User:MichaelaElliott/sandbox/FOREVER.com (Website)

FOREVER.com is a digital archive and internet storage startup company. It offers media conversion services, permanent photo storage, photo book and photo gift printing, photo management software, digital scrapbooking software, and digital art. FOREVER was founded in May 2012 by Glen Meakem and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It currently has 11,500 permanent storage owners and is preserving 66 million photos. It has 60 employees located at the Pittsburgh headquarters and worldwide.

History
FOREVER.com was founded in May 2012 by Glen Meakem and publicly launched in November 2013. 1,000 people became FOREVER members prior to its public launch on November 22, 2013.[3]

FOREVER is a digital archive and internet storage startup company. In 1990, Meakem and his wife went on a summer road trip from their Boston home to the states of Delaware, Connecticut, New York, Kentucky, and Florida to visit and film all of their living relatives, including their six grandparents. Their goal was to record their relatives' history. Meakem conceived of FOREVER during the trip.[4] He wanted to create an enduring Internet archive for all of his family photos, and he turned the idea into FOREVER.com.[5]

In December 2012, FOREVER received its series A round funding of $9 million from the venture capital firm Meakem Becker, which was co-founded by FOREVER founder Glen Meakem.[6] In December 2012, FOREVER moved to the twentieth floor of PPG Place in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it is based.[6][4]

Mission
According to the mission statement on the FOREVER Facebook page:

"At FOREVER, we are driven by the belief that family stories should never be lost. They remind us of life’s special occasions and important experiences, embody our values, illustrate important lessons learned, provide a glimpse into the lives we live, and become a significant part of our legacy. When properly organized, preserved, and shared with others, we believe that these stories are extremely valuable and have a positive impact on future generations.

Unfortunately, the task of organizing and curating memories in a single place is often overwhelming, especially when there’s no guarantee that our hard work will be protected and saved over the long-term. As a result, many memories, and many important life lessons learned, are never shared with family and friends.

That’s why we built FOREVER.com, to offer FOREVER Storage®, the first guaranteed permanent sharable storage service.

With FOREVER, we provide a permanent place for families to preserve and share their stories, values, and traditions, and pass those memories down to future generations. Our powerful platform of easy-to-use products and services – including mobile and desktop applications, photo editing suites, print shops, scrapbook applications, conversion services, FOREVER Storage, and more – is designed to work together to enhance one's ability to easily and efficiently manage and protect their content. And with our groundbreaking FOREVER Guarantee, FOREVER Storage Owners can breathe easy knowing that FOREVER is absolutely committed to protecting their precious photos and documents, and ensuring that their legacy is passed on to future generations!"[1]

Acquisitions
In September 2014, FOREVER bought Panstoria, a digital scrapbooking company. The purchase allowed FOREVER customers to use Panstoria's scrapbooking services and permitted FOREVER to advertise its services to Panstoria's 100,000 customers.

In September 2015, FOREVER bought Life Highlights Digital Media, a Wisconsin company established in 2011 by Brenda Broberg, that helped customers digitize family photos and videos. FOREVER turned Life Highlights' store in Green Bay, Wisconsin into a FOREVER Retail Store. In March 2016, FOREVER expanded the store's functionality also to be their North American Media Conversion and Processing place, to digitize customers' photos and videos. In March 2018, FOREVER had 50 employees.

Services
According to Barron's, FOREVER aims to differentiate itself from other online photo storage services like Google Photos, Amazon Prime Photos, Dropbox, and Shutterfly by additionally offering customized help. Customer service representatives on its toll-free telephone number offer advice about how to create greeting cards or digital scrapbooks. FOREVER helps customers convert VHS cassettes into digital files and pledges to convert the files' types into any new file types used in the future.

FOREVER gives users free 2 gigabyte accounts. Users who want to store more photos past the 2 GB limit have the option of paying for a minimum of 10 GB or a maximum of 1 terabyte.

FOREVER backs up the data in three places different places around the world and uses bank-grade encryption to protect the data.

FOREVER Guarantee Fund™
FOREVER created a "fully-restricted fund" named the FOREVER Guarantee Fund.[5] According to WTAQ, the fund "acts like a permanent endowment or reserve".[7] FOREVER invested $1 million into the fund when establishing it and adds more money from customers' payments.[4] Of customer's payments, the company places 70% into the fund and invests the other 30% into operational expenses and expanding its services.[5] According to FOREVER founder Glen Meakem, the fund is invested in a diversified collection of stocks and bounds and targets an 8% annual return.[4] 4% of the fund's profits is withdrawn every year to cover operational expenses.[4]

The fund's aim is to allow FOREVER to maintain customers' accounts for a century after the customers' deaths.[4] But David Thaw, an information security specialist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, found Forever's 100-year warranty to be uncertain if FOREVER closes, noting, "As with all things, you can't make perfect guarantees and ensure they will be followed because things can happen."[4] FOREVER terms of service dictates that if FOREVER cannot sustain customers' accounts, it will use the FOREVER Guarantee Fund to give the customers' data back to FOREVER customers.[4]

Reception
Michael Spring, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, said, "It seems a little overpriced. It may end up being a service used more by those who have disposable income and are vain in a 105 Trib Live news article.

In February 2018, The Tech Tribune rated FOREVER as #6 in the list of 10 Best Tech Startups in Pittsburgh.[19]