Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency

Henry  McGee; Sarah  Mehta

Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2018

Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency

by Henry McGee and Sarah Mehta

Abstract

Economist and entrepreneur Magnus Resch was on a mission to make the art market more transparent. To that end, in 2014, he began building the Magnus app, which catalogued the price and transaction history of millions of works of art. Users could download the app, take a photo of any flat artwork, and the app would display that piece’s price along with other pertinent information. Resch believed that such radical transparency would grow the small, rather insular, network of serious art collectors. By May 2018, the app had garnered strong user engagement, with over 10,000 new downloads per month. But Resch was not yet generating revenue from the Magnus app, which was free for users to download. The case explores Resch’s options for monetizing the app, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each option.

Keywords: art market; transparency; Art Pricing; Business Startups; Decision Making; Innovation Strategy; Culture; Business Strategy; Mobile Technology; Fine Arts Industry; Information Technology Industry;

Language: English

Format: Print

20 pages

Educators

Citation:

McGee, Henry, and Sarah Mehta. "Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency." Harvard Business School Case 319-002, August 2018.

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Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency

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