Today Gigs at Startups is interviewing: Scott Robbin - Founder of Songza.Name: Scott Robbin
Company: Songza
Role: Founder
What is Songza?
Songza is a music search engine and Internet jukebox that allows users to listen to any song or artist simply by typing in
names and titles. Users can share songs with friends through e-mail, create links to songs and share music via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
names and titles. Users can share songs with friends through e-mail, create links to songs and share music via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
How did you get involved with Songza?
In the Summer of 2007, I had been working with Aza Raskin and friends, updating the Humanized website. When that project came to a close, we realized how much we enjoyed working together, and decided to try something else. It turns out that "something else" was a music search engine that Aza had prototyped earlier that year. The idea was simple: find a fast and legal way for users to search for, and share, music online. We spent the next month building the site, layering Aza's innovative UI designs with my content aggregation and business logic. In November 2007, we launched Songza to the public. 7 days later we had over 1 million song plays. In one month, Songza's traffic had grown exponentially, and we decided to spin Songza off into its own business entity. I became that entity's President.
What is the best thing about working at Songza?
Disclosure: I'm not longer with Songza. We sold the company back in October 2008.
That said, my favorite thing about having worked at Songza was the vibrant community of online music start-ups and their founders. I've become good friends with many of our would-be competitors. At the end of the day, we're all just fans looking for a better way to discover music.
That said, my favorite thing about having worked at Songza was the vibrant community of online music start-ups and their founders. I've become good friends with many of our would-be competitors. At the end of the day, we're all just fans looking for a better way to discover music.
What kind of people do you think are best suited to work at start-ups?
I think there are two types of people out there: those who are excited about things, and those who want to make money off of people who are excited about things. Both work at start-ups, but only one succeeds. The best suited are those recognize this trait in each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment