British music startup Endlesss has hired Rutger De Groot, the co-founder and former commercial director of music software company Ableton.
De Groot is joining the startup as a ‘co-founder’. Endlesss has been going since 2018, but late-stage co-founders are an established trend in the tech industry.
He’s certainly bringing some useful experience to the startup, whose business is based around its ‘multiplayer music creation’ app.
After Ableton he worked at guitar-tech company Line 6, and when it was acquired by Yamaha in 2014 he stayed on at the latter company as VP of international sales. Earlier this year, De Groot struck out on his own with Beacon4, a consultancy focusing on the music instruments industry.
“We’re thrilled to welcome to Endlesss someone who has been so pivotal in driving so many innovations in the music industry to commercial success,” said Endlesss CEO Tim Exile in a statement.
In his Ableton days, De Groot played a key role in that company’s strategy of bundling its software with a range of music devices – experience that will surely come in handy for Endlesss as it grows.
Exile told Music Ally that the hire also comes at a pivotal time for his startup, given the current industry debates around generative AI technology’s potential for music.
“It’s clear generative AI will explode the number of recreational music-makers. Now the race is on to define the new interfaces for how this new cohort of recreational music-makers will interact,” he said.
For his part, De Groot was equally effusive. “Endlesss is bringing the crucial next piece of the evolution of music technology: the ability to play together online in real-time,” he said.
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