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You’ve got the dress. The invitations have been sent out. But what about the music?
For married couple and founders of Mixteka, Mary Camacho and and Matthew Nichols went the do-it-yourself route with their wedding music back when people were still using CDs. They faced some hiccups on the day of the actual event (all the CDs tipped out of their 200-CD player during the event) and they knew there had to be an easier way.
“That was a nightmare,” said Camacho.
Fast-forward to 2014 and things are already easier with iPods and smartphones, but for a perfect wedding, Camacho wondered “how can we make it easy?”
The Perfect Day
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Weddings are described as the most important day of your life (no pressure), so anyone working in the field must have high standards. “We are in the wedding space. You can’t do it wrong,” said Camacho (pictured left).
Mixteka tries to make the whole process easy and cheap. Camacho says her product is just $149 versus the national average for DJ’s topping $1000. It’s a “huge price difference for folks,” said Camacho.
For millennials, who expect customized and easy-to-use products, Mixteka combines those perfectly. Users can have friends suggest songs for different parts of the event (the walk down the aisle, dancing with dad, cutting the cake) and give reasons behind their suggestions. “It really allows you to get that very personalized, but community personalized, experience for your music at your wedding,” said Camacho.
Mixteka also reminds users of all the spaces to fill and the little details that can easily get overlooked. “There are a lot of little details that are going to make or break whether [your wedding] is going to be good, and we built that into the process,” said Camacho.
Camacho says people could put together all this music without using their platform, but finding cake music and the songs people will actually dance to can be a lot of work. Mixteka provides millions of songs, all available in one place. The best part? Their fee includes the music, so customers don’t need to buy dozens of songs on iTunes.
Mixteka is in private beta and getting feedback on how to improve the product. Over the next six months, the team of five plans to roll out the product (look for their launch in January) and work with their first round of customers. With engagement season upon us, Mixteka thinks there will be a surge in demand (though Camacho says music is often much further down the list than picking out dresses). Camacho is also looking at accelerators, both locally and across the country.
Finding your Calling
For Camacho, mixing music and tech is a dream come true, but one that doesn’t come without its challenges. “I’ve been in bands, did the acoustic singer-songwriter gig for a few year, I’ve hosted a house concert series, been a wedding singer on multiple occasions, and I’ve been an executive at three software companies,” said Camacho. Working with a framework and a mobile app has been challenging but rewarding for her team. Still, its easy to imagine the team boogying down to one of their million songs when the stress of their impending launch gets high.
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