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Laffster, a comedy discovery and engagement platform, is rebranding as Cogo today to include actors, musicians and athletes. With its new name, the platform will serve as a mix between a crowdfunding and live streaming service, incentivizing mega-fans to further engage with artists and celebrities.
Cogo puts this superfandom to good use by hosting interactive streams of shows to help artists raise money, many times for non-profits like when Jimmy Pardo, Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm and Patton Oswalt used Cogo to raise over $140,000 for Smile Train in just 12 hours.
Cogo has hosted over 100 shows like this one for performers, many who reach out to Cogo directly for video hosting, distribution and fundraising help. The hands-on five-person Cogo team does a some “hand-holding” for performers throughout the entire process, which also helps the team learn what Cogo can do to better serve artists, co-founder and Head of Product Eric Posen said.
As the team continues to learn what works and what doesn’t for artists looking to raise money, they will constantly improve the platform so it can live stream both pre-planned and impromptu shows for both well-known and lesser-known artists: “Someone doesn’t have to be a giant celebrity for it to work for them,” Posen said. Less prominent artists with a hyper-engaged fan base still find success raising money with Cogo.
“We are working on better ways for performers to make money and make everything as frictionless as possible,” Posen said. “We’re really focused on being the crowdfunding service around the livestream.”
Cogo started off this journey in Santa Monica as a part of MuckerLab’s very first class. Their team, which includes CEO and co-founder Dan Altmann, will likely double or triple this year, Posen said, as they seek their second funding round. Thanks to the boost of Greylock Partners’s seed funding in 2012 and of MuckerLab throughout Cogo’s short company history, the company is aiming for high growth in 2014.
“Mucker saw where we could be in a few years even though we were the youngest people in the program,” Posen said. “We liked Mucker because they were product guys, but they are hands-off when you want them to be.”
Besides Mucker's product-focused environment, the entertainment-heavy scene of Los Angeles is turning out to be “the perfect place to be" for this growing entertainment tech company.
