The classically trained violinist turned tech CEO is rebuilding his Atlanta-rooted music education startup after a sweeping reset — and aiming far higher than where he started
DuMarkus Davis does not describe himself in modest terms. The founder and CEO of Musicbuk, a tech platform that connects aspiring musicians with vetted instructors, has publicly framed his ambition as building a billion-dollar company, paired with a team aligned to that vision. That goal, profiled in Inc. Magazine’s “Black in Business” coverage, is striking on its own. What gives it weight is the path Davis took to get there — one that included firing his co-founder, his board, and most of his team in a single year and starting over.
His story has resurfaced in entrepreneurship coverage at a moment when Black founders continue to navigate a tightened funding environment, making the conversation about discipline, ownership, and long-horizon building especially relevant.
From Conservatory To Startup
Davis is a classically trained violinist who grew up in College Park, Georgia, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, graduating in 2018. He is a 2013 Gates Millennium Scholar, and he served as the first Black student body chairman at the conservatory.
The idea for Musicbuk grew out of his own teaching experience. While auditioning for orchestra positions and teaching private violin lessons after graduation, Davis observed that music schools were charging students $80 to $90 per session while paying their instructors closer to $20. He turned down an orchestra job offer to build a platform that would give musicians a more direct way to teach, earn, and connect with students. He founded Musicbuk in 2018.
The company has evolved since. According to public profiles and Inc.’s reporting, Musicbuk moved from a direct-to-consumer approach to a B2B model that lets music instructors run virtual studios through the platform. At its earlier scale, it had grown to support more than 2,000 instructors. It is a Techstars ’20 alumnus and a recipient of funding from the inaugural Google for Startups Black Founders Fund. Davis has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree.
The Reset
The chapter that has drawn the most attention is what Davis did in early 2023. In a period of weeks, he fired his co-founder, seven members of his team, and the entire board of directors. He then ended his San Francisco apartment lease, sold his furniture, packed his car, and drove 2,470 miles back to the Atlanta area.
By Davis’s own account, the decision followed months of disagreement with his co-founder and board over the direction of the business. As the customer base grew, output declined, and he concluded that the team built during a bull market did not have the skills required for tougher conditions. “My team had become somewhat complacent with their salaries, especially during a period of widespread layoffs, and organizationally, we were losing our competitive edge,” Davis told Inc. “In the end, starting over seemed like the best course of action.”
He has been candid about the cost. “It was a grieving process because having built this company directly out of college, it’s been my baby for a long time,” he said.
A Smaller Team, A Bigger Target
The version of Musicbuk that emerged from that reset is leaner. Davis, now based in Los Angeles, oversees a fully remote operation that, as of Inc.’s reporting, included two full-time employees — among them chief technology officer Jon Higgins — and nine contractors. The company had raised a pre-seed round of $1.25 million with participation from NOEMIS Ventures, Goodwater Capital, and Techstars, along with about $700,000 from pitch competitions and grants.
Against that backdrop, the billion-dollar framing reads less like marketing and more like a deliberate target Davis has set for himself, with the structure rebuilt around it. The current company milestones — funding stage, headcount, and customer numbers — should be confirmed against Musicbuk’s own channels by anyone covering the business at scale; what is publicly verifiable points to a leaner operation than the one Davis ran before the reset.
The Wider Picture For Black Founders
The numbers around Black founders make the trajectory more pointed. Black founders received roughly 0.48 percent of all U.S. venture capital, according to Crunchbase data cited in Inc.’s reporting. The enthusiasm for supporting Black entrepreneurs that surged in 2020 has since faded, and the fundraising climate has tightened across the industry.
That backdrop sits alongside other stories of Black entrepreneurship featured in the same Inc. hub. Gregory Shepherd, the founder and CEO of Kultivated Haircare, has poured overtime pay from his career with the FDNY into building a presence in the fast-growing Black haircare market. Robert F. Smith of Vista has spoken about his commitment to giving most of his wealth to charity and how other entrepreneurs can drive impact, whatever their financial resources. Taken together, the profiles point to a generation of Black-led businesses building patiently and on their own terms.
For Davis, the through line is ownership of the vision. The Musicbuk he is rebuilding may be smaller in headcount than the one he started with, but the ambition behind it has not narrowed. Whether the billion-dollar target arrives or not, the choice to clear the table and start again is itself a statement about the kind of company he intends to build.
