Dave Blue is a simple man, pretty much like his name.
He can carry his possessions in a duffle bag. He bounces between Austin area hostels as a way of life. And he isn't a believer in the idea that startups need big bucks to become something important and useful.
His idea, he acknowledges, has been done before. The Spot Caller app he has built, as mostly a one-man band, is a thing you've probably already seen -- a way to find concerts. But Blue has built a concert-finding app that works in a little different way than Bandsintown or some of the others you may have come across.
For one, the app has a more casual design that lets you focus on particular neighborhoods in a city (Austin, thus far, is the most built out). And Blue's version on the show-finding app is also more tailored to our meandering tastes in music. Instead of using our smartphone's music libraries as a reference for our desires, Spot Caller asks you what genre of music you're interested in tonight and what part of town you'd like to visit. It also highlights trending concerts to let you know what the masses are most interested in.
"A good majority of music-finding apps out there.... you kind of have to know the artists," he said. "There's just a bunch of names, and, if you don't know them already, it's not super helpful."
His app has a lot of options in Austin, but it draws events from Facebook event postings by musicians in cities across the nation and uses an algorithm to help filter what you're looking for based on where you click. That means it can be particularly useful for travelers who may not know about local bands. For example, if you show interest in jazz by clicking on those links and searching it, it will prioritize such shows on your next search.
"I want to make finding live music as simple as finding movies," he said.
It's unclear, so far, if his new take on an old idea will really take off. But he's dedicated to it, and he's one of many people who think that even the best apps out there make it tough to find the right show when you're ready to head out and find something inspiring.
A Computer Guy and Traveler From the Start
Blue is from Cincinatti. He's an Eagle Scout -- "once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout," he says. And his dad gave him early exposure to computers and programming.
"Not even before the internet, but before the home PC revolution," he said.
At 15, he was selling candy to classmates -- just buying snacks as Sam's Club and making a profit on higher prices at school. Then the administration caught on, and he tried to negotiate deals where the school got a cut to make it work -- not unlike how bigger startups negotiate with city and state government to make their ideas work. His high school plan wasn't a real business, but it put him on a road toward business and exploration.
After high school, he headed off the University of Cincinnati in his hometown, before going to New Zealand to explore.
"I just needed to do something different," he said. He found a few side jobs, traveled a few continents and ended with an idea that he encapsulates with a quote from "The Equalizer," a film he knows isn't great.
"The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you realize why you were born," he said, paraphrasing a Mark Twain quote used in the movie. "It just resonated with me because I think that in that time period... I just said to myself, 'what do I really want to do?' and the answer was 'entertain people.'"
Blue became a "wantreprenuer," even though he didn't know the term at the time.
He had ideas for EDM music parties and other get togethers. He envisioned funding and programmers and making it in the Big Time with major investors. But he realized he couldn't do it so easily. So he taught himself programming and redesigned his life on a minimal scale. He decided he'd run lean and solo, and, after traveling, he moved to Austin about eight moths ago.
Ever since, he's spending days at coffee shops and nights at different hostels in Austin. He has no car, few possessions and he says he's focused on Spot Caller.
"It's very satisfying work," he said. "I think sometimes we define being rich as having food and shelter and all the basics of life. But being able to spend 100 percent of your day doing what you'd like to do... I don't mean to be cheesy, but that seems to be a pretty good definition of being rich to me. And I pretty much fit that bill."
Blue is the sole developer and marketer of Spot Caller. He has one undisclosed investor, and he says he has runway to keep building his product out for months -- if not years -- to come. His minimalist lifestyle, he says, keeps his burn rate very low, giving him room to make what he believes will work for people who want to find concerts.
"It's an age-old problem," he said. "But I still don't think it's been solved. So that's what the goal is -- to get that solid foundation of a great app that music fans can really rely on and hopefully really love."
