Innovator of the Week
Pete Mathias
Co-Founder of Heartstring
Please provide your 30-second pitch about your company. 
Heartstring is a simple tool to elevate your social videos and photos with music soundtracks. We give today’s social media users what Hollywood studios have had all along—the expressive power of cinematic soundtracks—while empowering the musicians who create them.
Introducing Heartstring from Decade on Vimeo.
Who or what was your best resource for starting your company?
We are beneficiaries of an extraordinary startup ecosystem in the Upper Valley, the creative pulse of places like The DEN and DALI Labs. Though cliché, our greatest asset has been the people around here. The curious who come into the DEN and ask what we’re up to. The entrepreneurial who give us guidance. The creative who want to try it out. Even the skeptical who inspire us to validate our vision. All of that has been valuable resources for us.
What was your biggest obstacle in starting your company and how did you overcome it?
Moving from paper and pencil to product and programming. We are building mobile software, but the initial vision was just that: an idea. The first obstacle was to put together a core team that not only shared our passion for music, but also had the technical aptitude to build the product. Showing up to the tech meetups around New Hampshire helped a lot—we went around showing off our prototypes which helped attract some world-class builders. Now rather than us seeking out new talent, we have talent seeking us out. We are trailblazing a new frontier in music and once others see our vision, they are excited to get involved.
What’s the best advice you have received?
Maybe this is part the musician in me, but never take an audience for granted. A band is its own kind of startup, and having toured the world with my band Filligar. I was advised early on to treat every performance opportunity as if it were Madison Square Garden. The same applies to entrepreneurship: every conversation, no matter how small, should be treated as a pitch of the highest order of importance.
What about the NH lifestyle appeals to you?
New Hampshire has a vibrant arts scene, an appreciation for the musician, the traveler, the storyteller. Heartstring is built for those personas. And so “Live Free or Die” resonates with our mission—through a technology that adds tasteful music to your videos and photos, we are empowering the people who live on their own accord, on their own terms, to capture moments and memories with emotive, inspirited music.
What does the future look like for your company?
Right now we are on a new frontier in music. At this very moment, our team is in the laboratory implementing a particular technology that we are convinced will transform how people engage, discover, and broadcast music. If that sounds vague, it is intentionally so. We are in stealth mode as we plan in the near future to share this technology with the world. So…. Stay tuned….
Connect with Heartstring on Instagram or connect with Pete on LinkedIn or Twitter.