MediaWorks is a new digital media accelerator emphasizing education and mentorship. It's a program of the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC) and next week they're holding a demo day for the participants including no less than four startups related to audio and music. The program was led by Nashville's Back Porch Group likely with plenty of input from KEC Entrepreneur in Residence Jonathan Sexton as well as guests. If it takes a village, these startups have gotten off to a good start.
Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, is part of a larger entrepreneurship movement with support from such centers around the country that is often as much or more about small local businesses as they are about tech startups intended to grow as large as possible.
However KEC's new MediaWorks digital media accelerator is focused on tech businesses. Unlike some of the accelerators currently making headlines, MediaWorks does not provide initial funding but emphasizes the educational aims of the program. Otherwise it's still all about taking a company as far as possible in a short focused period of time.
That said, when such companies graduate they are typically looking for funding and that often starts with a demo day where companies give quick presentations on progress to date. So, on August 5th, a group of nine companies will present in Knoxville at MediaWorks: Demo Day 2014.
Music Tech Companies Presenting at Demo Day
Adagio - “Cloud-based audio tool that allows multiple users to interact with the same files in real-time by leveraging the Chattanooga’s gigabit connectivity."
Artist Gig - “Crowdsourcing Live Audio. Fans Record, Artist-Gig Mixes, Band Approves and returns the music to their fans."
Closeup.fm - “Closeup.fm is a touring marketplace for house shows, allowing music fans to host their favorite bands in their living room, and helping bands expand their venue options, and ensuring that they actually get paid."
StreetJelly - “StreetJelly.com is an online live music community where musicians stream performances to an interactive audience for tip money."
If all goes well, days and nights of hard work are set to become seemingly endless days of pain bleeding into dark, bitter nights as they await the crack of dawn to see if they have survived another day of startup hell...
Best of luck everybody!
Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, is part of a larger entrepreneurship movement with support from such centers around the country that is often as much or more about small local businesses as they are about tech startups intended to grow as large as possible.
However KEC's new MediaWorks digital media accelerator is focused on tech businesses. Unlike some of the accelerators currently making headlines, MediaWorks does not provide initial funding but emphasizes the educational aims of the program. Otherwise it's still all about taking a company as far as possible in a short focused period of time.
That said, when such companies graduate they are typically looking for funding and that often starts with a demo day where companies give quick presentations on progress to date. So, on August 5th, a group of nine companies will present in Knoxville at MediaWorks: Demo Day 2014.
Music Tech Companies Presenting at Demo Day
Adagio - “Cloud-based audio tool that allows multiple users to interact with the same files in real-time by leveraging the Chattanooga’s gigabit connectivity."
Artist Gig - “Crowdsourcing Live Audio. Fans Record, Artist-Gig Mixes, Band Approves and returns the music to their fans."
Closeup.fm - “Closeup.fm is a touring marketplace for house shows, allowing music fans to host their favorite bands in their living room, and helping bands expand their venue options, and ensuring that they actually get paid."
StreetJelly - “StreetJelly.com is an online live music community where musicians stream performances to an interactive audience for tip money."
If all goes well, days and nights of hard work are set to become seemingly endless days of pain bleeding into dark, bitter nights as they await the crack of dawn to see if they have survived another day of startup hell...
Best of luck everybody!
