Scott Warner always had an entrepreneurial spirit about him. “I was hustling since the day my mom and dad trusted me to leave the house for a while,” he said. It started with a run of the mill lemonade stand, which then turned into a softball snack shack. “We would go to my dad’s softball games and set up shop. My dad taught me how to source product and then sell it so we could make a profit.” He had self-made paper routes, and set up a business to paint curbs for a small fee.
Scott Warner
CEO / Founder
Those early entrepreneurial lessons stayed with Warner, and one day, in the fall of 2002, he sat in a classroom at Utah Valley University and realized it was exactly the place he didn’t want to be. “I sat in that class and thought ‘This is too slow for me. This isn’t the path for me.’” So, he left, trading school for a sales job with a home security company, Pinnacle Security. After a 12-year climb and accession to his position as Vice President of Sales, the old entrepreneurial flame was rekindled, and Warner decided it was time for a change.
“I wanted to do my own thing,” he said. “I was ready to go after my passion, my dreams.”
And so, the first ideation of Gigg was founded, fueled by Warner’s love of music. A discerning music-lover, he trusted only a few people when it came to finding new artists, and relied heavily on word of mouth.
“I trust 3 or 4 people when it comes to what music I listen to. I ask a few of my siblings, and my cousin,” he said. “I trust them. They know music, they know my taste in music. You know, word of mouth goes a long way in any industry.”
So he set to work building a platform based on one of the greatest marketing tools: word of mouth. Warner realized if artists could get more people talking about their music, those listeners could do a lot of the work for them. In 2013, Warner built the first version of Gigg; a software to help artists be more efficient in putting their greatest fans to work in sharing their music, and building techniques to connect with existing fans, and find new fans. And it worked, attracting big name artists like Maroon 5, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Tim McGraw, and Florida Georgia Line, among others. “The music industry is a small pond,” said Warner. “Everyone knows everyone, and they all talk. We had some success helping a few artists push new singles, albums, and ticket sales, and their managers started telling other managers about our platform. We were getting hit up daily by artists and managers wanting to use Gigg.”
Always the entrepreneur, Scott had a few side hustles he was working on, and started using Gigg on those projects. “I started using the software we had built for the music industry for my side projects, and I found a lot of success,” he said. In that moment, Scott knew that all businesses could benefit from the Gigg software. So the vision for Gigg grew from providing a service to artists and musicians, to growing the business bigger, and attracting larger companies. “I knew this software was something more, something bigger, something greater. I knew I needed to start getting this product into the hands of businesses. They needed our software just as much as artists do, and more.” he said.
And with that hinge-point, the trajectory of Gigg changed from a music platform to a social media platform, aimed at helping businesses understand the value of their current, social, customer base, and helping them implement user-generated content.
“A lot of companies tend to believe what they share on social pages, put on billboards, and highlight in commercials play the biggest role in driving their business, but really it’s what people are saying,” Warner said. “I go and buy things based on what my friends are telling me to buy and do. And so do other people.”
Tapping into the social media market was game-changing for Warner and Gigg. “Social media has changed the face of marketing and advertising in every sense of the word,” he said. “We’ve spent thousands of hours with countless businesses, and many of them don’t know how to use social media. We know it’s overwhelming. Sometimes they don’t know what to post, what content to use, how to engage with their customers. Gigg is focused on helping businesses understand how to do these things.”
Now, more than ever, in a climate of global pandemic when many people are sheltering in place or adhering to stay home mandates, social media is playing an even more pivotal role in business marketing strategy.
“Our software provides effective ways to align with people, leveraging the social media landscape. There really is no better time to connect with fans, customers, patients, or members than through social media,” he said. “And our software provides unique ways to engage your audience, and get that audience talking to a bigger audience. Social media numbers are skyrocketing due to everyone being at home, so that’s where you need to be as a business, and we provide ways for businesses to be there and be effective.”
Oh, and the name, Gigg? That has its own unique story. Initially the name referenced the musical idiom, as in, “I went to a gig last night.” But as the company progressed, Warner realized the name grew with the company.
“A lot of people think it’s named after the software reference of a gigabyte, but that’s not the case,” Warner said. “The brand name is one of our greatest wins, and it really encompasses all versions of what the company has been, encapsulating the music industry, the software industry, and nowadays, I think it is used as a phrase to represent people’s passion. Like, ‘What’s your side gig?’ And all three of those represent Gigg as we see it.”
The future of Gigg is endless, striving to not only grow businesses, but help brands, companies, and people share their vision with others.
“The ultimate vision is to become the best software on the planet to help a brand effectively push themselves, their passion, their idea, their product, their brand, whatever it is, to the world better than any other software out there.”
