twist…

‍Just one week after the launch, we received an email from Marc, a designer from Italy, who owns a patent on a (very) similar product. We were shocked and consolidated our layers. Turns out, his claims were legit. He asked us to either stop selling our ‘Vertical Mount’ or start paying design licensing fees (which is his good right, by the way). We, of course, never intended to copy anyone’s design or hurt someone else’s business, especially that of a fellow entrepreneur like Marc. We understood his arguments, respected his claims right away and prepared to stop the sale of the ‘AER Vertical Mount’.

After some emails back and forth, Marc and Pablo got to know each other and it turns out, Marc’s views and values are very similar to ours. Just like us, he’s convinced that there’s a big market for vertical content. So in the end, instead of limiting each other’s reach and fighting over a patent, we decided to partner up and collaborate.

“We take a problem, look at it from different angles and flip it into an opportunity.”

We’re stoked to announce that in collaboration with Dreampick we will now be able to offer you an even better version of our ‘Vertical Mount’! This works as follows: We buy the mounts in bulk from Dreampick in Italy, who are able to produce them effectively thanks to their injection molding tool (an investment that we weren’t ready to make just yet). We then pack them together with our aluminum GoPro screws and sell them through the AER webshop. And as you guys are probably used to by now, we love to (over-)share our experiences and communicate brutally honest. So naturally, we will openly communicate this as a partnership between AERVIDEO and Dreampick. This is an exciting solution that every party benefits from: Our customers get an improved product, Dreampick will increase their reach and grow their business, while we can keep selling the ‘Vertical Mount’ — an important first step in becoming a brand that can do more than just throw GoPros.

Another important detail is: This partnership will have no effect on our offering of the 3D file. As before, it will stay available as a free download. This decision is in line with one of our core values which is to support all selfmade creators, makers and designers. So, if you have access to a 3D-printer, you can download the CAD file, and simply print your own ‘Vertical Mount’. For free, forever.