We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aspen Buckingham a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aspen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Overture Games started during a pretty rough patch in my relationship with music. I was totally burned out—classical training, perfectionism, competition… all of it had drained the joy out of something I used to love. One night, just to make myself feel something again, I threw together this ridiculous little game where you had to hit the right intervals to dodge lasers. It was messy, it was funny—and weirdly, it worked. I was learning again. For the first time in a while, music felt fun.

At first, I wasn’t trying to start a company. I just wanted to build something that was a fun musical experience. But then I started showing it to kids. One of them told me, “Yo, I just played a level 947 times.” That moment stuck with me. They weren’t dreading theory—they were excited. And I realized, nobody was doing this. No one was building actual music curriculum in a format that felt like Roblox or Blooket or anything kids already loved.

So I leaned in. We launched pilot programs. I taught the first ones myself, sometimes riding two hours out to Waukegan or Elgin with a backpack full of keyboards. I’d show up, teach for an hour, and ride home with a notebook full of ideas. Kids weren’t just learning, they were writing music, asking smart questions, staying after class to play more.

That’s when I knew this could be something real. Not just another app or another edtech tool but something that could actually change how kids feel about music, creativity, and themselves.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Aspen Buckingham, co-founder and CEO of Overture Games. I’ve spent my whole life straddling two worlds. — music and technology — and constantly wondering why they felt so far apart. I studied classical piano growing up, competed like crazy, then burned out hard. But I also loved building things—games, apps, prototypes—anything that let me tinker and explore. The idea for Overture came out of that tension. I was trying to heal my own relationship with music and built a tiny game for fun… and it made me fall in love with music all over again.

That was the spark, but what turned it into a business was seeing how kids reacted. I’d bring these early prototypes into classrooms, and kids who had never touched a piano before were suddenly writing melodies and asking, “Can we play again next week?” I realized we were rebuilding music education for a generation raised on interactivity, creativity, and self-expression.

At Overture Games, we create web-based video games that teach real music theory and composition through play. We run afterschool programs at 30+ schools across Chicagoland where students use our games to compose, perform, and collaborate. It’s about helping kids see themselves as creative people in a world where creativity is increasingly undervalued. Music is a way to develop the most human skills that set us apart in the AI-age.

What sets our business apart is that we’ve built something that actually works in the classroom. We combine live teaching with game design in a way that makes kids excited to come back every week. It’s fun, but it’s also rigorous. We’ve had students create original compositions every week. And we’re not stopping there. We’re building out a full at-home platform that will make this accessible to any student, anywhere.

I’m most proud that we’ve built a company that’s not just solving a problem, but making space for joy, for students and for music teachers. We’ve created real jobs for musicians. We’ve made music feel alive for kids who never thought they were “musical.” And we’re proving that education can be both effective and magical when you meet learners where they are.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

Our initial funding came from a $10,000 university grant that allowed us to work on Overture Games over the summer. That was a huge help—it covered rent and gave us the breathing room to develop our first prototypes while we were still in school. After that, we picked up a few more grants—$5,000 from ASCAP for their AI and music program, plus some research and pitch competition grants from Northwestern and DePaul, totaling about $10,000.

But the real turning point came after I graduated. My team was still in university, so I took a part-time job and racked up credit card debt to keep us going. For a few months, it was a hustle—working part-time while essentially putting in full-time hours on Overture. Then through pure force of networking will, we got into Techstars Chicago, and they invested $120,000. That was the moment I could finally go full-time.

From there, we pitched all over the country—15 different university pitch competitions. We didn’t win a dime from those, but we got noticed by investors. Eventually, at the Rice Business Competition, we met the right people, used a fun “muffin strategy” to break the ice and ended up securing $250,000 from Honors Fund. Investors, hungry from the day of competition, had to commit 50,000 for each muffin. That got us to where we are today—profitable and growing, with most of our funding now coming from happy customers.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We started out thinking we’d be a consumer-focused company, selling our music game directly on Steam. But once we pivoted to working with schools, we realized that professionalism had to be our top priority. That meant making safety the number one priority and trust non-negotiable. We developed comprehensive training, put together a staff handbook, and made sure every teacher was background checked and fully prepared. Our instructors show up early, stay late, and communicate promptly. That level of professionalism set us apart from many after-school providers and built a strong foundation of trust with schools and parents.

At the same time, we earned a reputation as a forward-thinking company that understands what kids want today. We recognized that students are growing up in a gamified world, and we adapted our curriculum to meet the Skibidi where it is. That’s why our programs resonate with students and why we’re now partnered with over 30 top private schools. They see that we’re preparing kids for the future by focusing on essential human skills like creativity, teamwork, and empathy. This sets them apart from AI in the AI age. We’re also giving them the tools to master AI, ensuring they’re future-proof.

It’s exciting to see how this combination of professionalism, innovation, and a focus on future-ready skills has built our reputation as a leader in music education.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.overture.games/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overtureafterschool/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aspen-buckingham/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@intervallic