Seeking co-founders: music tech startup

3 points by Yamir ↗ HN
Dear community!

Long story short: I seek for prospective startup co-founders. My idea (and already working prototypes): use sensor-based wearabled to let people play music without any knowledge of skill.

You can view the product here: www.musdev.eu

I have spent >10 years creating various music-playing/music-generating games, including usage of smartphone/smartwatch sensors, i.e., I have big experience and even bigger dedication to the topic. Some of them are present at early videos on my Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgcOxK6XFEyg6Bu6jBbU-Ag/

On this channel shorts demonstrate usage of the product (2+ self-made wearable devices) allowing for playing of the music tracks. Long videos mostly explain how it is done. The corresponding Android App:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Nature.CotE&hl=en-US&pli=1

implements some experimental algorithm for music creation from scratch, and is usable without additional devices.

Closer to the point: despite many people I talked to like the idea and like the prototypes, I realize it is A LOT of work to make an actual startup and a working business, and I just can not (and do not want to) make it alone. I am scientist, programmer + a bit musician + a bit engineer, my website-resume: https://kgubaev.eu/

Currently I seek for:

- Business Development Manager: somebody who knows how to launch a business, approach clients, work with investors, and what steps are needed to be done and when.

- Game Developer / Game Designer: somebody who is proficient in making decent games which users want to play. Current game I have plants mostly regarding audio modality, i.e., visuals and gameplay aspect can be almost anything. This way, you can implement and realize your own dreams about the game/application, whilist being connected to the music aspect (hello VR?).

- I already have Experienced and Professional Musician friend, who can give advices, therefore I think I do not need more of this expertise... But if you can bring something unique and useful to the table, you are welcome! I reside in Southern Germany, so ideally I look for partners with whom we can meet physically. But this is not a must-have requirement, I think online is also doable.

- Sensor devices/VR Engineer, who can build (or use) sensors other than accelerometers/gyroscopes for precise tracking of human movements, to be transformed into music.

Finally, questions:

- do you think this set of competences is adequate to proceed? I would like to avoid having too big team, as process organization becomes too hard. - are there any venues to look for startup partners (investors also), which you can recommend (ideally in Europe)? I tried YCombinator and one more within EU, but was not selected. I think the main point is that I do not have real customers (only my friends).

I am not really interested in making tons of money, I am willing to share income/equity etc. I just think that for my music modelling passion, the only way to make an impact onto the World is a startup.

My ultimate goal is to allow a lot of people to CREATE and PLAY music, and thus satisfy their need for creative expression. Many people (incl. myself) want this, but cannot do, due to lack of skill. I truly believe, if more people have access to creative self-realization, this would reduce the total amount of "low-energy" activities: food/sex/domination abuse. More people should become happy without hurting the others, and the world would become a bit better place then...

Sincerely, Konstantin

E-mail: yamir4eg@gmail.com

4 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 14.7 ms ] thread
(comment deleted)
Hey, laudable goal. I used to think a lot about ways to make musical creativity more accessible with technology.

I watched the tutorial on your channel. What I see is a more like a rhythm game. I don’t really see anything that lets the user be creative. Am I looking at the wrong thing or is this the idea you are talking about here?

Hi, you are completely right! The original idea is indeed to CREATE music, not just to play, however for user enagement I shifted too much to the known tracks playing...

I am now actively developing the "creator mode", and just uploaded some demo with the screen tapping here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDi0FqAEMOU

The wearables can also be used for the creation. Need to make more videos on that...

I am interested. I went through the website and some content you put out. I feel like you need to pivot this to something more fun. It doesn't look fun atleast to me. Just being honest here.

Here's what I am thinking. Adults who want to play music, generally would like to learn music properly - like go to classes, buy an instrument and use online courses or something.

What you have made, I think speaks to kids more than adults. They would like to mess around with all this, because they couldn't really care about properly learning something.

So you are essentially in the toy business. This is what I think atleast.