Founder Dante Richardson didn’t lose sight of the bigger picture when he was placed behind bars.

In fact, he actually went bigger and expanded with the creation of Stooty Technologies.

The creative marketplace was created alongside his longtime friend and business partner Deleon Alford, who helped run event promotion company In3D MGMT, while Richardson was away.

Ultimately, the company inspired the pivot to Stooty Technologies.

“The week after getting started, Dante was arrested and sentenced to a 10-year prison stint. My initial thought was to just get a job but figured I can do work on the outside, and we can still do our planning while he was on the inside. Throughout the 10 years, we’ve had a solid three-five year run before I had to transition into other things,” Alford told AfroTech.

The Birth Of Stooty Technologies

“We decided to shut it down because managing artists equally by themselves was too much work. We wanted to be able to be like a Roc Nation or Creative Artists Agency but we were like, ‘We don’t get that capacity to manage all of these people, but if we give these guys the tools to manage themselves with technology, we can manage everybody,'” Richardson detailed.

Now, through Stooty Technologies’ application, users can access a creative production marketplace that permits them access to trade, manage, and build creative resources.

The marketplace aims to help your ideas go from paper to production with the help of a directory list, which details services that can be booked in your current area.

In addition, a location-based platform is convenient as it alleviates the worries of building from the ground up when visiting or moving into a new area as a creative.

“Creators are currently stationed directly wherever the network perceives them,” Richardson explained. “So, they won’t only be able to get as many clients that are personally connected with them or that somehow finds them through the algorithm among social media.”

Richardson also added that users will be able to list their services when they are working in a new location by simply updating it along with their availability. Then, they can be found by potential clients nearby.

Review System

What’s more, Stooty Technologies will also integrate a review system that will be available for the creator and the individual requesting the service. The aim is to allow users to gain real-time insights from other individuals who have booked a service to ensure they are reliable.

“We become that bridge with our review system and ranking system, similar to eBay, similar to Uber, similar to most platforms, to where we give you reputation within the creative industry,” Richardson said.

He continued: “A lot of bad things happen, especially within the Hip-Hop community, but [also] within the creative economy [overall]. It’s a lot of stuff going on to where it’s [become] unregulated and people don’t have accountability toward their reputation. And a lot of people don’t want to work with new creatives because they don’t know them and they don’t want to get scammed. Now, there’s a way for creators to build up their reputation.”

What's Next

Looking ahead, Stooty Technologies has more integrations on the way as the application is prepared to move out of its beta stage and launch officially in February 2023.

The co-founders are examining customer discovery to understand what features will best advance the creative enterprises of their users. Additionally, Richardson says a project management tool will be on the way to house all creative resources and services on a dashboard.

In addition, the company is looking to close a $3 million Series C funding round, which will be supported through their participation in the Founders Go Big Program. The program was created in partnership with Launch NY and JPMorgan Chase to support underrepresented founders, per the official website.

Richardson hopes to meet their goal by June 2023.