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company story

Cinderella story.

C. 1997

GigMasters co-founders Mike Caldwell (left) and Kevin Kinyon (right) have been hanging out together since grade school. They actually lived in the same Long Island neighborhood as kids: Mike lived on Cinderella Lane, Kevin lived on Storyland Lane (we can't make this stuff up) — to say theirs is a storybook ending isn't so far-fetched.

Picture the scrappy risk-taker and the methodical numbers guy. That was their M.O. as kids, as college students, as financial corporate-types, as music lovers, and now as successful, day-to-day masters of GigMasters.

Timing is everything.

Mike took an interest in the Internet and the Worldwide Web back when they were so new, they required air quotes. Mike's brain works in that wonderful number-crunching, code-writing sort of way — so from a house in White Plains, NY shared with three housemates, he began playing with HTML and creating a blog-type site. Content? He'd just post stories of Kevin's wacky life experiences, he's had more than a few, at www.kev.com. Kevin's travels are another story for another day…

Before Mike created kev.com, Kevin had never been online, didn't know much about it. But it quickly became an addiction — okay, maybe not quickly…remember, ‘96 was the year of molasses-slow 28K dial-up. But going online was WAY beyond cool, Kevin became as hooked as Mike.

An old Weezer video?

A little musical background: Kevin's dad was a well-published composer, his mother an Eastman-trained pianist/composer, and Mike's dad was a professional violinist and former member of the Cincinnati Symphony. Suffice it to say, both were immersed in music from day one. Kevin went on to study trumpet and piano for most of his young life, while Mike studied violin/viola from age four through college at the Indiana School of Music. The musical roots were well established, but it was a 1994 Weezer music video included on the installation disk of Windows95 that really changed everything — Kevin was fascinated with the instant exposure it gave the band. Millions of people see this band Weezer right on their computer. Isn't that amazing?

Bands, meet the Web.

So it happened — they combined their love of the Web with their love of bands. They didn't want to sell CDs, enough people were already doing that. They wanted to help bands get noticed — Weezer-style. So they created simple sites to give local bands worldwide exposure, to get their names out there on this fascinating Internet thing. Bands loved it. Word spread. Hang on tight. Unlike so many companies of the day, Mike and Kevin actually resisted the temptation of outside funding (and the lofty office spaces that go with it)! Instead, they plugged away on weekends and evenings, often at the local Kinko's, building their site (and their dream) one band at a time.

You never forget your first…

The first paid gig on GigMasters.com? It came from a band called Pekker — true story. In the 12 years since launching GigMasters in 1997, over 50,000 bookings have come through for thousands of performers — from rock bands and balloon clowns to belly dancers and string quartets. Today, GigMasters is nationwide and boasts the largest database of client-rated performers on the Internet. By far.

From 2 part-time experimenters to 10 full-time employees.

The company that Mike and Kevin built now has a full-time staff of ten — developers, programmers, admin and customer service reps. Their business model? Don't just offer a listing of performers. Instead, help brides, grooms, party planners, event planners, even moms and dads search, compare, contact, book and rate performers to ensure successful events of every conceivable kind. From their modest offices in Redding, CT, they strive every day to perfect the experience of finding and booking entertainment. Their philosophy: great entertainment truly is the life of the party. To see for yourself, by all means, take a peek.

GigMasters staff photo 1 GigMasters staff photo 2

…they plugged away on weekends and evenings, often at the local Kinko's, building their site (and their dream) one band at a time.