CanvasFlip lets you create an app prototype that looks, acts almost like the real thing

I once had a great idea (or at least it seemed like it) for a website that would help users locate artwork. After dreaming up a plan and hiring a gaggle of unpaid interns to develop my app, I found a huge problem: I was changing my mind every two days. Where would I place a forum where users could upload photos of themselves with artwork? Would it feel too cluttered if I had GPS capabilities included on the landing page? What sort of a feature image would exude the mixture of academia and casual entertainment that I was going for?

Before I knew it, I gave up. Looking back, if I had known that CanvasFlip existed, my entrepreneurial journey may have actually taken off.

CanvasFlip, a cloud-based prototyping platform, allows users to create clickable demos of their app or website, make informed changes, and collaborate with others. It equips users with a set of intuitive tools to understand their prototypes better. A particularly useful one in the era of diverse screen sizes is “real time preview”, a tool that allows users to visualize their app on different sized screens and models. Users can also add images, as well as gestures and transitions to the prototype, making it almost like the real thing.

The prototyping website is free for single users, follows a monthly subscription model for teams, and provides a customized payment plan for enterprises. It can be integrated with Dropbox and Slack. CanvasFlip raised US$1.2 million in seed funding from Bessemer Venture Partners last week and will use the money to make its way into international markets.

CanvasFlip was an answer to everyone’s pain point

When asked, Vipul Mishra was coy about his initial meeting with co-founder Manish Jha. “It was somewhere while getting off a rainy plane in Hyderabad,” he says laughingly. “It’s not an important story.” That rainy night, however, led the two to collaborate with two other friends on Yougle (think Youtube plus Google), a video sharing service that makes Youtube and Facebook video search and playlist aggregation easier. Then, they started MyWayApp, a route-sharing mechanism for Facebook. Next, came Monkey Warrior, an Android game, and after that, FbViralVideos, an app to access Facebook’s most viral videos.

“Eventually, we landed upon the idea for CanvasFlip. It was honestly just created to address the UI and UX challenges that we saw in our other apps,” explains Vipul. CanvasFlip was officially launched in August 2014 and the small team has grown to include seven people.

In Vipul’s opinion, the startup’s defining moment occurred while it was being incubated at Times Internet’s TLabs. “While working at TLabs, we got to have coffee and lunch every day in close quarters with a bunch of different entrepreneurs,” he explains. “They’d complain everyday about their pain points and we’d listen.”

Vipul recounted a recent story in which a doctor used CanvasFlip to test out a healthcare application. “He pitched his idea with a CanvasFlip prototype to an entire investment team,” Vipul reminisces. “It was great to see.”

The prototyping website hasn’t only served people without technical skills, however. As of now, CanvasFlip has worked with over 140 enterprise customers including mobile wallet PayTM and travel website MakeMyTrip.

In an era where every networking event ends with VCs telling entrepreneurs to find a CTO to help launch their app, the possibilities for CanvasFlip are endless. Maybe one day, the suggestion will be to use CanvasFlip instead.