Automating Vinyl Record Production: A Case Study on Gold Rush Vinyl

Gold Rush Vinyl is a high-quality record-pressing company founded by Caren Kelleher, a former Google employee and music enthusiast. The company works with indie musicians and Grammy winners alike, helping them build sustainable incomes by crafting a deluxe product that puts music in the hands of their fans. Gold Rush Vinyl is committed to giving a bigger cut of the profit back to the creators. The company is focused on growth and plans to double its capacity in the future. It operates 24-hour-a-day shifts and relies heavily on automation to streamline its processes and improve efficiency.

Caren Kelleher, a music enthusiast and former Google employee, identified a significant gap in the music industry. She noticed a high demand for vinyl records, particularly from independent artists, but a lack of capacity in factories worldwide to meet this demand. This challenge was compounded by the difficulty of getting the records pressed and into the hands of fans. Caren founded Gold Rush Vinyl, a high-quality record-pressing company, to address this issue. However, she faced another challenge: scaling the business on a budget. She knew that automation would be key to achieving this, but struggled to find a solution that was flexible enough to fit her team's unique needs.

Caren found the solution in Zapier, a tool that connects work apps that otherwise have difficulty communicating with each other. Zapier not only allowed her to connect her work apps but also enabled her to reformat critical data to meet her team's specific needs. The team started with a single automated workflow (or Zap) that streamlined the process of saving customer quotes to Google Drive. This single Zap saved the team so much time that they immediately looked for other ways to harness the power of automation. Today, Gold Rush Vinyl relies on over 100 Zaps to automate processes from customer communication to team collaboration. Zapier has become a silent member of their team, connecting many pieces of their business to make them more effective.

• The use of Zapier has not only helped Gold Rush Vinyl grow and scale, but it has also empowered the team to focus their energy on what really matters. By automating small tasks, the team has been able to dedicate more time to creativity and innovation. This has led to increased job satisfaction and stress relief among team members. Furthermore, Zapier has proven to be a scalable solution that can keep pace with Gold Rush Vinyl's growth. It has transformed the company's approach from 'Wouldn't it be nice if we could?' to 'Oh my gosh, we can!'

• Gold Rush Vinyl started with a single automated workflow and now relies on over 100 Zaps to automate various processes.

• The use of Zapier has enabled Gold Rush Vinyl to scale quickly and maintain a lean team.

• Zapier has helped Gold Rush Vinyl plan to double their capacity.