Tanosei Studio

✏️ Spreading your ideas wider with captivating storytelling and animations.

Co-Founder

Satoris coaching

Visual Illustrator and Motion Designer

Sunsama

Creating illustrations for Sunsama's social channels.

Visual Illustrator

Contrarian Thinking

Creating creative illustrations and animations for Contrarian Social's page.

Creative Motion Designer | Tech Enthusiast | Learning Founder

I’m a multipassionate creator who started as a shy kid drawing and dreaming of tech. After studying computer engineering and diving into Python, machine learning, and app development, burnout led me to leave college and rediscover my love for art. As tanoseihito, I’ve built a community of 100,000 by sharing illustrations on business, life, and productivity.

Now, I run Tanosei Studio, motion design business, work full time crafting visuals for b2b and startups, and create content that blends tech, philosophy, and art. 

My goal?

To build a tech company that solves real problems through creativity and storytelling.

A YC-backed startup scammed us.


We spent 2 weeks on their project.
4-day delivery timeline, so we poured everything into it.
Late nights. Missed meals. Energy in every frame.

Draft 1 → huge revisions.
Draft 2 → senseless revisions.
Draft 3 → more revisions.
Draft 4 → finally “done.”

And then… silence.
No replies. No payment.
Just like that, the work was gone.

I don’t blame them.
Because the real lesson is on us:

Maybe we jumped in without digging deeper.
Maybe we gave too much of a discount just to onboard them.
Maybe we asked the wrong questions and set the wrong expectations.
Maybe we didn’t explain our process clearly enough.

For a bootstrapped studio, $1,000 is still a huge amount.
And losing it hurts.

But this isn’t about victimizing ourselves.
This is about documenting the raw reality of building.

Because the truth is, some startups break you, and others build you.
In the same week one ghosted us, another YC-backed client appreciated our work and doubled down on trust.

And the Bhagavad Geeta reminds me:
"You’re not promised the results of your work. Only the duty to do it."

We lost money. We lost time.
But we didn’t lose momentum.

And that’s what matters.
Because tomorrow, we show up again.


#founderenergy #startupjourney #buildinpublic #creativebusiness #yc #ycombinator

Sushan Bastola (Tanosei)

Co-Founder at Tanosei Studio ✏️ Notes, Visuals, Vids on Creative Journey

I started at $90 a project.

1st client → $90
A few more → $120
By the 9th project → $150
By the 12th → $160

Then it started climbing:
$160 → $190 → $220 → $250 → $270 → $320 → $450 → ......... → $850

And eventually, we crossed the at $1,350 mark on 42th, 43th, and now 44th

Notes:

1/ This didn’t happen in 6 months.
It’s been a journey of 4 years, experimenting, failing, reinvesting every dollar, and slowly sharpening the positioning.

2/ Every increase came after a lesson:
✢ Faster delivery → when we reinvested everything on studio's growth.
✢ Higher quality → when we stopped rushing and built better systems.
✢ More focus → when we rented a tiny space and worked side-by-side 12 hours a day.
✢ More trust → when we started showing up as a studio, not just freelancers.

3/ The biggest growth wasn’t just the price tag.
It was clarity:
Who we serve (fast-moving startups).
What we solve (storytelling gaps).
How we work (motion-led, async, fast).

4/ Pricing is not a one-time jump.
It’s a staircase.
Each step feels small in the moment, but compounding over years changes everything.

5/ How it feels:
Sometimes I still feel behind.
Friends are saving for homes.
Some have $100K in the bank.
Meanwhile, I’m still pouring every cent into growth.

But when I look back from $90 → $1,350, I’m reminded:
This is a staircase.
Each step feels small in the moment, but compounding over years changes everything.

And right now?
I feel grateful that we’re climbing.

Timeline —
📍 2020: Figuring things out from a shared bedroom.
📍 2021: Got my first lead & job. Still working from a bedroom.
📍 2022: Still on a job, used extra time to upskill & find clients. Rented a small room to go serious.
📍 2023: Tried to build a team, failed, lost everything, but kept going.
📍 2024: Left my hometown → moved to Kathmandu to be closer to talent. Met great friends, started building again.
📍 2025: Rented our first studio space. Still progressing.

#StartupJourney #buildinpublic #creativebusiness #motiondesign

4 calls. A customized playbook. A founder who loved it.
I thought the deal was sealed.
3 weeks later? They went with someone else.

A few months ago, I stumbled on a startup I really admired.

Scrolling their feed, I noticed something small but important:
their product was great, but their content wasn’t landing.

Not a massive issue, but enough to cost them attention, clarity, and growth.

So instead of firing off a cold email, we went deeper.
Built a customized playbook.
Not a template. Not generic.
A full breakdown of what they could do differently, with examples tailored only to them.

We sent it over.

The growth lead loved it.
We jumped on a call.
Then another.
By the end, I thought: “this one’s closed.”

But 3 weeks later, I saw their launch.
And the video?
It wasn’t ours.
They had chosen another studio.

At first, it stung. We had invested real time, real energy.
But here’s what I learned:

✢  You can’t close everyone.
✢  Even when the value is clear, not every founder moves the way you expect.
✢  And sometimes, you’re simply not the fit they choose.

It reminded me of Airbnb’s early days.

In 2008, they pitched dozens of investors. Almost everyone said no.

One VC even told them, “This idea is too small to be interesting.”
They lost deal after deal.

But instead of chasing every “no,” they refined their pitch, sharpened their vision, and the right “yes” eventually changed everything.

That’s the real takeaway:
Don’t measure success only by the deal.
The no’s still sharpen you. The practice still compounds.

We’re not here to chase every yes.
We’re here to get clearer, sharper, and better
so that when the right yes comes, it’s undeniable. 

Tanosei Studio

#founderenergy #buildinpublic #creativebusiness #motiondesign

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