Startups

We’re pleased to announce that today we’ve added Sean Percival as an advisor at AudioMicro, Inc. For a little background on Sean, he’s been an integral part of some of the most successful LA internet companies including Mahalo, DocStoc, Tsavo & lalawag and today he’s the VP of Online Marketing for MySpace.

Sean and I re-connected recently at The Launch Conference, where we (AudioMicro)  released our new sites.  Being an extremely talented graphic designer and artist, Sean’s took a natural interest in our new content marketplaces – ChooseTattoos (tattoo designs), ImageCollect (celebrity pictures), and Cartoonsy (cartoons).  He’s been offering such valuable advice that we decided to make it official and bring him onto the team as an advisor (stock options and all).

Sean was once asked about giving advice to people starting out in the online marketing world, to which he responded…”Know two things, SEO and Photoshop.”  Having gotten to work with Sean a bit over the recent weeks, he knows SEO, Photoshop, and a heck of a lot more and we’re excited and humbled to have him assist.  Welcome to the team Sean!  We’re very grateful to have you on board and look forward to continuing to build AudioMicro with you.

Louis Gray recently posted a great piece about Digg and it’s founder Kevin Rose.  I’ve been a fan of Kevin since I first saw him on The Screen Savers on TechTV a little before Digg was even live.  I think that there’s really one over arching takeaway from all the talk about Kevin and Digg this week.

HOP OFF THE TRAIN AT THE RIGHT TIME!

What I mean by this is that a financially successful exit is a lot about timing. Just think of how many companies that are on the downswing or no longer even exist today, yet they made such great returns for their initial founders and shareholders because they sold out while they were on the top of their game.  On the flip side, there are many circumstances when companies have sold out to early, only to have their acquirers go on to grow the business 10x after the acquisition (still a better position to be in than having not exited at all).

Businesses and industry move in cycles and technological progress happens extremely quick these days. Companies, particularly those on the web, can so quickly fall in and out of favor. It’s crucial to exit at the right time.

Today is a good day.  We’ve just released 4 brand new marketplaces live on stage at the Launch Conference in San Francisco.  The new sites venture outside the audio space and into cartoons, celebrity pictures, infographics, and tattoos yet operating the same micro stock business model as we do at AudioMicro (i.e. crowd sourced content for as little as $1).

I’ll be posting video of the Launch presentation shortly.  In the meantime, full details on the new sites can be found in the press release below and on our new corporate site.  Check it out here.

Important to note is that our newly developed Content Management System (CMS) is available under white label.  What this means is that not only we can quickly and easily clone and deploy new content marketplaces at will, but our technology is available for you to do so as well think WordPress for Content Licensing.  If you’ve got content of your own that you wish to distribute simply drop us a line to get the process started.

Back in May of last year, we wondered what would come next after the launch of Audioo, well now we know.  It’s amazing to look back on the past 10 months at what we’ve been able to do.  We’re very much looking forward to the future.

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AudioMicro Unveils Four New Content Licensing Marketplaces

New Sites Include Cartoons, Celebrity Pictures, InfoGraphics, and Tattoos

SAN FRANCISCO, LAUNCH CONFERENCE, February 24, 2011 – AudioMicro, which offers the world’s largest collection of micro stock music and sound effects, announced today it has developed a white label CMS for content licensing, allowing the startup to quickly clone and deploy content marketplaces.  In conjunction with the announcement, the Company unveiled four new licensing marketplaces, each targeting a specific content vertical:

Cartoonsy.com – a marketplace for licensing cartoons and cartoon animations

ChooseTattoos.com – tattoo designs and tattoo flash from tattoo artists worldwide

ImageCollect.com – micro stock celebrity pictures with over 750,000 images

InfoGraphicStock.com – an experimental market for infographics and data visualization

The four new products were revealed onstage as part of the “2.0 Competition” at the Launch conference, being held February 23-24 in San Francisco.

“We’re already getting some great material from cartoonists, tattoo artists, red carpet photographers, and infographic designers.” said Ryan Born, founder and chief executive officer, AudioMicro.  “If you’re an artist with wholly owned content, upload your work and grab a piece of our growing monthly royalty stream.”

AudioMicro recently closed a round of financing led by Fotolia, Europe’s leading stock photo distributor, which spans the globe with websites in 12 languages, offices in 14 countries, and over 12 million images.

The new Content Management System (CMS) is available on a white label basis.   Content owners, publishers, and entrepreneurs that wish to operate their own marketplaces can contact the Company for details.

About AudioMicro, Inc.

An industry pioneer in licensing music and sound effects through credit-based and subscription packages, AudioMicro acts as a discovery and distribution platform for stock audio content.  Its collection of royalty free music, stock music, sound effects, and free sound effects includes over 225,000 tracks of both crowd-sourced and premium, record label-owned content.  In addition to AudioMicro.com, the company operates content licensing marketplaces for cartoons, tattoos, celebrity pictures, and infographics, as well as the voicemail sharing service Audioo.  The company is venture-backed by DFJ Frontier and Fotolia LLC.  For more information, visit AudioMicroInc.com.

About the Launch Conference

The Launch Conference (http://launch.is), February 23-24 2010, at San Francisco Design Center’s Concourse Exhibition Center, is serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis’ latest venture, attracting over 1,000 leading technology innovators and investors and over 140 startups.  40 new companies and products will launch for the first time on stage, selected to present from more than 500 applications received from around the world. Another 100 early-stage startups will exhibit in the Demo Pit.  Conference profits will be awarded equally to the 40 selected participants along with other award recognitions at the conclusion of the conference.

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I am sooooooooooo proud today.  My entrepreneurial wife Lauren has officially launched TWIG design studio with a MASSIVE  sale on One Kings Lane.  The sale’s timing is perfect for holiday shoppers.  The sale lasts for the next 72 hours so get some now while supplies last.  Click here to view the sale (NOTE:  you must register for One Kings Lane to view / purchase).

Here’s some more info about TWIG:

“TWIG design studio was created out of the concept that it’s little things in life that make a big difference. Since she was little girl, textile and surface designer Lauren Born and her mother would make each other’s day by exchanging small rocks, beautiful leaves and little notes. TWIG paper goods seeks to combine both of these ingredients—natural elements and the art of the note—in this beautiful selection of hand-painted cards.”

If you’re in the market for gift tags, gift cards, note cards, or handmade stationary, check out the big sale and buy a couple for you and your friends.  They make perfect holiday gifts!  Everything is 100% original and made 100% by hand right here in the USA (ok, in our garage actually).  Enjoy!