MASTERLIZER: An Easy & Efficient Solution

Describe MASTERLIZER in 50 words or less.

MASTERLIZER is an online audio and mastering service that helps you to make your music sound better and transform your sound. Simply upload your unmastered mix, preview your complete song for free, then download and share your master on SoundCloud, YouTube and with your fans in better quality.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

Working in different advertising and marketing agencies I realized one day that I was really exhausted, I was probably burnt out, so I hopped on a plane and visited a friend in Africa where I stayed for 3 months. By coincidence I was involved in building a music studio in Mozambique and suddenly was again immersed in my lifelong passion for music. At that point I realized that I should continue to pursue this passion and started the Remixinhambane project where we connected musicians from all over the world to make music together.

Then one thing led to another and suddenly the idea for MASTERLIZER was born and we were already working on it. The decision happened automatically because after having identified a need on the market we simply had to do it.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

The typical day is very versatile and involves working on many different levels, from managing the company and the development process to testing and constantly developing new ideas on how to improve our service – it is packed with meetings and investor relations but also with thinking of new ways to solve the challenges of optimizing sound – on a very basic level, designing models and algorithms that later are further developed by our programmers. Typically I like to work until really late to get as much as possible done.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

Our startup revolutionized the sound of music on the web, making everything you hear online sound better! In the last 20 years the digital revolution changed music production a lot and we think that the impact of the internet on the production side will become even more important than it is already today. MASTERLIZER is our first product that aims to simplify the production side of music over the internet and at the same time make music sound better on the internet.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

In many ways, but we take the greatest pleasure in the small victories and knowing that people really love to use our service. I think if you make people happy that is the greatest measure of success, you’re helping someone and giving them a solution that’s easy, affordable and efficient. Besides that it’s really important that the platform becomes self-sufficient and generates enough money so we can continue to work on it and realize other great ideas we already have in mind.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the service like you imagined it in the beginning?

There was no big pivot yet, and the product as it is serves the initial idea, but of course customers come up with new use cases and contact us if we could implement this or that. With this the pivoting happens slowly but steadily which means that we ourselves are getting a different idea what we can do with our technology and we are already working on some products and extensions that go further away from what we originally intended or thought of – but the basis with what we started is still there.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

We were lucky to get a seed investment round from our investor which allowed us to make bigger steps, but it was a long way to go! This allowed us to develop our prototype to a point where it can reliably run on a much bigger scale. But this creates a lot of new challenges and puts you in a constant rush to further develop your product, market it properly, etc. so at the moment we are looking for new investors in order to serve a worldwide audience and innovate the market.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

There are often times where you have to decide and analyze if you can stand up against your competitors and their solutions, especially when you know that these competitors might have much bigger budgets than you. All this involves taking high risks, because moving forward is a substantial matter in building something extraordinary. It’s a fine balance between strategy, focus and risk that drives us in finding new solutions to problems and you have to be open enough to see if you lost your track or simply should stop doing something.

What do you look for in team members?

Actually empathy, the ability to communicate and understand things in a way which helps problem solving and motivates the others on the team to find and build solutions that surprise even themselves. In a team, the excellence of all team members together is the key to success, not necessarily the excellence of an individual. Yes, you can have that “magic” coder, and if you have tons of money you can pay him/her to build you a solution, but in the end you will have to deal with a lot of problems if this person is not able to bring the work of the team forward, not just his/her own work.

Why would a talent join your team?

We think our passion to build something really cool and extraordinary is the “food” a talent needs. Not everybody is able to take risks or difficult decisions in a venture or project, but if you create a setting where people and talents feel involved and everybody is willing to share his/her opinions, ideas and special abilities then people start to inspire and learn from each other. And this might be something that can actually bring each individual forward by having the chance to learn from others and get better in things that one is not only very good at, but also things that one is not so good at.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

There was no most memorable one, instead there were many. The first time our unbelievably primitive prototype worked online, it was a blast. Suddenly we could upload a song and it would get mastered instantly. Or when we applied for the Go Silicon Valley program of the WKO Austria and were accepted. I would have never thought they would take us but it happened and I flew over for several months to Silicon Valley. Also really memorable was when it was midnight before the big demo day for our investors and suddenly Masterlizer was not working at all, I ran to the hotel to wake up our main coder so he could fix, we were all sweating like hell.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

Follow your passion, actively try to think bigger than you are used to and make sure that you create a setup where you are able to share success and fail with others. Don’t be afraid to make hard decisions, don’t try to change others too much but look for people who share your passion and hard working attitude. Taking an uncomfortable decision is better than no decision and will push you forward – don’t be afraid to fire somebody, you will find someone who is willing to do the job happily and better.