Endeavor

BAND INDUSTRIES HASSANE SLAIBI & BASSAM JALGHA 2012 Founded in Employees 16 NEWLY SELECTED ENTREPRENEURS Band Industries is a music technology company that aims to build a tech-enabled toolkit for 21 st century musicians. In 2014, it launched its first product, the Roadie Tuner, a non-invasive, automatic guitar tuner that is portable, easy to use and three times more accurate than the human ear. Roadie opens up new dimensions to music making, by allowing guitarists to easily create and switch alternate tunings. In 2017, the company launched two new products on Kickstarter: Roadie 2, an updated version of Roadie Tuner, and Roadie Bass. The campaign raised more than half a million dollars making it the most funded music accessory in crowdfunding history. HOW IT ALL STARTED While studying engineering at the American University of Beirut, co-founder Bassam Jalgha played the oud, a 12-string instrument, in a music band. He became frustrated as he was spending a lot of time tuning his instrument. Passionate about robotics and an advocate of DIY hardware, he took it upon himself to create a device that would actually help tune string instruments. In 2009, Bassam took his pitch to Stars of Science, a reality TV tech competition in Qatar, and won the US$300K first prize. Upon his return, he was joined by Hassane Slaibi, an engineer and former band mate. Hassane had recently finished his research in audio engineering in Australia. The two combined their knowledge and spent about two years developing the prototype for their first product: Roadie Tuner. Units of Roadie Tuner sold in HIGH IMPACT IS: 20,000 55 Countries

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