At EVAmore, the entertainment we book is highly vetted. We only accept about 5% of the acts that apply to be on our site. The best of the best. Our competitors will book anyone.
Co-founders, Makenzie Stokel and Channing Moreland
Name: EVAmore
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Website: www.evamore.co
Product / Service Offering: Online marketplace that connects vetted entertainment with event planners
Founder Interviewed: Channing Moreland and Makenzie Stokel, EVAmore co-founders
This article is part of our Women Entrepreneurs Spotlight Series featuring female entrepreneurs and their companies. We hope these founders’ interviews will inspire and motivate you as you undertake your own entrepreneurial journey.
Tell us a little about yourself with a focus on what motivates you.
Makenzie Stokel was raised in a small town in Indiana before going to college in Nashville, Tennessee.
I always knew that I wanted to work in music but was not sure how. Being around so many other like-minded and talented people in Nashville gave me the confidence to do what I loved, which was finding great music. Nothing feels better than getting deserving artists paid and helping them grow their career.
Channing Moreland is from Boston, Massachusetts and moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University as a songwriting major.
I grew up playing classical violin and then picked up a few more instruments along the way like saxophone, guitar, and piano. I loved the production and layering part when it came to writing a song, so I was blown away when she moved to Nashville and was immersed in the songwriting community where collaboration through co-writes happened every day. It was encouraging for me to witness a music industry built off of these communal practices.
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Spotlight: Nashville, TN
When did you establish your company and where did the idea originate?
EVAmore was established in 2015. We began putting on events to raise awareness for a website we started that recommended concerts to people based on their musical tastes. People saw how well they produced events and began asking us to help find talent for their events. Artists, on the other hand, wanted them to help get bookings. Evamore began manually connecting both parties before realizing the entire process could be automated.
What need or needs does your company seek to fill for its customers?
EVAmore makes it easy for artists and event planners to find one another through our online platform. We handle contracts, payment, negotiation, and artist discovery. Artists need us because they want to get paid to play, and planners need us because they do not have time to find quality entertainment that they can trust.
What is the one thing that sets your company apart from its competitors?
At EVAmore, the entertainment we book is highly vetted. We only accept about 5% of the acts that apply to be on our site. The best of the best. Our competitors will book anyone.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while getting your company up and running, and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge we have faced is not having technology experience while building a tech platform. Managing developers is very difficult when you do not know how to talk to them. We wasted a lot of time and money before learning how technology really works.
Are there resources you have utilized that other founders might find compelling or useful?
There are accelerators and incubators that bring a lot of value to young companies. EVAmore participated in one called Project Music when we were pivoting and it was the best thing they could have done for themselves. It is an easy way to validate your idea and see if the market is ready for it before launching.
Incubators & Accelerators: Which Best Fits Your Needs?
What steps have you taken to secure funding for your company and what, if anything, would you do differently if you had to start over?
We have raised a seed round. We also raised a family friends round about five years ago, before there was even a business model. The co-founders would do that deal much differently because they had no idea what they were getting into. At 19 years old, they were taking money and giving up a big part of the company. They had no idea what they needed to do with that money or how much, if any, they should have taken.
Giving Away Startup Ownership: How Much Is Too Much?
Have there been any questions you have had as an entrepreneur of a fledgling startup that you had a particularly hard time finding the answers to?
The hardest part of being an entrepreneur is not having anyone to answer to. It seems like this would be the best thing, and it can be, but it makes prioritizing and delegating extremely difficult. The hardest question we have to answer every day is “what should we spend our time on?” There are so many things to be responsible for and every minute spent doing one thing is a minute lost on another. No one tells us whether to focus on sales rather than further the technology or we should work on digital marketing instead of looking for strategic partnerships. It is always a challenge determining what the most important task is.
What challenges, if any, are you grappling with?
Because the business is automated, the customers are forced to change their behavior. Even though we make their process easier, faster, and better, it is still a change in behavior. Learning how to gain trust through a website has been challenging.
What is the most helpful tip or “hack” you’ve ever learned, stumbled across, or been given?
Work with people you like. If you are an entrepreneur, you are already going against the grain to do what you love. There is no reason you should have to work with people that do not think the same way as you. We have a great relationship and have really figured out how to work together. We’ve also worked with people who just bring us down. Because they are the boss, they can choose who they work with.
Advice to female entrepreneurs…
Don’t think of yourself as a female entrepreneur. You are an entrepreneur, not a female entrepreneur. There is no difference between males and females when it comes to opportunities in entrepreneurship. You have just as many opportunities as men because you are making them for yourself.
Are you familiar with other Women-led startups? If so, we would like to hear from you. Tell us about them in the comments below!
Sandra Sloan
Sandra has previous supply chain and business operations experience which she is leveraging as an author with FundingSage focused on spotlighting entrepreneurs and their startup efforts.
