Minneapolis will soon be the home of an event that aims to be the world’s biggest photography festival. The MODE Photography Festival, a three-day festival from the team behind Flickr and SmugMug, will take over downtown Minneapolis from September 18 – 20.

On this episode of the Twin Cities Business Show, Ben MacAskill, president and COO of SmugMug and Flickr, talks about why his team picked Minneapolis, why he believes photography is having a renaissance in the age of AI, and how his family-owned company rescued Flickr from the brink of collapse.

MacAskill also explains why Flickr doesn’t need a billion users, how staying private has allowed the company to focus on passionate photographers, advice for other family businesses, and why he hopes MODE can do for Minneapolis what South by Southwest did for Austin and Sundance did for Park City.

This episode includes:

00:00 — Minneapolis Is Getting the World’s Biggest Photography Festival

02:21 — Why Flickr Picked Minneapolis for MODE

04:16 — What to Expect at MODE Photography Festival

08:22 — Why Photography Is Having a Renaissance in the Age of AI

13:05 — Why Flickr Is More Than a Social Network

15:21 — How SmugMug Got Started in 2002

17:18 — How a Family-Owned Business Built a Subscription Model

20:27 — The Time Barack Obama Called SmugMug

21:17 — What Happened to Flickr After Yahoo Bought It23:09 — How Flickr Nearly Disappeared

24:13 — Why SmugMug Bought Flickr

26:03 — The Company Had Less Than a Year of Runway

26:29 — How They Turned Flickr Around

29:56 — Why People Will Still Pay for a Good Product

32:37 — How Flickr Differentiates From Instagram

34:59 — Why Flickr Doesn’t Need a Billion Users

35:34 — How Being Family-Owned Changed the Business

37:45 — Why He Wouldn’t Sell the Company for $1 Billion

39:01 — The Challenge of Passing a Family Business to the Next Generation

44:49 — What Ben Learned From South by Southwest and Sundance

46:20 — How MODE Is Borrowing From SXSW

47:02 — Can Minneapolis Become the Photography Capital of the World?

The MODE Photography Festival takes place September 18–20 in downtown Minneapolis.