Harmonizing Innovation

Tanmay Goel (MMM '25) looks back on his internship experience at YouTube Music internship and explains the need for his mental health startup.

Tanmay Goel (MMM '25) was 10 years old when he discovered his love for music.

That passion later developed into an appreciation for the arts and a fascination with the intersection of art, technology, and mental health.

Those blended interests led Goel to Northwestern's MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM) program — a dual-degree program between Northwestern Engineering and the Kellogg School of Management.

“Art is something that has transcended time and space, and music specifically has always been a catalyst for feeling and expressing emotions,” Goel said. “As technology keeps getting better and better, art and music will sustain even 1,000 years from now.”

He kept that belief top of mind during a recent internship at YouTube Music. Goel was a product management intern and devoted much of his time to two significant projects.

The first aimed to provide artists with a comprehensive summary of their performance on the platform, similar to how some companies offer customer-focused year-end wrap-ups.

“This way they could see how many people were interacting with their music,” Goel said. “That would help them visualize and digest analytics that usually they may not have time for.”

His second project delved into the world of trending music on YouTube Shorts, exploring how the platform could stay at the forefront of media trends.

The internship allowed Goel to flex his business and creative muscles simultaneously — muscles he toned in the MMM program. It was in MMM where Goel was reminded to challenge the status quo and focus on problem identification rather than rushing to solutions.

“If we spend 80 percent of the time identifying the problem, the solution is pretty clear and does not take a lot of time to reveal itself,” Goel said. “But when you do think about solutions, it should be no-holds-barred. No idea is a bad idea."

These lessons proved invaluable during his internship, where Goel found himself asking probing questions to uncover the root of issues before proposing solutions. This approach led to fruitful discussions and innovative problem-solving.

Goel is now considering how he might be able to apply that same type of problem solving to a serious — and personal — issue in his native India.

In 2022, he co-founded Emoneeds, a teletherapy startup aimed at addressing India's mental healthcare gap. In 2025, he decided to enhance the current care delivery model by integrating AI as a team member in the therapeutic process, rather than as a replacement.

The need for what Emoneeds provides is strong.

A Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study found that in 2017, nearly 197.3 million Indians – 14.6 percent of the population – were affected by a mental health condition. That was double the amount seen in 1990. Reportedly, there is less than one psychiatrist for every 100,000 people in the country.

With Emoneeds, Goel wants to help reduce burnout for therapists by using an AI-powered thought partner to automate their workflows and improve engagement and accessibility of mental healthcare acting as a 24x7 support system for their clients. The AI acts as a shared notebook between therapists and clients to improve the current gaps in mental health.

Goel is currently weighing his post-graduation plans. He may pursue more product management experience similar to his time at YouTube music, or he might dive headfirst into entrepreneurship with his company, Emoneeds.

Regardless of the decision, he said he feels well-prepared thanks to the MMM program.

“The two years spent at MMM have been extremely influential and have pushed me to think in a very creative way,” Goel said. “I would highly recommend taking the plunge into MMM and coming out of the other side as a confident, creative, and motivated business leader.”