Rush

Fans are close to artists, artists are far from income.

Emerging artists have fans who would pay to get closer, but no simple way to sell that access. A private call or a listening session means chasing DMs, external links and scattered spreadsheets.

Two sides, one set of rules.

For fans

Four steps from fan to backstage: discover an experience, book it with immediate payment, join the live room or download the drop, and build a fan identity with the Rush Score and the Backstage Pass.

For artists

The Creator Studio puts everything in one place: create an experience, add availability, open a live room, follow earnings. Until Rush has reviewed the profile, paid publishing stays locked.

Clear rules

Refund requests have their own page in the studio, with the policy spelled out for the artist: what happens before and after the 24-hour mark, and how a fan can appeal.

From tokens to experiences.

Rush started as a token-based platform. My mentor in Blue Factory suggested the pivot: the token model ran into copyright and regulation. Selling direct experiences is much simpler legally and has a clearer revenue model.

Five decisions behind the product.

• Talk to people before building more. More than 300 interviews with artists and potential users, mixing quantitative and qualitative research, shaped the value proposition.
• Verification before payment. An artist can publish paid experiences only after a review; until then, publishing stays blocked on the server.
• Fair refunds by default. Cancel at least 24 hours before and the refund is automatic. Closer to the event, the artist has 48 hours to approve or decline with a reason, and the fan can appeal to Rush. If the artist cancels, the refund is always in full.
• Content stays on the platform. Backstage videos stream through temporary links tied to the fan's account, with a personal watermark, so they can't be downloaded or shared.
• No card data on Rush. Payments go through Stripe with 3D Secure; Rush never stores card details.

Let go of the first idea.

The token model was the idea I started with. Changing it taught me to let go of a first idea when the rules and the numbers point elsewhere.

From waitlist to first bookings.

Publish the first experiences with verified artists and measure how many people on the waitlist turn into paying fans.