Equipboard

Last updated

Equipboard
Private
Industry Music industry
FoundedSeptember 30, 2013;5 years ago (2013-09-30) in Austin, Texas, USA
FoundersGiulio Chiarenza and Michael Pierce
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
USA
Area served
 Worldwide
OwnersGiulio Chiarenza and Michael Pierce
Number of employees
1-10 (2019)
Website equipboard.com

Equipboard [1] is an online database of music artists and their respective gear. It was founded on September 30, 2013, by Giulio Chiarenza and Michael Pierce.

Contents

Equipboard's content is crowdsourced by fans, musicians, and retailers. The database is searchable by artist, discipline, gear type, and keyword. Each item of gear listed on an artist’s equipboard [2] includes a citation to either a news source, photo, or social-media posting that definitively links the item to the artist. Gear entries feature ratings and reviews by the Equipboard community as well as links to authorized retailers.

Crowdsourcing is a sourcing model in which individuals or organizations obtain goods and services, including ideas and finances, from a large, relatively open and often rapidly-evolving group of internet users; it divides work between participants to achieve a cumulative result. The word crowdsourcing itself is a portmanteau of crowd and outsourcing, and was coined in 2005. As a mode of sourcing, crowdsourcing existed prior to the digital age.

The site also offers a library of articles and buying guides authored by a team of industry experts.

Registered members are able to follow the equipboards of pro artists to receive gear updates; create their own personal equipboards to index the gear that they have and keep track of the gear that they want; contribute to Equipboard by adding new artists and gear to the database, linking existing gear to a particular artist, and correcting inaccuracies; review gear for fellow musicians; and participate in forum discussions.

History

Giulio Chiarenza and Michael Pierce started Equipboard to connect musicians with the brands and equipment used by professional artists. The company adopted its current crowdsourcing model in 2014. As of 2019, Equipboard features roughly 57,000 gear profiles and the collections of over 55,000 individual artists.

Equipboard has been headquartered in Austin, Texas, except for a span of 6 months in 2014 when the company temporarily relocated to San Francisco in order to participate in the 500 Startups Accelerator Program. [3]

500 Startups startup accelerator

500 Startups is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California in February, 2011. They expanded to a second class of 21 in June 2011 and a third class of 34 in October 2011.

Funding

Equipboard has participated in three accelerator programs: Capital Factory (Fund 4), [4] Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs (Fall 2014), [5] and 500 Startups (8th Accelerator Class). [6] Equipboard has received investment money from Capital Factory, Jonathan Coon ( 1-800 Contacts ), Dave McClure ( Simply Hired ), Silverton Partners ( Silicon Labs ), and 500 Startups. [7]

Jonathan C. Coon is an American businessman who is the CEO and co-founder of 1-800 Contacts. He received his B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations in 1994 from Brigham Young University. While a student there, Coon created a small business selling contact lenses to other students. In 1995, his business model helped him win the 1995 Business Plan Competition hosted by BYU's Marriott School of Management, which awarded him capital to help grow his business into 1-800 Contacts. Coon is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1-800 Contacts

1-800 Contacts Inc. is an American contact lens retailer based in Draper, Utah. The brands that 1-800 Contacts use includes Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Ciba Vision, Bausch & Lomb and CooperVision. In 2006, its last year as a public company, the company reported net sales of US$247 million.

Dave McClure American businessman

Dave McClure is an entrepreneur and angel investor based in the San Francisco Bay Area, who founded the business accelerator 500 Startups, serving as CEO until his resignation in 2017.

As of 2019, Equipboard has raised a total of $650,000 in investment capital. [7]

Business model

Equipboard participates in several affiliate marketing programs to generate revenue. The company earns commissions on purchases made by consumers who connect with a merchant via links provided on Equipboard’s website.

Expanding and maintaining the database

Equipboard allows all registered members to contribute and add to the database. Members may connect existing gear to an artist’s equipboard, submit new gear, and correct any inaccuracies they may discover. Equipboard contributors work on a point system called GearIQ. [8] New contributors start out with a GearIQ of 0. A contributor’s GearIQ increases with every correct and factual submission he or she adds to Equipboard. [9] Contributors are granted additional editing privileges as their GearIQs increase. Members with higher GearIQ are featured on the leaderboard of their favorite artist's profile.

Further reading

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References

  1. ↑ Equipboard, a portmanteau of equipment + board, is a collection of gear used by a particular individual.
  2. ↑ Equipboard is capitalized when referencing the database. When referring to an individual gear collection, equipboard is rendered in lowercase.
  3. 1 2 Lawler, Ryan (February 3, 2014). "500 Startups reveals the companies joining its first SF accelerator class, adds two venture partners". TechCrunch . Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  4. 1 2 Cheredar, Tom (October 14, 2013). "7 promising Austin startups from Capital Factory's Demo Day". VentureBeat . Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  5. 1 2 Silicon Hills News Staff (December 14, 2014). "Texas Venture Labs Fall Expo Showcases New Startups". Silicon Hills. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  6. 1 2 Yeung, Ken (February 3, 2014). "500 Startups Adds Two New Venture Partners And Announces Its Eighth Accelerator Class". The Next Web . Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  7. 1 2 angel.co/equipboard
  8. ↑ GearIQ is a portmanteau of gear + IQ .
  9. ↑ Good contributions to Equipboard are backed up by legitimate proof, point to the correct product, and contain a factual and helpful explanation of how the product has or is being used by the artist.
  10. ↑ Adams, Jordan (August 29, 2018). "Preoccupations' Scott "Monty" Munro Gets Real About His Band's Name Change". Seven Days . Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  11. ↑ Blacharski, Dan (August 21, 2017). "Three New Rules for Affiliate Marketing". CustomerThink. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  12. ↑ Ram Castillo (May 13, 2017). "Musician Rachel Claudio on building electronic performances and the transcending power of sound". Giant Thinkers (Podcast). Giant Thinkers. Event occurs at 36:29. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ Laughton, Jay (February 13, 2017). "Ed Sheeran's Chewie Looper Crashes Equipboard Gear Site". Reverb . Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  14. ↑ O’Rourke, Jill (February 13, 2017). "Ed Sheeran's One-Man Grammys Performance Proves Artists Don't Always Have To Be Flashy". A Plus. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  15. ↑ TooFab Staff (February 12, 2017). "Ed Sheeran's Grammy Performance Crashed a Website". TooFab. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  16. ↑ Pensado, Dave (January 10, 2017). "Hip Up Your Pads - Into The Lair #159". YouTube: Pensado’s Place . Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  17. ↑ Harris, Joe (July 17, 2015). "How To Find Out What Gear Your Favourite Musicians Use". Tone Deaf. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  18. ↑ Lynch, Amy (March 25, 2015). "Find Your Favorite Musician's Favorite Instrument". Drive the District. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  19. ↑ Morse, Dan (December 18, 2014). "Equipboard: Crowdsourced Gear Obsession". DJWorx. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  20. ↑ Moayeri, Lily (November 18, 2014). "Equipboard is Trainspotting for Gearheads". Insomniac . Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  21. ↑ Smith, Clyde (October 8, 2014). "Equipboard's Gear Database For Musicians Is Actually A Much Bigger Play". Hypebot. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
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