Joel Hilliard, Kakoona CEO and founder, sat down with me to
discuss what the DNA of an entrepreneur is and how Kakoona is helping music
artist and labels.
What inspired you to create Kakoona?
Like any other entrepreneur I saw a problem that needed to
be solved. The issue was with distributing music online and how music artist
and labels could easily monetize the process. At the time the options were
iTunes and YouTube. I saw there could be a bridge between the two platforms and
decided to create a service that would be good for the artist or label to come
in and distribute music themselves and make money along the way.
How did the team come together?
I had the original idea for Kakoona and it ended up two of
my childhood friends got involved and helped finance the seed money. One of
them plays more of a role in the day to day operations by setting up meetings
and developing ideas. Knowing him for so long makes working together real easy.
Prior to this what were you doing?
I ran a company that manufactures wakeboards and wakesurfer
equipment. I actually still do that, so I am working a lot of hours of the
week. I got into creating equipment through my love of action sports --snowboarding,
surfing, and wakeboarding. I started the wakeboard company with two other guys;
back then I had just finished school and was traveling back and forth from
Florida to Colorado. At that time we were figuring out what the path was to
manufacture something. Of course we failed at the beginning but we kept
persisting with it and the team started to pull together.
Kakoona began as more of a hobby to keep my mind off my
other projects. It started to pick up more steam when I could actually show
people a workable product. After people saw it they thought it was a cool idea
so I just kept developing it. I continued to get feedback from the right people
who knew I was on to something that potentially could be great.
How do you feel music tech is helping artist?
Now all these independent artists are showing you can be
successful without going the traditional route. There is a massive amount of
tools out in the market for example: Soundcloud and Rdio. The artist now gets
to decide if they want to go the independent route or follow the more
traditional path. Only thing standing in their way is learning how to use those
tools.
What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
My advice would be to find a good partner and good
people to work with. Most importantly make sure you understand what your
priorities are, what you want, and where your team is coming from. Second is be
persistant. Persistence can overcome a lot of things as long as you remain
positive and put your head down. Dedicating a lot time and effort into the
project will go a long way.
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