BalconyTV seems something that anyone of us would like to have created. I mean, it is a web-show that goes on air literally from someone’s balcony.
With a different band performing every day. Want some name-dropping? The Script shot to fame after their very first performance on BalconyTV.
“We just had a silly little idea to do an internet show from our apartment balcony in Dublin,” says the founder Stephen O’Regan, remembering how it all begun in 2006. “What happened was – we invited one band to come and perform, and then another band. And before we knew it, we were inundated by requests. It became a musical website by itself and went viral. Every day a new band would perform on our balcony. We now have over 5000 shows in our archive!”
If at first the team behind BalconyTV would do it on their free time, it quickly came to be a full-time adventure. But who coughed up the cash to keep it running?
“It did not cost a lot,” reveals Stephen. “I guess I did, what was it that they call it again? Bootstrapped, yes, I bootstrapped for the first couple of years. Then we got a small private investment, which kept us going for more. More bootstrapping followed, and now we are in Startupbootcamp.”
So, how is the experience so far?
“It is going good. I mean, last year and half I have been working in a hotel, but now I have three months just to really focus on BalconyTV. Listen to people’s complaints and the things they like about it,” Stephen O’Regan reflects.
Today, BalconyTV is operating in 21 cities around the world, crossing cultural boundaries – besides Dublin it can be seen in Prague, New York, Vienna, Kostroma in Russia etc. The idea is to cover the whole world with it. So more balconies to come soon near you, possibly!
Stephen says that the requisition is that the balcony should have a view that is very distinct of the location – like skyscrapers in New York for example.
“Then we teach interested local people how to do it and give them the licence – we don’t charge for it. Not yet at least, not until we find the correct business model.” The people who do BalconyTV in other cities tend to be music-lovers and in quite a few cities the balconies belong to hotels, bars or other similar venues.
And it is an excellent promotional opportunity for bands, of course. Stephen still remembers when The Script contacted them. “Nobody knew who they were back then. I was the first person to ever film them!”
The 3-month accelerator program will be useful for focusing on the future of BalconyTV with full-time devotion. “We have now demonstrated that there is a huge potential, but we are still underground, which is kind of problem. We definitely need some proper investment to push it forward,” Stephen concludes.
The video seen here features The Script’s first ever performance on BalconyTV.
Startupbootcamp Madrid Demo Day is on September 22nd already – still time to sign up!
Want to become a part of an accelerator program, too? You have now a chance to screen a big list of different ones from all over the world on HumanIPO, check them out here.
