Anyone can freestyle rap and have fun with it. Most people can't do it well. Rapt.fm is building a business on empowering people to do the later.
The 1-year-old startup offers video, real-time rap competitions and tournaments online, along with freestyle consulting services. It is currently part of the
Bizdom entrepreneurial program and based in the M@dison Building in downtown Detroit.
"Detroit is attractive because it has a huge hip-hop history and a burgeoning tech scene," says Erik Torenberg, co-founder & CEO of
Rapt.fm. "We want to take advantage of both of them."
Torenberg and co-founder Jamie Pitts met at a
University of Michigan's Startup Weekend competition in Ann Arbor. Torenberg and Pitts were able to turn their desire to improve the ability to freestyle into the seeds of a business.
Rapt.fm won the top award at that U-M Startup Weekend competition and another business plan competition for University of Michigan startups in San Francisco.
Rapt.fm is currently in its Beta version, hosting online rap battle twice a week. It currently has 100 users per session and Torenberg expects to up the number of sessions by the end of the summer. The company's four employees and eight summer interns are also offering consulting services on how to better freestyle. The services are being purchased by businesses as a way to inspire more creativity and innovation from employees while having fun.
"Anyone can freestyle," Torenberg says. "That means anyone can learn from freestyle rapping. We can't all be masters, but we can have fun trying."
Source: Erik Torenberg, co-founder & CEO of Rapt.fm
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.