Developing a startup during a pandemic takes creativity, grit, focus, and a lot of bravery. For fourth-year computer science student Ben Senescu, it also took a self developed co-op.

A membership platform, artst (with a small a) is similar to Patreon or OnlyFans but designed specifically for musical artists and launched by Senescu and his cofounders in February. It allows artists to connect more closely with their fans and generate additional revenue by selling tiered subscriptions; a $5 monthly subscription might give fans access to a weekly livestream and monthly behind-the-scenes and making-of videos, while for $20 fans might receive a monthly piece of random merchandise such as a sticker, hat, or t-shirt. Member artists can set their own rates and choose their own perks, as well as interact more closely with fans, using features like live streaming and in-app forums – where fans can chat with each other and tag the artists in questions and comments.

“Even though artists can push out posts to 500,000 followers, it’s only, like, 10 percent of those followers (who) are actually seeing it, and only a couple percent of them are actually interacting with it. And that interaction is just a ‘like’, or a fire emoji – there’s not really room anymore for actually getting to know these people,” explained Senescu.

The vision, as he sees it: “We want to basically shrink down the…artists’ communities and not be thinking about them as groups of 500,000, but thinking about them as groups of a thousand people who are really into these people, and really want to support their careers.”

Incubating a startup during the pandemic

The idea first began to take shape between Senescu and cofounders Jonty Harrison (DMSB ’22 Business Administration) and Archie Goodwin (CSSH ‘22 Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) over a year ago. When the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020 and regular co-ops were thrown into question, they chose to lean into the business. Senescu began a self-directed co-op that ran July through December to focus on developing artst full-time. It wasn’t always easy – Senescu says it took them a couple of months to get used to being accountable only to themselves – but with help from IDEA, Northeastern’s student-led venture accelerator, they refined a business plan, secured investors, and developed an app and a website. A year after beginning to seriously pursue the business, the trio launched artst.

“I remember even talking to him as everything was just starting with COVID, and he said, this app is meant to bring people together,” said Melissa Peiken, Senescu’s co-op advisor. “They like the same musicians, and it’s a way to bring people together in this time that is very isolating…I think that was something that made it seem like this actually is the right time to do this.”

Senescu identified two experiences he’d had at Northeastern that prepared him to launch artst: his first co-op in web development with the MITRE Corporation, and his work with the Code for Community club.

“(My co-op) gave me the toolset to do what I’m doing right now. I would 100 percent not have been able to develop a full website in the way that I have over the last few months without having that previous co-op. You would never learn how to develop a full website like that in any college course,” said Senescu. He was able to build further on those skills in Code for Community, a volunteer club that develops websites and software for nonprofit organizations. As a leader in the club he was also able to practice coordinating a team on a web development project, a skill that came in useful when artst brought on two more professional developers to help with the website.

Taking it all the way to product launch

Although self-developing a co-op has worked well for him, Senescu acknowledges that it’s probably not for everyone. He recommends that anyone building their own co-op look for mentors and people from whom they can seek advice. For him, one of those people was his co-op supervisor, Professor John Rachlin.

“You obviously have to be extremely dedicated and passionate and willing to go outside your comfort zone (to succeed as an entrepreneur). It’s very easy to say, well I’m really good at programming, so let’s just develop some cool code, and if we build that they will come – and that’s often not the case,” explained Rachlin, “It ends up (that) the software development or technical development that you’re doing is really only a small fraction of the time that you’re spending trying to build the business… That was the one thing I think that’s made them successful: just realizing that it’s a rainbow of different things that you have to address.”

artst launched in February with three artists: Luan Mei of Brighton, Shane Stokes of Orlando, and the Northeastern band Keanu Reefs. According to Senescu, reception to the app has been positive, but the biggest challenge has been getting the first artists on board. They’re dealing with a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario; artists want to wait to join the platform until it has more fans, and fans want to wait to join until it has more artists. As such, Senescu says they’re extremely grateful for the confidence all three have shown in artst.

Peikin is also confident in the platform’s potential.

“If they signed some of my favorite artists? This would be something really cool to be a part of,” said Peikin. “Visually, the design is very clean and the website’s the same…it’s a beautiful app.”

Check out artst here.