A Conversation With the Founder of Capsule, a 5-Star iOS/Android App: TheBeach Meets TheStreet

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- TheBeach Meets TheStreet rolls on.

Every Tuesday, expect an article that accompanies the edited version of the current week's conversation. Generally, we'll break it down into three parts:

1. An update on where we are with TheBeach Meets TheStreet, including a brief overview of past, present and future guests.

2. A discussion of the company featured in that week's episode.

3. A brief look at how the present week's founder and his/her experiences relate to the larger startup and/or tech scenes.

Each week we'll make improvements to TheBeach Meets TheStreet. Last time, I shot my entire conversation with Pandora (P) co-founder Tim Westergren myself. (See the full uncut version via YouTube).

For this week's presentation with Cyrus Farudi, the co-founder of Southern California startup Capsule, Manoj Rao, CEO at Media 11:11 and co-producer of TheBeach Meets TheStreet shot the episode on an iPhone 5.

In weeks three and four, we'll make small, but important upgrades to the video and audio sides of the production. I enjoy the process of taking the reader/viewer on the same, organically evolving process we're navigating. Keeping it real, so to speak.

In week three (Tuesday, Feb. 26), we chat with Jonathan Calmus, the 22-year old co-founder of Beverly Hills-based Cuttle. Incredibly interesting person and story.

We're setting up time with the guy who co-founded StubHub, Jeff Fluhr, now founder and CEO at San Francisco's Spreecast as well as a simply huge guest who leads a public company and is one of the country's best-known and most successful serial entrepreneurs. Both coming in March.

As for Capsule, the edited video (see top of this article) and uncut version at YouTube illustrate the idea well. To help explain things in this article I created my own Capsule.

Based on the Apple (AAPL) and Android app store reviews Capsule has received -- most five stars -- people like it.

Capsule helps you manage the photos you and your friends (or, theoretically, strangers) take at an event. The company focuses on weddings now, but can and does serve just about any event. As Capsule gains more traction, expect more partnerships (Capsule is already the official wedding app of TheKnot.com) to expand the scope of the customer it targets. Think areas such as concerts and sporting events.

It's unlike social media such as Facebook (FB), however, because Capsule is completely private. You can only join a specific Capsule if the person who created it invites you. I started a Capsule that you can access to if you want to see how it works.

So, if you have a wedding or other event where many different people (dozens, hundreds, even thousands) take photographs, you can give those of your choosing access to your Capsule, keeping all of that media in one place and accessible only to members of the Capsule. You control access. And you can send emails or texts to the group right from the app.

I logged in using Facebook to create my Capsule, then invited myself (at my TheStreet email) as well as a friend or two. We'll bypass the email step here; in the following screenshot, all you need to do is copy the "join code" you see and use it after downloading the Capsule app to your device. Or you can simply go to this link to access my Capsule on the Web: http://trycapsule.com/dqfvt.

As of this writing, there' are just two contributions to my Capsule. I took pictures of my computer screen while I was pounding out this article. Feel free to join and add more. Just keep it clean and such.

Farudi is a strong guest. Simply put, we refuse to have a founder on unless he or she is willing to get personal and be transparent.

In the conversation, he covers everything from the actual process of how a startup secures funding, both early on and as things progress and mature. Farudi sets the tone well. He was really the ideal guest as we start to shed light on the Southern California startup scene.

Follow @rocco_thestreet

--Written by Rocco Pendola in Santa Monica, Calif.

Rocco Pendola is TheStreet's Director of Social Media. Pendola's daily contributions to TheStreet frequently appear on CNBC and at various top online properties, such as Forbes.