How one founder bucked the data-driven trend and created a startup based on inspiration

When Oleg Stavitsky and his co-founders started Endel, they didn't necessarily expect for it to become a venture-backed business with the likes of Amazon's Alexa Fund as investors. Stavitsky and his founding team describe themselves as a collective of imaginative creatives and artists," and the group had previously developed a unique set of apps for children called Bubl that were designed to foster creative development and avoid the usual tropes of character-based kid-focused entertainment.

Endel is a wholly different project, delivering personalized soundscapes to its users that help them achieve states of focus, relaxation and sleep. These are tailored specifically to individual users, and have more in common with meditative exercises and other wellness techniques than with traditional music. And the company has attracted a lot of big-name attention, including a partnership with Grimes that originated when she reached out because she loved using the app and wanted to see if they could work together.

Oleg talks to us all about his experience building Endel, and what it's like being part of a highly unconventional founder collective building a consumer tech startup outside of Silicon Valley.

We loved our time chatting with Oleg, and we hope you love yours listening to the episode. And of course, we'd love if you can subscribe to Found in Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, on Google Podcasts or in your podcast app of choice. Please leave us a review and let us know what you think, or send us direct feedback either on Twitter or via email at found@techcrunch.com, or leave us a voicemail at (510) 936-1618. And please join us again next week for our next featured founder.