TOILET PAPER ENTREPRENEUR PROFILES
Ryan Esaki, Aaron Nakamura & Aldrine Guerrero of Ukulele Underground LLC

Company Name
Ukulele Underground LLC
The Service
A site for the next generation of ukulele players. Check out the site to get video lessons, merchandise, ukulele reviews, apparel and a "kick your ass into next Sunday" ukulele of your own.
Started
2007
The Headquarters
Kapa'a, Hawaii (on the island of Kauai)
The Team
Ryan Esaki (pictured on the right), Aaron Nakamura (left) and Aldrine Guerrero (center).
Best Band
The bands that we have been in. We have met the most amazing musicians because of it.
Favorite Meal
Aldrine's mom's Banana Ketchup Spaghetti.
Fly, Drive, Bike, or Walk
Drive - you can't sing along to songs at the top of your lungs without people thinking you are crazy unless you are driving.
Craziest College Story
Can't share that detail - it's that good!
Biggest Personal Accomplishment
The friendships and positive relationships that have resulted from ukuleleunderground.com. The people that we have in our forum are seriously the most awesome people on the planet. There are people in there that give brand new ukuleles away to kids who can't afford them. There are groups of ukulele players in various cities throughout the world that found each other on our website and now hang out regularly to play music. Not only that, the three of us have personally made countless new friends through the website.
Favorite Magazine
What's a magazine. We read blogs!
Biggest Challenge
We never had a concrete monetization strategy when we started. We figured, "ah maybe if we get enough page views, we could sell our own advertisements." We never wanted to charge for our content because that went against our original mission statement of helping beginner ukulele players. Luckily our membership pushed us to create our own line of branded merchandise and that really helped us get going. Listening and giving a damn about your members and customers can really help you when things get rough.
Greatest Lesson
1) Put out good quality content
2) Do everything you can to take care of your community and/or customer.
3) Don't ever take your audience for granted.
If you've read the book the Tipping Point, every single one of your fans, customers, or members may be the tipping point for your company. Every single one of them is important. Treat them that way.
Get More Information
http://ukuleleunderground.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ukuleleoversoul - Aldrine jamming on his ukulele
http://www.youtube.com/user/puremarkska - Aaron banging out tunes on his ukulele
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