Hey! So nice to speak with you! Can you tell our readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you originally from and where do you live now?

Hi my name is Patrick Boylan. Originally from Chicago. I'm a co-founder of MuseFlow. MuseFlow is based on how I taught myself how to play piano after eight years of struggling with traditional lessons. Now that I'm a professional pianist in Los Angeles, I thought it would be useful to make it into an app! If it worked for me, maybe it would work for others! And it turns out it does! People are loving it, and I'm utterly honored that it's changing the landscape of music ed for the better (in my humble opinion) :).

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now?

It doesn't rain much throughout the year, but when it does, it's fall, and it rains for like a week and a half. After that, it's the most gorgeous town ever. It's so incredibly green and the air feels amazing and is so fresh. Ugh. I live for the days of rain and the month after it does.

Tell us a little bit more about what your company does and how it started? How does it help your customers?

So teach through sight reading - the act of reading music at first sight. We give you a new concept to learn in an interactive tutorial - a new note, new rhythm, new concept, new way of moving across the keyboard, etc. - then give you music you've never seen before that never repeats that is right in the pocket of what you already know, but is pushing the boundaries of how well you play juuuust a bit to keep you engaged and learning.

Once you've played four phrases at 95% accuracy at the goal tempo, you pass that tier. Then we open up the constraints a bit, adding in more of what you already know, where by the last tier of the level, you're now playing that new concept inside of the context of everything you know thus far.

If traditional lessons failed you, come check us out! We're putting sight reading, flow state, and personalization first within the music learning process. If this sounds like something that you think you'd like or need, come on over! We'd love to hear what you think!

If someone wants to start a business, what's advice that will help them?

Start fast, and start small. Get validation of the idea quickly. Call, text, email, DM anyone who you think would like what you wanna make. If people think it's a great idea, completely unbiased, then that's great! You got a pulse of the market and should continue. If not, pivot. Be fluid. Adjustable. Impressionable. Not stick in your ways. Otherwise, if people don't have a positive reaction, there may not be a market for what you wanna make, and it'll be all for nothing if you realize your audience doesn't actually need what you think they do after all the hours you put in before that.

What was one feedback from a happy customer/client that you won't forget about?

Actually it's one of the more recent ones! I'll never forget this: "The core concept behind the app is BRILLIANT! It is not boring and the idea of focusing on a flow state while learning musical theory makes a highly addictive and therapeutic app."

Where do you see your company in the future?

$100M + ARR, publicly traded. A major pillar of the music ed industry. The standard for all curricula - the sight reading-first methodology.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

That diligence and discipline are necessary for you to succeed at learning how to play an instrument. Those qualities were necessary with the old method. With our method, we circumvent the need for such qualities. We make it fun, addictive, engaging, and effective. So much so that you'll simply want to play and learn and grow. It's intrinsically motivating, not externally motivating.

What has been one of your biggest struggle building your business and how did you deal with it?

There was an inflection point at the beginning where one of our technical cofounders and I were not getting along. We needed to have a talk and come to the consensus of mutual respect. It was key, because we speak very different languages. He's very technical and has a lot of hard skills relating to building MuseFlow, and I'm very creative and have a lot of soft skills necessary to build MuseFlow. We needed to recognize the importance of eachother, and start with respect, not judgement.

We succeeded and worked through it by having the talk! It was a very difficult talk, but we came at it with compassion, honesty, and a desire to find a middle ground. I'm so glad this happened, cause we're better than ever now.

What was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

Mumford and Sons. Big fan of folk music and they kind of reinvented the genre with all their rhythmic variations and complexity.

Any shoutouts you want to make?

Shout out to my parents who grounded me for not practicing piano! I hated traditional lessons. They just didn't keep my attention and were very boring for me and not creative. If they didn't ground me, I wouldn't have proceeded with learning how to play, thus never finding my own way of learning after my teacher retired. Love to you two!!

Where can our readers follow your work or learn more about your upcoming projects?

https://museflow.ai! Take a look at our website and try MuseFlow for 14 days free if you're interested!