DARIO Grandich arrived in York without a penny, moving into the Bar Convent with his mother at the age of five, after fleeing their home in Bosnia.

Now, aged 23, Dario is basking in his achievements, as one of four partners who own Snapshot Media, a digital agency with international clients.

“We get text messages from a princess in Kuwait at 7am in the morning!” he explains excitedly as he explains a big new client win.

The princess is actually a Sheika, a member of the ruling family of Kuwait, which runs air-conditioning manufacturer Refrigeration Industries and Storage Company (RIC), who heard about the company through their blog.

They pitched alongside three other companies in Europe and the US, and it was their new HTML5 content management system, which allows users to manage their own websites using the latest web-writing system, which clinched the deal.

“Since we blogged about it we have had interest from companies all over the world.”

Much of the interest was from web companies wanting to license the software, which Snapshot is keeping to itself at the moment, although the partners are considering it in the future.

“They asked for a quote for the website and we didn’t know how genuine it was, but then she sent us these massive briefs of company information. We found out it was a company that employs 2,000 people and it’s a big deal,” Dario said.

The contract now makes up about 20 per cent of Snapshot’s income and includes designing a “really cool” platform game for the business, which is based on moving around blocks of ice to keep a constant temperature against a moving temperature gauge.

“It’s all the rage in the Middle East to have a game when you go to a trade show.

It’s a flash game they can use, which can be adapted for iPhone,” he says.

“We always want to be at the cutting edge of everything. We want to be at the forefront,that way you get noticed and everything’s a lot nicer and smoother.”

It also makes it easier to sell, and for more money.

The entrepreneur joined Snapshot after friend and business partner Andy set it up with other friends before Dario graduated from York St John University in May 2009. In September 2009 Andy and Dario took the business name and started over.

“Being naïve and foolish and a bit of a risk taker, I quit my job. I changed the entire business model and the branding and started marketing the business.

“The first six months were quite difficult, finding clients, but the ones we did have helped us a lot. We kept rising on Google and meeting new people.”

One of their first projects, a website for South African visual effects company Voodoo FX, was blogged about around the world, says Dario.

Snapshot partnered with fellow York firm Limaromeo on projects and ultimately decided to merge its talents – a mixture of artists and computer whizzes, with the average age of 23, who spend their evenings replicating and improving existing web functionalities just to prove they can do it better.

The business is now looking at expanding into Leeds, said Dario, and is looking to recruit more skilled designers.


Dario Grandich, 23, came to York as a Bosnian refugee not speaking a word of English.

After graduating with a business degree from York St John University, he joined a friend’s business and led it to international success.

Snapshot Media, based at The Phoenix Centre at York St John University, is now run by four partners and is planning for expansion.