Giggem

What did it do?

Giggem was an English-language social network where musicians could create profiles and share songs and videos, and bands looking for new members could hold auditions online. Its founder described the platform as the LinkedIn of the music industry. It officially launched first in the US in 2013 and saw its heaviest use in Los Angeles and London.

Why did it shut down?

According to Emir Turan, the first mistake was offering a large number of features all at once and launching to almost the entire world rather than a single city. With members scattered across different regions, they could not meet in real life, and the platform turned from a place for making professional connections into a chat room. Revenue plans such as premium membership and paid search never got off the ground, and the investors he spoke to turned him down because of the scaling problem. What Turan names as the real reason for the closure, however, was time: the team was in Istanbul, most users were in the US, and he himself was in Eskişehir dealing with growing responsibilities at Eti, the Turkish food company. The platform was shut down in 2015 without ever generating revenue.

The story

Emir Turan is the grandson of Firuz Kanatlı, founder of Eti, one of Turkey's best-known biscuit and snack makers. He studied law and, after a brief spell in banking, began working at the family company. A guitarist who had played on stage with bands at school and university, Turan knew from his own experience that a musician's biggest headache was finding the right bandmates. As a solution, in 2012 he founded Giggem, which he designed as a kind of LinkedIn for the music industry.

According to a Webrazzi report in 2012, Turan was funding and running the venture himself; $300,000 of capital had been set aside for a year of development. On the English-language platform, musicians could create profiles and share songs and videos, and bands looking for new members could hold auditions online. Giggem officially launched first in the US in 2013. Speaking to the Turkish daily Milliyet in 2014, Turan said membership had passed 20,000 and was growing by 25 to 30 per cent a month.

As Turan told Fast Company in 2020, the first mistake was offering too many features at once and launching to almost the entire world rather than a single city. With members scattered across different regions, they could not get together in real life; the platform turned from a place for making professional connections into a chat room. Turan summed it up: "We saw the mistake, but we were too late to fix it." Revenue plans such as premium membership and paid search never got off the ground. The angel investors and funds he met also turned him down because of the scaling problem.

According to Turan, though, the real reason for the closure was time. The team was in Istanbul and most users were in the US, while he was in Eskişehir dealing with growing responsibilities at Eti. He shut the platform down in 2015, by which point it had reached 60,000 to 70,000 members, 250,000 original videos and around 300,000 original songs. He also said he had turned down a $1.2 million offer from a US music site and had spent around 3.5 million TL of his own money on the venture.

Giggem remains an example of why focusing on a narrow geography and a single need is vital for products that rely on network effects.

Lessons for founders

• Concentrate a product that relies on network effects in a single city, then expand.
• Do not try to solve every need; focus first on one niche need.
• Bring in a partner or manager who knows the areas you do not, right from the start.
• The time you cannot devote to your start-up is a gap that money cannot fill.

Sources

1. A leadership lesson from a start-up that closed (Fast Company Türkiye, 2020-11-23)
2. Giggem: a social network for musicians and bands (Webrazzi, 2012-10-10)
3. A music social network from Eti's heir apparent! (Milliyet, 2014-05-24)

This section is compiled from public sources (Wikidata, news archives and company announcements). Figures are given as they appear in those sources; unknown fields are left blank. If you spot a mistake in an entry, you can send us a correction.

Is something in this entry wrong? Request a correction → Method