Jared Kleinstein, founder of Fresh Tape Media and Gondola, works in the companies’ office in Lincoln Park. (Maia Luem)
The owner of a Denver-based media production company is switching lenses to focus on a software service that grew out of it.
Jared Kleinstein started Fresh Tape Media — whose clients include the Denver Broncos and Nuggets — in 2017. He’s now seeking investors to help grow Gondola, a software that helps online content creators track and get credit for their work.
Gondola originally was created just for use by Fresh Tape employees. Kleinstein opened it up to the public in 2020 after deciding it could help creators worldwide.
“It was a happy accident,” Kleinstein said.
Without Gondola, anyone could take a video or photo from someone else’s Twitter account, for example, and post it as their own without the original creator knowing.
The app helps creators track where their photos and videos end up and allows for shared credit, meaning a user can tag anyone that helped them on the project. A creator simply adds a link to their content on Gondola and the software takes care of the rest. Analytics are tracked and automatically updated, such as how many accounts reposted the content and the number of views and likes.
Gondola is free, although users can pay $9.99 a month for a Pro account with more features. The app has about 18,000 active users, which includes individuals and companies. Kleinstein said it acts as a real-time resume for creators.
“When your portfolio is also your tool for tracking work, it relieves all the stress,” Kleinstein said.
An equipment room at Fresh Tape Media’s offices in Lincoln Park. (Maia Luem)
Gondola currently has three engineers, but Kleinstein hopes to grow it to the size of Fresh Tape, which has 12 employees, by the end of the year. Kleinstein is looking to raise $3 million from investors.
“We’re getting to that phase where, to grow a global audience, we need to grow,” Kleinstein said.
Gondola and Fresh Tape operate in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Kleinstein bought three home-like structures with a shared courtyard and parking lot at 743 through 753 Kalamath St. in December 2021 for $2.6 million, records show. Fresh Tape and Gondola have their own homes, and the third is a designated shooting and event space.
The space is cozy, which was Kleinstein’s goal, with couches, snack cabinets, an outdoor patio and basketball hoop.
The 6-year-old Fresh Tape works with sports teams across the U.S., as well as big brands like Twitter and Meta, Kleinstein said. If you go to a Nuggets or Broncos game, videos you see on the Jumbotron likely were created by Fresh Tape.
Kleinstein said Fresh Tape did $5 million in revenue last year. The company functions as a bridge between production, marketing and media. While most brands have marketing or media departments, they often can’t do all the work. That’s where Fresh Tape steps in.
“We’re almost an extension of their team,” Kleinstein said. “We straddle this wonderful middle ground where we can help people do many things.”
Denver-based employees travel around to shoot, but Kleinstein also has a nationwide network of independent contractors. The shooting process can happen anywhere, but Kleinstein said the magic happens at the office, when it all comes together.
“We want this to be the hub of creative sports content for the city of Denver and Colorado,” Kleinstein said.
Jared Kleinstein, founder of Fresh Tape Media and Gondola, works in the companies’ office in Lincoln Park. (Maia Luem)
The owner of a Denver-based media production company is switching lenses to focus on a software service that grew out of it.
Jared Kleinstein started Fresh Tape Media — whose clients include the Denver Broncos and Nuggets — in 2017. He’s now seeking investors to help grow Gondola, a software that helps online content creators track and get credit for their work.
Gondola originally was created just for use by Fresh Tape employees. Kleinstein opened it up to the public in 2020 after deciding it could help creators worldwide.
“It was a happy accident,” Kleinstein said.
Without Gondola, anyone could take a video or photo from someone else’s Twitter account, for example, and post it as their own without the original creator knowing.
The app helps creators track where their photos and videos end up and allows for shared credit, meaning a user can tag anyone that helped them on the project. A creator simply adds a link to their content on Gondola and the software takes care of the rest. Analytics are tracked and automatically updated, such as how many accounts reposted the content and the number of views and likes.
Gondola is free, although users can pay $9.99 a month for a Pro account with more features. The app has about 18,000 active users, which includes individuals and companies. Kleinstein said it acts as a real-time resume for creators.
“When your portfolio is also your tool for tracking work, it relieves all the stress,” Kleinstein said.
An equipment room at Fresh Tape Media’s offices in Lincoln Park. (Maia Luem)
Gondola currently has three engineers, but Kleinstein hopes to grow it to the size of Fresh Tape, which has 12 employees, by the end of the year. Kleinstein is looking to raise $3 million from investors.
“We’re getting to that phase where, to grow a global audience, we need to grow,” Kleinstein said.
Gondola and Fresh Tape operate in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Kleinstein bought three home-like structures with a shared courtyard and parking lot at 743 through 753 Kalamath St. in December 2021 for $2.6 million, records show. Fresh Tape and Gondola have their own homes, and the third is a designated shooting and event space.
The space is cozy, which was Kleinstein’s goal, with couches, snack cabinets, an outdoor patio and basketball hoop.
The 6-year-old Fresh Tape works with sports teams across the U.S., as well as big brands like Twitter and Meta, Kleinstein said. If you go to a Nuggets or Broncos game, videos you see on the Jumbotron likely were created by Fresh Tape.
Kleinstein said Fresh Tape did $5 million in revenue last year. The company functions as a bridge between production, marketing and media. While most brands have marketing or media departments, they often can’t do all the work. That’s where Fresh Tape steps in.
“We’re almost an extension of their team,” Kleinstein said. “We straddle this wonderful middle ground where we can help people do many things.”
Denver-based employees travel around to shoot, but Kleinstein also has a nationwide network of independent contractors. The shooting process can happen anywhere, but Kleinstein said the magic happens at the office, when it all comes together.
“We want this to be the hub of creative sports content for the city of Denver and Colorado,” Kleinstein said.
