Dave Karr is a lifelong musician.
He played in original and cover bands, and that's what sparked his interest in music equipment. And what began with an interest in building guitar-effects pedals and amplifiers and doing tech work on guitars and music equipment has now become a music equipment startup with 550 customers and nearly 600 more on a waiting list.
Karr graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a double major in marketing and industrial distribution. He has experience working in sales and marketing at General Electric Energy Connections and marketing at Mayer Electric Supply Co. He also was vice president of marketing and business development at Klyck.io.
Today, he is the founder and chief music officer of BuyOrBorrow Music, launched in 2021.
The company is a membership-based platform for musicians that allows them to borrow instruments, gear and accessories on demand via a monthly membership subscription. It offers guitar pedals, synthesizers, keyboards, microphones, recording interfaces, audio interfaces and more. Plans are in the works to add string instruments to the platform in the next four to six months.
When the company first launched, the response, Karr said, was overwhelming, with the startup receiving more demand than expected. The company had to work out some kinks and relaunched in 2022, going from 30 customers in February of that year to 300 by 2023.
"We've literally had so much demand we've not been able to keep up and so we have a huge backlog of folks that are waiting to get in the club and the only inhibitor for us bringing them on has been access to capital," he said.
The company so far has raised $275,000 from investor networks largely in Birmingham with the help of Alabama Capital Network and Accelerated Partners, and hopes to raise $300,000 more by the end of the year to round out its seed round.
BuyOrBorrow Music
"That, coupled with some lending, is going to give us the runway we need to get into next year's continued growth, and then our target would be a Series A round in the first half of 2024," Karr said.
The team currently consists of 12 people, five of whom are based in Birmingham. Karr said the funding will go toward expanding the team as well as building out the technology platform and a partner platform. Today, the startup owns most of the equipment it distributes, but the goal is to work with other music retailers and manufacturers to lend their equipment through his platform.
The company's target market is mainly hobbyists such as guitar players, synthesizer and electronic music producers and recording enthusiasts. The startup's customers span nearly every state. Karr said musicians frequently buy and sell equipment for many reasons, including outgrowing equipment or needing to upgrade.
"Some of it could just be that musicians, by nature, are just 'gear heads.' They love to always mess with new things," he said. "They're always looking for something for inspiration, but the challenge that for them is that they're constantly buying and selling and typically losing money. ... It's very stressful for musicians, especially when they just want to focus on creating their art, so that's really how we designed the company was to help address that issue."
BuyOrBorrow Music has a goal of bringing the music store experience into the home.
"There's so many reasons that resonates with musicians. Musicians tend to be very introverted by nature," Karr said. "A lot of musicians have historically disliked the music store experience because you go in and you feel like there's a high-pressure salesperson. The only way to try a product out is to plug it up and play it in front of people and that can feel uncomfortable."
The most important thing the startup has accomplished according to Karr is aiding one of the platform's members in releasing his first EP.
"(The customer) said, 'Hey, I want you to go listen to this. I just released my EP today. It's a monumental moment because this has been a lifelong dream. Eighty percent of everything you hear on that album is your equipment.'"
The startup has also taken on interns from UAB, which Karr called rewarding.
Even faring the challenging economic times for startups have been rewarding. Karr said those times have made entrepreneurs battle-hardened and focused.
"What I think that has done for founders who have great ideas and are still building those ideas, is it's really forcing us as startup founders to use scrappy, common-sense and bootstrap activities to make our companies work," he said. " ... I also think that those who are willing to invest in times of uncertainty, that's always the best returns right?"
