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Cour Design is a design firm that specializes in stage concert design, lighting, video, and set design for Grammy award-winning artists like Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Kacey Musgraves. Their sister company, Syne Research, is also redefining the way people listen to music on streaming services with enhanced visual displays.

Both companies recently tapped into Dropbox and DocSend to smooth out their business operations and raise funds to expand their direct-to-consumer audio streaming companion.  

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Gordon Droitcour, Co-Founder of Cour Design and Syne Research, wanted a simple way to track client proposals and investor pitch decks stored in Dropbox. 

Before Dropbox, Gordon had been sending simple email attachments—and he had no idea what prospects or investors were doing with the files once they were received. Attachments were clunky for artists to view on their phones on the road, and files with sensitive creative IP could easily be shared with competitors—a massive risk for the business. Gordon wanted a way to protect these files from getting into the wrong hands.

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Gordon and his team turned to DocSend for its rich analytics and advanced controls. With DocSend, Gordon knows when artists and investors are interested in his offers, and he can see when files are shared with other contacts. Now that he has tight control over file permission, he can rest easy knowing that his team’s designs won’t be stolen, their pricing information is kept confidential, and they’ll receive fair compensation for his hard work.

Scaling and running a design agency with Dropbox Backup and Sync

Lighting and animation files are hefty, and Cour Design goes through computers every four months to keep up with demand. Between the hassle of switching devices and wrangling external hard drives, data loss during these transitions was slowing down collaboration with high-profile artists who could make or break their business. 

Cour Design turned to Dropbox as a reliable cloud storage provider that could handle their creative output. With Dropbox Sync, Cour Design sends only one link, accessible to artists from anywhere on the road—no more back and forth on versions, no more searching for the latest file. 

“The reason we like Dropbox,” says Gordon, “is because I can just click on the file on my desktop, copy the link, send, and it’s done.”

And if anyone needs to access a previous version for whatever reason, Cour Design uses Dropbox Backup to retrieve it for up to 30 days. 

Protecting creative intellectual property with DocSend

Cour Design customizes every project for each client—which means their pricing strategy is just as bespoke.

As an extra layer of security, Gordon says he’ll soon be using DocSend’s email verification feature to make sure confidential designs are viewed only by authorized collaborators. “We don’t usually design mockups ahead of a signed contract, but we will if we want the work badly enough,” Gordon says. “But it’s common in the industry for  artists to pick someone else and potentially take elements of your design they didn’t pay for. We’ve found it very hard to protect against that.” 

With DocSend, Gordon and his team have peace of mind that others aren’t copying their work. DocSend takes the agency to the next level—granting them ownership over their creative ideas through advanced controls. 

Gauging interest from potential clients and investors with DocSend’s analytics

DocSend helps Cour Design generate new business, too. The agency sends almost a dozen proposals to potential new clients every month, so it’s safe to say they value speed—but they also needed a way to gauge true interest from potential clients as a boutique design agency with aggressive expansion goals. 

The agency had previously been sending proposals over email, which wasn’t the easiest for artists to view on their phones. The team also didn’t know when someone had viewed their decks and when to anticipate hearing from potential clients. DocSend’s analytics allows Cour Design to track activity on every proposal, so they know what’s working and what should be revised for future engagements. 

When working with high-profile clients, it’s critical to anticipate questions and follow up on them quickly. With clear anticipation of potential client needs, Gordon can easily close business faster and use the additional time to focus on his other ventures.  

Making fundraising easier for long-term growth

Cour Design isn’t only focused on design for live entertainment—they also fundraise for their sister company, Syne Research, a venture that’s redefining the way people listen to music with enhanced visual displays.

Similar to their proposals for artists, the agency needed a way to gauge investor interest in pitch decks stored within Dropbox accounts. To analyze investor activity, Syne Research uses DocSend analytics to gain a better understanding of potential investor activity on their pitch decks. Gordon and team can see real-time, page-by-page insights, allowing them to know what parts of his deck to focus on in follow-up conversations. 

“I like that I can see whether an investor opened or shared the pitch deck,” Gordon says. “Without DocSend, there was no other way to see if somebody opened the deck or not.” 

As a founder with multiple businesses to oversee, Gordon runs on limited time. Finding the right decision maker can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Luckily for Gordon, he doesn’t have to spend hours painstakingly figuring out the right person at a venture capital firm. After sending out a DocSend link, Gordon receives email notifications when a deck is passed around at a firm, potentially saving him hours of searching for the right managing partner. With DocSend’s advanced analytics, Gordon is able to not only secure meetings with the right managing partner, but also prioritize the most compelling parts of his business with potential investors.