Opening Remarks
This week, I’ve been thinking about the signals that never show up on a pitch deck or a first call, but reveal everything about a founder. I call these hustle stats: the gritty, clever, slightly unhinged moves that show creativity and obsession. Like in sports, they’re the intangibles you won’t find on a stat sheet, but they can change the outcome of the game.
I’ll be diving deeper into this in an upcoming LinkedIn post (follow me to catch it). In the meantime, if you’ve seen great examples of founder hustle, hit reply and let me know. Now, onto this week’s feature:
-Brett
Bulletpitch’s publication covers the hottest early-stage startups before being picked up by larger media outlets. If that’s you, apply here.
Setting the Scene
Short-form video dominates modern attention, but unlike consumers, brands can’t legally use the viral music that helps short-form content take off.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram restrict major label music from commercial use, cutting brands off from culture's loudest channel.
The result? Brands either risk multi-million dollar lawsuits or settle for low-quality stock tracks that don’t perform, while the music industry misses out on billions in potential licensing revenue.
This week’s company is building the licensing infrastructure for short-form content, enabling brands to legally use trending sounds in marketing videos.
In a Sentence
Cipher is a commercial music licensing platform that allows brands to legally use copyrighted songs in short-form video on socials.
Brands: Marketers, agencies, and creators can access a curated catalog of culturally relevant, trending music.
Copyright: Cipher handles the licensing agreements directly with rights holders, so brands don’t need to negotiate deals or worry about legal risk.
Video: Once a brand selects a song, they can instantly download both the audio file and a commercial license, making it legally usable across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and more.
Bulleted Version: Similar to how Getty Images made it easy for brands to license photos, Cipher makes it easy to license the sounds driving culture across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts.
The Basics
Industry: Creator Economy, Music Licensing
Headquarters: New York, NY
Year Founded: 2024
Employee Count: 3
Investors: Cornell University (Open Studio competition), Friends & Family
Amount Raised: ~$400K
Business Model: SaaS subscriptions + pay-as-you-go licensing
Early Traction: Signed 20+ music partners including BMG, Empire, SoundOn (TikTok), and Insomniac Records; first brand subscribers (including a Unilever company) onboarded within one month
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Weekly Feature Continued
Due Diligence
WHAT WE LIKE
Proven Budget Allocation: Brands already dedicate a significant portion of ad spend to music, making Cipher a natural reallocation of existing marketing budgets rather than a new expense.
Not Just Songs: Cipher’s catalog includes not just popular songs, but trending non-song audio as well, thereby protecting brands across all types of background sounds.
POTENTIAL RISKS
Dependency on Rights Holders: Scaling the catalog requires continued buy-in from labels and publishers, who are often slow-moving and risk-averse.
Adoption Behavior: Many marketers default to royalty-free libraries out of habit or perceived simplicity, and may be slow to adopt paid licensing, requiring education, behavior change, and cultural buy-in.
Rise of AI-Generated Music: As AI tools make it easier and cheaper to create royalty-free tracks, some brands may opt for generic, risk-free audio instead of licensing real, recognizable music, even if it performs worse.
Founder Profile
Faris Bseiso, CEO: Former PM at Stadium Goods.
Burke Reimann, COO: Former cloud analyst at Oracle.
To request an introduction to the founder, respond to this email.
Comps
Epidemic Sound: Valued at over $1B; offers royalty-free stock music for creators but lacks access to trending or major-label tracks.
Artlist: Subscription-based platform for royalty-free music and sound effects, primarily used by YouTubers and filmmakers.
Soundstripe: Provides affordable stock audio for creators, focused on royalty-free licensing rather than commercial social use.
Lickd: Enables YouTube creators to license mainstream songs but does not yet support TikTok or Reels integrations.
Why Cipher: By bridging the licensing gap between music and marketing, empowering brands to legally use trending audio on short-form platforms, and enabling legal access at scale, this company is deciphering the future of sound in digital advertising.
Event Board
Foundersiving, NYC: We’re hosting our second annual Foundersgiving, a Thanksgiving themed dinner to bring together NYC’s top founders in November! Sign up HERE.
Cast Your Vote
What do you think of Cipher?
Last Week Today
The Results Are In: Pinpoint, a platform that helps convert a company’s social engagement to customers, was favored in last week’s poll.
Subscriber Feedback: “The platform is brilliant. Discovery starts on social and Pinpoint is helping brands convert customers from where they start.”
