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SeeMe: Pursuit of Yin And Yang in the Art World

seeme

Many artists forget to access the internet for a chance of getting discovered.

A vast number of artists stick to the old-fashioned way of promoting their art and don't use the benefits of the most powerful tool- the internet.

Nowadays, showcasing an artist’s work has never been easier. Made specifically for the evolving and unfolding world of aspiring artists, SeeMe works as the platform that connects two sides sharing the same interest.

SeeMe was launched by William Etundi together with fellow entrepreneur Jared Cohen. The quintessential idea behind the product was to enable artists worldwide to share their art.

This platform allows unique opportunities for artists, musicians, photographers, and others to grow bigger, both personally and financially.

Entirely focused on bringing artists from around the globe on one platform, William Etundi and Jared Cohen created a tool that helped artists become discovered online and sell their artwork with ease.

Back to Childhood

William Etundi Jr. is a producer, creator, and technologist. He has been producing wide-ranging creative events for the past two decades. His signature events are a blend of social happenings, art exhibitions, and public extravaganza.

It is rather unknown how William Etundi Jr. grew up and passed his childhood years, due to the mysteriousness surrounding his life, as well as the lack of information about him. Although we can’t dig deep enough for information on William, we can certainly say that he worked very hard to become the man he is today, as it is known that he has dedicated his life to creating different, out-of-this-world experiences. Today, he is a successful party planner in New York.

His business partner, Jared Cohen, born November 24, 1981, is a bestselling author, as well as first director of ideas to Google's CEO - Eric Schmidt. Jared is known as quite the successful and hard-working guy, spending his entire career using technology to solve serious problems and better everyday life.

Both William and Jared made a significant effort to create an ideal platform that would motivate talented artists to showcase their artistic skills and introduce themselves to the world.

Stepping Up

After a long time discussing and brainstorming medieval and contemporary art, William and Jared decided to launch a platform where creative artists can post and share their work.

The main goal was to create an accessible platform where not only for painters to join, but also available for musicians, photographers, and other artists worldwide. Everyone with a creative bone in their body was welcomed to join SeeMe. Being part of the platform meant presenting, and eventually selling the showcased artwork. The platform itself would depict the yin and yang theory through art.

Jared and Willam knew that this platform would not be recognized by everyone. And that wasn't their purpose. On the contrary, they wanted SeeMe to be recognized by valuable artists who knew their goals and ambitions.

Finally, SeeMe was born in 2007, in Brooklyn. Originally, the platform was founded as 'Artists Wanted' but later changed its name to the one used today. The platform has gained more than a million artists who decided to manifest their work online and attain a reputation as a selling artist. The many members of SeeMe joined the platform in a long run.

What Jared and William did was a great job. Deciding to step up and make the online world a bit more colorful, the two entrepreneurs joined forces, rendering the start of SeeMe. With a lot of work, dedication, and struggle, both of them faced many challenges while creating such a huge platform.

Back in 2000, there weren't many artists who tended to promote their work online and later sell it. The platform required many years of persistence, hard work, and patience to become the platform it's today - a unique place for entertainment and a lot of art to go around.

William and Jared dedicated a lot of years of their lives to achieving their mutual goal. Creating the platform wasn’t the end of the road for the partners at SeeMe. Their creativity extended to the point where they started having competitions and cash prizes for artists on the platform. Some of the perks of participating in the artistic competitions included featured magazine spreads, as well as gallery exhibitions. ‘Art Takes Miami’, ‘Self’, ‘Year in Review’, ‘One Life’, and ‘Exposure’ are some of the most renowned art competitions organized by SeeMe.

SeeMe and Beginnings

Finally, SeeMe became a great source of splendid artwork, where many successful artists officially began promoting their work and continued to use the platform more frequently, having already seen its power and influence at work. However, besides the many perks and positive outcomes of joining SeeMe, patience was of utmost importance. Artists needed to be as patient as possible since it took a while for them to become discovered.

In 2012, the most significant event for William and Jared, and of course for SeeMe, happened at New York Times Square. The event called Art Takes Time Square was intended for everyone wanting to partake for a chance to be featured on the gigantic billboards across New York. The event actually drew the attention of 35.000 artists that entered the competition. Being a huge event, several established news providers, such as The New York Times, the ABC, and NY1 covered the happening.

SeeMe empowered artists to be discovered and gain the opportunity to sell their work through an online platform. Plus, consumers would have the chance to find talented artists and build partnerships. Over the years, SeeMe has distributed over $1.5 million in artist awards and grants.

SeeMe Funding

In February 2012, SeeMee raised $2,250,000 from the Founder Collective and four other unknown investors. That summed up a total of $4.2 million in the same year, mainly raised from Betaworks, Founders Collective, and many other investors.

Later, in 2014, SeeMee raised $1,850,000 from Venture series. In 2017, SeeMe received an undisclosed amount of investment from Stepstone Art Resources. Nine investors actively fund the platform, and the most recent visitors are Quire and Founder Collective.

Each investor acts as a piece of the puzzle, called SeeMe. The platform’s development, outreach, and success are tightly connected to each and everyone who helped SeeMe become such a powerhouse.

Chasing Dreams

Today, the SeeMee platform employs over 17 people and gets hits from millions of users and viewers. The platform stands for empowering artists worldwide, to take matters into their own hands and share their work. SeeMe is also known to add financial value to the most creative artists on the platform.

The other person who joined the platform as Chief Executive Officer in 2015 is Brendan Burns, a highly experienced startup and growth executive. He continues to work hard on developing SeeMe alongside William and Jared, and day by day, the platform is growing bigger in numbers and, popularity, as well.

As the world becomes more digital by the minute, SeeMe continues to chase dreams and make things happen mostly for relatively new and upcoming artists. Now more than ever, artists of all trades need this type of community for guidance, support, and networking, among other advantages.

“Home” to many of the most creative artists, photographers, and musicians, all in one place, SeeMe is the perfect definition of the pursuit of yin and yang through artwork. William and Jared designed the platform driven by the sheer will for bettering the communication between artists on one side, and potential buyers, on the other side.

No more wandering for artistic gems! Check out the SeeMe platform and feast your eyes on the freshest art from around the world.