ClicknClear CEO: Cheerleading gave me my business breakthrough

Chantal Epp, the founder and CEO of ClicknClear, shares her personal business advice for our video series, My CEO Secret.

With the Olympics in Paris due to start soon, many of us will be preparing to kick back and watch some sports that wouldn’t normally attract our attention. This might include events like floor gymnastics, synchronised swimming and figure skating.

These sports have one thing in common that you might not really consider while you watch them from the comfort of your sofas. They are often set to music. For one British entrepreneur, that has presented a business opportunity.

Chantal Epp founded ClicknClear in 2017. It’s a platform that clears music rights in choreographed sport. Commercial music needs to be cleared whenever it is used as part of a routine, whether it’s in a YouTube video, a sports event in a stadium or broadcast on live TV.

Epp’s business brainwave was born of her passion. She took up cheerleading while studying music at the University of Westminster and then went on to take part in national All Star teams. She took a keen interest in the music used for routines, which she used to choose. In 2014 a legal case shook the cheerleading community. A major music label sued cheerleaders in America for use of a music track during an event. “Here’s a global problem for which I can find a solution,” Epp realised.

She had caught the entrepreneurial bug as a teen, helping her mother set up a dental practice, doing everything from marketing to book-keeping to working at the reception greeting customers. “Seeing her do that is what made me want to be a CEO,” recalls Epp. Thanks to cheerleading, she had found a gap in the market, so she could start a business.

By working with sports federations to provide music playlists that are ready to be licensed, her platform helps to stop copyright infringement during public performances and broadcasts. It also makes sure that musicians get the pay they deserve. Her growing business employs 10 people.

“Cheerleading obviously had a huge impact on the idea for my business,” says Epp, “but it has also taught me a lot of skills that a leader needs to have, like adaptability, tenacity and resilience.”

“In cheerleading, you do stunts and every single time you’re learning a new one, you fall and you fall and you fall – people get hurt, it’s hard and it’s draining. You need a positive mindset.”

While the business takes up most of her time these days, she still does some performing as a cheerleader.

Cheerleading was accepted as an Olympic sport after a vote in 2021, though it won’t be in the Olympics yet. Epp hopes that by then her business will have grown, by expanding to cater for even more diverse events, from dog shows to marching bands.