Today's Entrepreneur: Gregory Gordon

Kristin Karaoglu · September 12, 2012 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/2a16

No. 1 mistake: Making decisions based on your gut and not qualified data

Today's Entrepreneur is Gregory Gordon, CEO of Pyramind Online. According to his VEQ, Gregory is good at networking, negotiating and team motivation.

Vator’s community is the home to entrepreneurs who embrace their passion and follow their dreams. Our profiles allow members to express themselves by sharing their interests, lessons learned, as well as bits and pieces of their roller-coaster journey.

These profiles give entrepreneurs an opportunity to showcase themselves and tell their story. So if you are an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur, or even an aspiring entrepreneur, we'd like to hear from you.

I am a(n):
Entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:
Pyramind Inc., Pyramind Studios, Pyramind Training, Pyramind Online, Epiphite Records, SF Audio Net, Beat University, Flux Summit, TestPress

Startups I worked for:
All the ones I created

If you are an entrepreneur, why?
Serendipitously fell into it...

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?
Most frustrating are the limitations imposed by financial restrictions.
Most rewarding is the freedom to build something you're passionate about.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?
Try to do too much and make decisions based on their gut and not qualified data or analytics.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

Pace yourself and don't try to grow too fast.
Managing people is an art and not a science.
Never take anything in business personally...even when it's personal.

(Want to be profiled? Just fill out your Vator profile and we'll find you! Or you can email newsroom@vator.tv)

Kristin Karaoglu

Woman of many skills: Database System Engineer; SplashX event producer; Author of Startup Teams

All author posts

Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs

Pyramind Online

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on August 21, 2012

Pyramind Online is a distance learning and professional development platform for music and sound producers.

Modeled after its successful ground campus started in 2004 and based out of San Francisco, Pyramind Inc. has identified a significant global market opportunity where it can apply its years of industry leadership in music production, videogame development and ground campus training to a distance-learning and professional development platform for music producers. With an existing instructor base of over twenty trainers and many more guest lectures, combined with significant production and training facilities in San Francisco (see www.pyramind.com/training) Pyramind has garnered instant traction in the eLearning space.

What makes this market place so significant is that it extends well beyond the traditional demands of distance learning and crosses over into lifestyle branding. The music industry has been undergoing drastic changes since the advent of widespread digital distribution and even though music sales since 2000 have dropped off substantially the amount of independently produced and published music has risen dramatically. This is due in part to the plethora of internet based marketing and publishing opportunities but also to the ease of access and relatively low cost of hi end production software and hardware. The traditional lines that once divided artist, publisher, record company, distributor, retail and consumer electronics have become blurred, creating the perfect storm for a generation of DIY music producers and DJ's. Combined with the explosive growth of EDM (Electronic Dance Music) and video games, the effect on the millenial generation has been profound and has created significant demand for accelerated learning that gives aspiring producers and DJ’s an edge on their quest for careers that fit their goals and lifestyles.

Pyramind Online soft-launched its version 1.0 prototype in 2011 and has organically grown its community to over 7500 members who are collaborating and purchasing online training and video learning. Major brand affiliations with leading software developers like Avid, Apple, Ableton, Propelerhead, Native Instruments and many others are a direct link to the consumer base who are the target demographic.

Pyramind Online has developed a model whereby industry-leading manufacturers have a platform for presenting their sponsored artists through workflow demonstrations called “Elite Sessions”. Pyramind hosts and produces these events that are videotaped in HD. Segments of the videos are then distributed by both the manufactures and the artists as “Tips & Tricks” through their web sites and Youtube channels to help promote sales of their tools. Each of them is branded as Pyramind Online and to see the entire presentation users are required to create a profile and log into Pyramind Online.

Once in Pyramind Online the user is given access to a plethora of free artist workflow video content. The free content drives up subscribers who are then exposed to the opportunity to take online classes from recognized talent. Classes are based on industry certifications for leading software tool sets as well as creative workflow, technical skills for sound design, sound for picture & video games and live performance.

The online classes and video content are based on Pyramind's well-tested ground campus curriculum. The classes are each twelve weeks in length and are comprised of industry recognized instructors supported by high quality video content that presents both the instructor and screen flow of the software.

The first round of classes were launched summer of 2012 and sold extremely well at an individually discounted price of $495.00. Prices will go up to $695.00 with the re-launch of the site in 2013 along with as many as twenty additional classes currently being developed to create course bundles that will sell for seven to ten thousand dollars.

Pyramind Online 2.0 is now under development, armed with significant user feedback. With the revenue from online classes and additional revenue from the parent company (Pyramind Inc.), Pyramind Online seeks to secure additional investment for its 2.0 launch in January 2013 to support both its marketing initiatives and additional staffing and production requirements.

Competitive advantage

Pyramind is an industry leader with a proven track record in the digital music production and video game industry. It has formed deep relationships with some of the best-known talent, organizations and manufacturers in the industry today. The company has shown its ability to manage multiple revenue streams while expanding its scope of operations from 2200 sq ft into over 12,000 sq ft of state of the art studios and training facilities in downtown San Francisco. Pyramind is an internationally recognized brand with students coming to its ground campus from all over the world. Pyramind currently has over 20,000 Twitter followers and over 12,000 unique visitors per month to its websites.

Gregory Gordon

Joined Vator on August 21, 2012

Greg is a parallel entrepreneur who has created a business ecosystem around digital music production and training. Greg graduated with honors from SFSU and founded Pyramind Inc. in 2004.