Where did the idea come from?.
Back in 2007, Dwight was in a technology sales job at a fairly high level in the organization. After an acquisition, it was easy to see that the company was struggling to figure out what to do with him. It was also apparent to Dwight that he was being paid too much to have his strategic advice so routinely ignored. Something needed to change or he’d be on the street in months with no direction forward.
Patrick was a guest of the state of Idaho. He had some local success as a hip-hop artist and was interested in moving more toward artist management and promotion. As Patrick neared his release date, he needed a plan to move forward.
Crossroads Angel was a plan to create a business to business (B2B) service for performing artists to connect with the businesses that support them. The service plans included all the usual social network features you would expect of an internet-based B2B service, additional services geared toward touring artists, and a healthy dose of reputation metrics and visibility. Monetization was to be through client ads and a set of enhanced web-based and personal agent services.
How did Crossroads Angel fail?
It was lousy timing to try to self-fund a startup just as the Great Recession hit in 2008. Recession uncertainty was a factor in the two primary causes of failure.
- A CTO candidate withdrew from the business just after others committed and web development had to be outsourced.
- Limited funds led to outsourcing development to an inexpensive team, which meant slow and shoddy work.
We simply ran out of time and money..