Equipboard History Question

I recently found some old hats from Equipboard's not-just-music days here and here (I also encountered this PewDiePie "style" page). Then I was reminded of this video and it begs this question: why did Equipboard move away from universal gear and become strictly music-oriented?

Good question. I remember finding similar early-days mission statements years back... I've always trusted that post-launch hard data + anecdotal evidence steered the micro-pivot/intensified focus... but I too am curious how that all played out in reality... though how much of that the co-founders can/should share publicly, I don't know.

Hah, memory lane. Equipboard started off as an idea that might unfold much like reddit did. People have many different interests, so we thought they might want to know what different pros use across categories.

And while that's true, it gained traction with musicians the fastest, and with Michael and I being musicians ourselves and passionate about gear, we started to be able to see the "big picture" early on. Plus, with limited resources it helped to focus on one thing - trying to be too many things to too many people has sunk many websites early on.

It's not that we didn't test other categories - but we found there is something magical and timeless that happens in the music gear world. Since the love of music (and how it's made) is this thing that transcends boundaries and unites us all, both the gear and the pro have sort of this timeless aspect to them - and that magic is part of what makes Equipboard work so well.

It's not that we didn't test other categories - but we found there is something magical and timeless that happens in the music gear world. Since the love of music (and how it's made) is this thing that transcends boundaries and unites us all, both the gear and the pro have sort of this timeless aspect to them - and that magic is part of what makes Equipboard work so well.

Amen! Alton Brown's knife still sounds pretty cool, though.

post-launch hard data + anecdotal evidence steered the micro-pivot/intensified focus

I mean, yeah, that's pretty much it! If you want to know from a business standpoint, I have no doubt you could launch WhatIskKimKardashianWearingToday dot com, update it with every TMZ photo that comes out of her, and possibly make a buck or two. But to achieve scale, you need to attract a community that is passionate and will talk about a subject for the love.

I mean, yeah, that's pretty much it! If you want to know from a business standpoint, I have no doubt you could launch WhatIskKimKardashianWearingToday dot com, update it with every TMZ photo that comes out of her, and possibly make a buck or two. But to achieve scale, you need to attract a community that is passionate and will talk about a subject for the love.

Well said. :D

With no disrespect to any celebrities past or present, I don't think the lifetime customer value calcs for WIKKWT.com would be very appealing.

There are people that still want to know what kind of MPC, DAW, monitors, console and mics Missy Elliott and Timbaland used on "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" 24 years ago... but good luck finding someone who still cares about what brand of lipstick she wore in that's song's video...

There are people that still want to know what kind of MPC, DAW, monitors, console and mics Missy Elliott and Timbaland used on "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" 24 years ago... but good luck finding someone who still cares about what brand of lipstick she wore in that's song's video...

Precisely.

Alton Brown's knife still sounds pretty cool, though.

To eyesee's point, yeah, that is cool information. But if someone were to come up and tell me "I want to do Equipboard but with the gear chefs use" I would suggest to do it on a simple Wordpress and not to quit the day job :) Reason being, you quickly run out of celebrity chefs with enough clout where people care about their gear. And even then, a pretty large percentage of searchers are looking for those chefs' signature lines (they all have one), not necessarily what they actually use. The numbers get pretty small pretty quickly. Still, would probably be a cool blog!

I use the same Shun Kajis as Alton Brown... they kick ass and remove fingers...

I use the same Shun Kajis as Alton Brown... they kick ass and remove fingers...

Guess how many Unitaskers I have in my kitchen right now...