#wikkit

A windswept race along the Dutch coastline pulled off with panache by Dennis Bruin, whose gritty determination, beard and cycling cap combination is a style aesthetic we'd like to emulate.

Crowdfunding is an empowering endeavor. RocketHub is a community, a platform, and a revolution empowering your crowdfunding adventure. There are many other valuable tools available to Creatives that will empower for little to no cost. Because of this, we have launched a (near) weekly column: Turbo Thursdays. The goal is to highlight other platforms that share our revolutionary empowerment ethos. If you or your company would like to be highlighted - please shoot us an email.

This week we get "the scoop" from Adam Hunt, the founder and president of Wikkit, who is determined to figure out a way to send tickets over the internet so that anyone can afford to go to a show. Here are his thoughts and insights on his journey with Wikkit thus far.

 What was the inspiration behind your start-up Wikkit?  Why this endeavor is important to you?

The inspiration with Wikkit is true ticketing democracy. I've always been really into live music and when I was growing up and working at McDonald's it was tough scraping up money to go to a show.  And what always really upset me was how much Ticketmaster was charging in fees--it just seemed crazy having to pay $5 or $10 in fees on a ticket with a face value of $15 or $20.  And the worst part is that they're still doing it today and getting away with it because artists and venues haven't had other good options.

I also have a lot of friends in bands and I wanted to figure out a way for artists to be more involved in the whole process.  One way we're doing that is letting artists actually create their own events and help introduce venues to this affordable and simple way of doing ticket sales without a lot of expensive hardware or systems to set up.  Anyone with a cell phone can get their wikkit via text message (or email) and all the venue needs to scan wikkits is an iPhone or Droid.  A big part of the whole Wikkit story is that getting tickets via text message is just really cool and convenient for fans.

The whole endeavor is important to me because I'd wanted to do it for years, but it didn't take the plunge and launch the whole thing until after my little sister Hannah lost her long battle with brain cancer this summer.  As cliche as it may sound, I had one of those "life is too short moments" and she really inspired me to do what you love and follow your dreams.

How is Wikkit doing thus far?  What success have you had? Tell me about the challenges?

We've had a great response from everyone that's gotten wikkit so far :-)  People that don't have smartphones think it's really cool that they can still get a wireless ticket on their plain old flip phones.  We've also been able to partner with a variety of different merchants and venues from a small bar out in San Francisco (The Gate) to the McFadden's location in Las Vegas.  We've even been doing promos with wikkits for an organic yogurt shop here in NYC (called Yorganic).  I'm most excited about the free concert we threw this week in Brooklyn (at Cameo inside the Loving Cup) featuring Lincoln Schofield's Old Souls, The Dream Station and Fugitive Souls.

Any advice for "on the fence" entrepreneurs looking to start their own company?

My first thought was be sure to catch up on your sleep before you get started!

Seriously though I think that the best thing you can do is surround yourself with great people--especially people who have other strengths than you and bring something different to the table.  If you're like me and don't know much about computers then you better make friends with someone who can turn your sketch on the back of a cocktail napkin into reality.  If you have three co-founders with a tech background then you definitely need someone with a marketing and business background on the team.  You also need to not get frustrated if things don't happen overnight--it's a long process and you have to enjoy the ride.

Last but not least, people shouldn't be afraid to take that first step, whatever it is.  I've met so many great people with cool ideas who don't even give it a shot.  And I think that sites like Rockethub make it even easier because you can really invest others in your mission and have a lot of fun along the way--just fueled our first project!!!

Thanks these awesome insights (and for Fueling a project!) We look forward to watching your site grow and the prospect of working together in the near future.