Jammber CEO Marcus Cobb credits a vibrant ecosystem, an awesome team, and hard lessons learned for his music-tech startup’s success.
As cofounder and CEO of Jammber, a tech company that helps musicians get paid quickly and fairly, Marcus Cobb is a man with big ideas and the business know-how to back them up.
“We believe that we can create apps and tools where your music goes in and your money comes out, and that’s it,” he said. “And your money’s accurate, and it’s fast.”
In this episode of Disrupt the Continuum, Cobb explains how creating a company culture that leans in to the diversity of his team has brought his vision to life. He also urges entrepreneurs to embrace the community he’s found in Nashville, where founders can share both successes and lessons learned.
Like-hearted, different-minded
Any business has much to gain by hiring diversely and capitalizing on distinctive strengths. Cobb likes to call his team “like-hearted, different-minded” — each member bringing unique perspectives to a shared mission.
“It’s really easy to let our insecurities, our biases, or our comfort zones come into the hiring process, whether intentionally or unintentionally,” Cobb said. “But for a company, that is a strategic disadvantage, especially for a company that depends heavily on design like Jammber does.”
And he takes nothing for granted. “We are working our butts off day in, day out, but we’re working with people that you’d like to work with on a cause that we believe in,” he emphasized. “Jammber hasn’t arrived by any means. We have some major challenges we have to fix. But I have an awesome team behind me.”
Sharing the journey
At last summer’s 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival, Cobb participated in the panel discussion titled “How I Effed Up and You Can Too.” The candid, lively conversation touched on mistakes each panelist had made as an entrepreneur and how those lessons helped spark growth.
Among the far-reaching topics: unrealistic expectations. “I’m in a world where we’re whitewashing the journey,” Cobb said. “I think we really need to let entrepreneurs know they’re not alone. There are mistakes.”
The key to surviving those mistakes is an ecosystem that has your back. Cobb highlighted the role Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Project Music accelerator have played in keeping Jammber afloat and growing.
“It’s not just Jammber. It’s a million hands on what we’re doing that are helping us fly,” he said. “So as long as we have that community around us, I think that we have some really cool things ahead.”
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