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The philosophy of building something in a few weeks and seeing if there is some traction behind it or not seems to be still something completely crazy and aligned with what Richard Branson used to say “let’s do it, screw it”. There are people that, before releasing an app, wait six months and iterate hundred times in order to make everything great. Perfectionists? I’d rather say, people who can waste six months of their lives either because they are well funded or have already some cash in the bank.
On the other side of the river, there are those who think that if you have got an idea, you need to build a MVP and start iterating on the feedback you get from the users. The lean startup movement has drastically spread world wide this way of thinking and that’s probably one of the reasons why Rormix, a Manchester based Startup, which we have previously interviewed in A Beer With, has decided to take this path.
Rormix aims to be “a centralised platform for users to discover curated music videos from independent, emerging artists.” Starting from a basic version of their app built with Phonegap, in order to be on both platforms (Android & iOS) at the same time, the team has scaled the application to the point to reach more than 20k downloads across their ecosystem. The first prototype was developed in a four weeks period by using the power of a framework that lets you compile the application on two different mobile operating systems.
The idea was to understand quickly if what they had in mind was worth pursuing or just a waste of time. After six months, they have expanded their team and got seed funding from the North West Fund for Digital and Creative that will enable them to reach more people and move to the next big thing, which I’d like to call, “the product”. Today Rormix is releasing an update on iOS that is going to have a huge impact on the user experience, a native app.
While the idea is still there, the team has completely rethought the app with a different UI thanks to the power of using a native language. The new app doesn’t just come with a different user interface, but with a lot more features that are the result of six months of testing and iterations. You can now follow the artists you love and the app is capable to understand your tastes just by scanning your iTunes library. Further each artist has now a bio and users are able to link with them through their social media accounts.
By the end of the month, the company should be able to introduce a native app also for Android with the aim to close the first iteration and move to the second phase. With a new public image and a marketing budget, the next step is to reach the people who are part of their community. The challenge, given the niche market, is to reach people one by one. Even though the artists are already promoting the platform, it’s extremely difficult to connect single individuals from different continents.
In the next years, after a first venture round, the team might even start thinking of ways to monetise Rormix. If the number of monthly active users keep growing, artists will be the first to pay to be on the service. At the same time, given the niche market, targeted ads can be easily played before determined videos. Artists could even pay for their own ads to be displayed before the videos in order to sell their latest album or track. However money is not what comes next, because there is still a lot to do, in terms of monthly active users and artists in their database.
At the moment, the videos are loaded through Youtube, but the aim is to move the content on their servers, giving them more freedom and independence. Rormix is one of those startup that is contributing to what the Manchester Startup scene is about and that’s why they will be speaking at the Great Preneurs Conference on the 3rd of May at Techhub Manchester.
