The world-renowned, Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh once famously said, “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced”.
Artists and creators who desire to take up such a path always get bogged down by the fear of economic failure that would entail such careers. In fact, the word ‘career’ has been formalised so much that the connotation that it holds is most often related to conventional ‘careers’, evidently those of Engineering, Medicine or Business Administration. The rare examples of artists and creators jumping into the limelight and making money and gaining popularity are those who do not conform to the whims of societal norms, and instead go against them and beyond them.
For a long time, breaking societal norms was by itself the norm for artistic and creative individuals. Today’s extremely connected world has to a great extent eased the process for artists and creators. The Internet’s global reach has provided a platform for artists to leverage their inherent potential, to not just create but also excel and flourish. If you are an artist or a creator, there is no better time than now to think about pursuing your passions.
The Birth of Tartl
Tartl is the journey of a passionate bunch of engineers turned media explorers who set out to solve the above-mentioned problems of artists and creators.
It all began with a small initiative called Penumbra during our college days. Penumbra was India’s first open magazine that provided a platform for the youth to conveniently voice out their opinions on issues that concern them. Penumbra paved the way for the setting up of a branding agency named Brand Konnect.
However, we realised that brands required quality content and copies for their branding and marketing needs. Thus was sown the seeds of Tartl. The idea of Tartl, before it grew up to being what it is today, was to connect brands with potential content writers. Tartl bridged the huge gap between brand owners and quality freelance writers. It provided a platform for freelance writers to make money. Over time, we realized that brand owners not only required written content but also other forms. Tartl then expanded to accommodate all forms of content such as video and audio!
“Whether you have 10 or 10 million followers, you can monetise your content and expertise using Tartl”
As Tartl began to accommodate other forms of content, creators felt the need for a membership-based platform. Fluctuating income was a concern for the creators. The need for a sustainable source of income pushed for a pivot, the membership platform. The membership platform has been built to provide creators and artists a forum to experiment and pursue their passions with complete creative and economic freedom. The platform also provides for brand development and growth. Tartl can be used by a YouTuber, Writer, Musician, Artist Manager, Photographer or any type of creator. Through Tartl, all creators can provide exclusive content to their supporters/followers/fans and conveniently engage with them.
Validation & the first 1000 Creators
Tartl in its current form was beta-tested with a carefully curated set of independent creators like Monsoon Media, HotFix and a few more. As we began our latest journey, Tartl received its first round of seed support from the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in February 2018. This helped us expand the team and build a better and robust platform. In June 2018, Tartl was recognized as the most innovative media tech idea by Singapore’s NHST global at their Viking incubator event. Further, Tartl has been selected for the K-accelerator program of Zone Startups and KSUM’s batch of 2019.
As of today, Tartl has recorded 1000+ memberships through the creative passions of 2500+ creators and active involvement of 1000+ supporters. Creators have begun to make sustainable incomes and Tartl is proud to have provided them such a platform.
Why wait? Sign-up and start your own membership now! You can reach out to us at hello@tartl.net or at +919886368642 for any queries related to collaboration or setting up your creator page.
Authored by Vignesh R, Founder & CEO, Tartl
