Alain Merville — The CEO of YousicPlay Breaking Barriers
As a multi-entrepreneur what inspired you to develop your company’s? Creating solutions that directly solved the problems of others. Legacy and ownership is a huge motivator for why I developed my companies. Not only did I want to create a company that provided value to our customers, but I wanted to be an example to my family and build something that I could pass down to them. I actually named my first company after my son Nathan.
How have your priorities changed from when you first started your journey into entrepreneurship?
My priorities have changed in a lot of ways. Firstly, anything or person that isn’t going to bring me closer to achieving my goals, I distance myself from. I stopped focusing on short term goals and planned for long term success. My time is one of my most precious assets. Now, my priorities are growth focused (personal growth, team growth, company growth).
Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently when you were first starting out?
There’s a lot that I would have done differently. I would have surrounded myself with successful entrepreneurs much earlier and learned from their experiences. I would have done more customer surveys to customize our product to directly fit their needs instead of investing time and capital into products that I assumed they wanted. Although there’s a lot that I’d change, it was important for me to go through certain experiences the way that I did in order to develop the wisdom, fortitude, knowledge, and resilience that’s needed to be a great leader
What challenges did you have to overcome at the beginning of your journey?
I’ve had to overcome many challenges. I started my first company the same year that I got married and had my first son — that was the most difficult year of my life. I’ve had to overcome the challenge of not having a business background, a tech background, not coming from a wealthy family, being an immigrant, and having to always prove myself and execute before anyone would believe in my vision. The challenge of not having money meant that I had to learn to do every aspect of the company on my own. That’s a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because you’re forced to learn how to do every element of the company, but it’s a curse because it takes a long time to build momentum and growth without a team.
What is unique about your business veres any other e learning music platform?
Our platform focuses on our student’s complete learning experience. Other platforms may focus on 1 instrument, focus on gamified features, or heavily academic features that aren’t fun and engaging, while our platform offers access to celebrity, influencer, and elite level college instructors so you can learn every aspect of music (instrument, writing, production, business) at every level.
What advice would you give to someone who is trying to become an entrepreneur or work in the music industry?
My advice would be to learn as much as you can about the concept of value. Your value, or the value of the service/product you’re offering will determine your level of success. The size of the market or audience you’re providing that value to will determine your potential reach, but the most important thing of all is execution. Anyone can come up with great and creative ideas, those who can execute on those will be the winners.
Entrepreneurship is never easy. A lot of people don’t have the capital to bring their business to light. How did you raise funding?
Investors invest into people first, then the vision, then the company. The first step is to prove that you’re someone that’s worth investing into. From the company standpoint, do you have a plan and how much of that plan have you executed? Investors want to invest into something that has a great potential for return on their investment but also something that has already generated momentum. The best position you can put yourself in when fundraising is to create massive momentum for your company.
What strategies did you first use to market your brand and YousicPlay?
I used influencer marketing. Our instructors are influencers and celebrities so I leveraged their social following and brand awareness to bring organic growth to my company.
How do you define success?
I define success as achieving and outperforming your goals.
What have you enjoyed most about starting your own company?
I’ve enjoyed the amazing moments I’ve shared with celebrity musicians who I’ve looked up to growing up. I enjoy the growth and knowledge that’s come from this journey and the amount of people that genuinely believe in my company’s vision.
What are the qualities of a good entrepreneur?
A good entrepreneur must have a massive vision, internal motivation, be resilient, have self awareness, be strategic, care about people, hungry for growth and knowledge, and be a great leader.
What are you working on now?
Currently, we’re working on team growth, content development, tech development, and continuing to refine our marketing strategy.