Viable Business/Entrepreneurship: Tansen 💼
FSE 301: Startup Pitch & Business Development
Spring 2025 | Prof. Brent Sebold
I took FSE 301 in Spring 2025 under Prof. Brent Sebold. As part of FSE 301, I learnt how to scale a startup and create a value proposition of the product/service. The course teaches us about how to grow startups and prepare pitches that convince users to pay for the product/service.
Tansen Demo & Presentation
Tansen presentation showcasing AI-powered music transcription technology and business model
The Product: Tansen
Tansen helps any music hobbyist learn how to play an instrument of their choice and play any song on their preferred scale and instrument after getting the right song notes. This perfectly aligns with the GCSP theme of "Joy of Living" as it helps musicians improve their music and practise their art in a more efficient way.
Mission: Making music learning accessible and enjoyable for everyone through AI-powered transcription and personalized instruction.
Key Features
🎵 Music Transcription
AI-powered transcription converts any song into playable notes for your preferred instrument using advanced audio processing models.
🎹 Multi-Instrument Support
Learn and practice on any instrument of your choice with customized sheet music and tutorials.
🎼 Scale Conversion
Automatically transpose songs to your preferred scale and key, making learning more accessible.
📚 Personalized Lessons
Get instant lessons and practice materials tailored to your skill level and musical preferences.
Technical Innovation
Tansen leverages cutting-edge deep learning models for audio engineering and music transcription:
Onsets & Frames
Demucs
Basic Pitch
Flutter
FastAPI
PyTorch
The model is trained over 20,000+ MP3 & MIDI files, ensuring high-quality transcription across a wide variety of musical genres and styles.
Business Model & Value Proposition
Through FSE 301, I developed a comprehensive business strategy that includes:
- Freemium model with basic transcription features
- Premium subscription for advanced features and unlimited transcriptions
- B2B partnerships with music schools and instructors
- API access for music education platforms
Connection to "Joy of Living" & Personal Impact
GCSP Theme Relevance
Tansen directly embodies the "Joy of Living" theme by making music—one of humanity's most universal sources of joy—more accessible to everyone. Music has the power to bring people together, provide emotional release, and offer a creative outlet that enriches daily life. However, learning an instrument can be frustrating and expensive, often requiring private lessons and sheet music that many people cannot afford. By using AI to instantly transcribe any song to any instrument and key, Tansen democratizes music education, allowing anyone with a smartphone to learn their favorite songs at their own pace. Whether someone wants to play guitar at campfires, piano for personal relaxation, or any other instrument to express themselves creatively, Tansen removes barriers and makes the joy of making music accessible to all. This aligns perfectly with creating opportunities for people to pursue hobbies and passions that enhance their quality of life and bring daily happiness.
Professional Development
Developing Tansen through FSE 301 has given me comprehensive experience in the startup journey—from ideation to product development to business strategy. I learned to identify market opportunities, define target customers, and create value propositions that resonate with users. Building the technical product required integrating multiple AI models (Onsets & Frames, Demucs, Basic Pitch) and creating a full-stack application with Flutter and FastAPI, which deepened my skills in audio processing, deep learning, and mobile development. Perhaps most importantly, I learned how to pitch a technical product to both technical and non-technical audiences, translating complex AI capabilities into clear user benefits. The course taught me about unit economics, customer acquisition strategies, and scaling challenges—knowledge that's invaluable whether I pursue entrepreneurship or work at a tech company. This experience has prepared me to launch products, understand business models, and think about technology through the lens of real user needs and market viability.
Personal Growth
As someone passionate about both music and technology, creating Tansen has been uniquely fulfilling—it combines my technical skills with my love for music in a way that could genuinely help people. Working on this project has taught me that the most meaningful innovations often come from addressing problems you personally understand. I've experienced the frustration of wanting to learn songs but finding transcriptions unavailable or inaccurate, and building a solution to this problem has been deeply satisfying. The entrepreneurship process has also taught me resilience and adaptability—from dealing with model performance issues to refining the business model based on feedback. Most importantly, this experience has shown me that I can take an idea from concept to working prototype to viable business plan. It has given me the confidence to pursue my own ventures and the understanding that entrepreneurship isn't just about having ideas, but about execution, persistence, and genuinely understanding your users' needs. This project has reinforced that I want to build products that enhance people's lives and bring them joy, whether through my own startups or innovative work within established companies.
Skills Developed
I personally learnt new tech skills and gained experience with:
View Project:
github.com/darthvader58/tansen →