Mike Moloney

Mike Moloney (Michael Moloney) is an American photographer, filmmaker and entrepreneur best known as the founder of FilterGrade, a marketplace where creators sell photo and video editing assets. Mike runs it with brother Matt, and the two also run Moloney Creative Agency, a video-first creative studio.

Mike grew up in the Boston area and started a first online business as a teenager. In December 2013, while learning photo and video editing in high school, Mike began selling self-made photo filters and editing assets through a small web shop originally called Web Elemint. After one semester of college Mike dropped out to focus on the business full-time.

In 2016, after Matt finished high school and joined, the brothers turned the shop into FilterGrade, a marketplace where photographers, videographers and influencers sell Lightroom presets, mobile presets, Photoshop actions, video LUTs, overlays and After Effects templates. Growth came mainly from SEO, tutorials and content marketing. In a 2020 Starter Story interview Mike reported about $30K in monthly revenue with two founders and two employees; the marketplace has since grown to more than 2,500 creators.

In late 2021 the brothers launched Moloney Creative Agency, a studio working from Boston and New York that offers photography, video production and marketing for brands and has grown mostly through word of mouth. Mike has also co-founded GlutenBee, an information site about gluten-free living.

Mike is now based in New York, keeps shooting photo and video work, and continues to run FilterGrade and the agency as a family business.