Gigstart offers platform for artists, entertainers & performers to get discovered
Atit Jain and Madhulika Pandey met for the first time while working for The Weekend Consultant (TWC), a community for reviewing eateries, movies and getaways. The duo was struggling to define the revenue model for TWC and during this time they decided to launch Gigstart. Gigstart is a platform for artist, performers and entertainers to get discovered.
The startup seamlessly offers a coherent and transparent platform for people to connect with entertainers. “Wiping out numerous interceding channels involved in a conventional event booking process, we direct our efforts at Gigstart to allow customers to make a well-informed and predictable choice through reviews and ratings,” says Atit.
Atit is an engineer from BITS Pilani who worked at JP Morgan for two years before taking a plunge into the world of startups. He was one of the core members of a mobile technology startup where he worked for over two years before starting Gigstart. Madhulika is an MBA with a keen interest in reviewing food and movies. She worked with Airtel, and after that she took up startup assignments in order to understand the ecosystem better.
While they worked on their pet project, The Weekend Consultant, they had to handle queries regarding venue and artists booking for private and social events, and they eventually started Gigstart to take advantage of this opportunity. To understand the space better, the duo tried booking some performers for an actual event and sensed that the market is highly unorganized, and majorly dominated by event planners.
The most striking feature of Gigstart as a platform is the ease with which an artist’s profile can be created. “We are also working on introducing an efficient search functionality so the platform can serve the queries in fraction of seconds irrespective of the huge user database,” adds Atit.
They claim they do not have any direct competitors. “A lot of initiatives are directed towards indie bands and we are necessarily
working to uplift the music scene.Gigstart as a business works for bands and puppeteers alike and we welcome all the art forms on Gigstart. We are working hard on multiplying our pool of talented artists so that no query goes unfurnished,” says Madhulika.
Eliminating middlemen in an industry that runs on contacts has proven to be quite challenging for the startup. “Besides this, setting up the operations for our on-call queries was something that required thoughtfulness. For setting up live services, reliability is the key,” says Madhulika.
The startup earns revenue by charging 10% fee on hiring. Moving forward, it intends to charge a listing fee to artists. “We are exploring the possibility of moving to a lead based model for artists,” reveals Atit. Gigstart also offers services to artists like digital portfolio, consulting and online reputation management.
“In the future, we’re looking forward to expanding in other metro cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and then to smaller ones. We are also considering models like NH7 Weekender,” says Atit.
Website: Gigstart.in
