JustGo Announces $1.7 Million In Funding, Former Beatport CEO Jonas Tempel As Board Chair
JustGo is a social media management tool that's grown quite rapidly by focusing on EDM artists. Launched in April, JustGo now boasts over 50,000 users, including numerous big names, and total funding to date of $1.7 million dollars. I spoke with JustGo CEO and Founder Justin Golshir earlier this week about the news and the story of JustGo. It's one of a number of music tech startups based in EDM that are creating products that should be of interest to the music industry as a whole including, particularly in this case, DIY music marketers.
The basics for JustGo are fairly simple. Artists with a Facebook page can sign up for free, connect FB, Twitter, SoundCloud, YouTube and Mixcloud accounts, and track such stats as fan activity in a combined view.
JustGo also offers the ability to upload to multiple accounts at once with such nifty features as the ability to upload an audio track and turn it into a video with a still image on YouTube.
There are additional features, including a social element, but the big idea is to be able to upload to your social media accounts and keep up with what's happening in an easy all-inclusive manner. Premium features are also available via subscription.
Justin Golshir's Musical Efforts Lead to Launching JustGo
JustGo was developed with EDM artists in mind. It was envisioned by CEO Justin Golshir who, despite a growing career in investment banking, decided to pursue his love of music and launch JustGo.
His musical experiences include playing with a couple of musicians in college who are now members of Lady Antebellum. But more specific to JustGo was his sideline musical activities while he was making his way through the financial industry.
Prior to shifting gears, Golshir was making electronic music on the side, studying production at Point Blank, posting to SoundCloud and generally having trouble getting any attention. Along the way he realized that a service like JustGo was needed, found people to work with and entered the world of entrepreneurship.
So Golshir gathered a team, found funding and began building JustGo with a focus on the EDM community. Though he says there's more to do in EDM, JustGo already has over 50k users on board.
JustGo's Accomplishments To Date
Today's announcement, rather than being breaking news, is more a report on what they've accomplished. JustGo's funding of $1.7 million is the grand total to date and includes not only Golshir's personal investment but participation from Freddie Achom's Rosemont Group Capital Partners and founding investors in Beatport.
One of those Beatport investors that saw the value of JustGo was Jonas Tempel, the Co-founder and former CEO of Beatport. That involvement led to today's announcement of Tempel as Chairman of the Board but Golshir explained that he's been an important advisor for months now.
So today's announcements brings us up to date on some of the high points of JustGo's progress. In addition to such news, Golshir discussed some of the difficulties for tech entrepreneurs in London.
The Challenges of Tech Entrepreneurship Outside of Silicon Valley
As has been widely noted, Silicon Valley is still the epicenter of tech investing but that goes beyond money. It includes an understanding of the need for innovative moves and a total ecosystem that allows one to make all the connections one needs just as a musician might head to Los Angeles to connect with the full spectrum of industry opportunities.
But the U.S. as a whole has a more explicitly entrepreneurial culture that is difficult to find elsewhere. So though JustGo is at Shoreditch, Golshir feels the challenges are heightened abroad by the lack of entrepreneurial consciousness found in Silicon Valley.
Given that a startup CEO is challenged every day to a degree that most coverage, including mine, tends to downplay, life can be quite difficult as one navigates not only the issues any new company faces but those peculiar to a rapidly shifting scene like electronic music.
Golshir revealed such challenges in the course of explaining the importance of Jonas Tempel's role as advisor and connecting point to so many figures in EDM. In fact, a lengthier article might look at JustGo's team and advisors as a whole who bring a great deal of industry knowledge and relationships to their work. As the announcement states:
"Tempel will have oversight of the strategic direction of JustGo's expansion alongside its management team and advisors who bring significant experience in the technology, music and entertainment, and advertising industries with companies such as Beatport, Timeout, Shazam, Nokia Music and Spotify."
In addition, JustGo will be opening a U.S. office early next year.
Opening JustGo To All Musicians and Beyond
Given that EDM artists have embraced DIY web marketing and services, building JustGo for that community not only builds on the team's experise but also keeps them focused on best practices and emerging approaches to marketing music on the web.
But even though they're strongly based in EDM and want to do more in that arena, JustGo is also open to other musicians who should find the service well worth checking out.
In fact, Golshir's bigger vision is not limited to serving only musicians but creators as a whole. JustGo's not in a rush to get there and they're quite thoughtful about which new services to integrate but that's where Golshir ultimately hopes to go.
So if you're finding that other social media management tools seem more relevant to pro marketers and corporate pr, do check out JustGo. They might well meet your core DIY social media marketing needs.
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is building a writing hub at Flux Research. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
