ENDEL APP CREATOR ON THE POWER OF ENDLESS AMBIENT MUSIC

Endel, the company behind the app of the same name that creates personalized soundscapes to help users focus, sleep, and relax, was founded by six like-minded creatives. Nadya Yurinova, the company’s chief marketing officer, joined the team shortly after its founding. From left: Chief Design Officer Protey Temen, Nadya Yurinova, Chief Music Officer Dmitry Evgrafov, CEO Oleg Stavitsky, Chief Data Officer Dmitry Bezugly, Chief Technology Officer Kirill Bulatsev, and Chief Product Officer Philipp Petrenko.

Endel CEO and Co-founder Oleg Stavitsky is not a typical tech entrepreneur. One of six co-founders, the former video game journalist describes himself as a producer who assembles creative people and builds an environment for them to work in. “I suggest an idea and then take a step back,” he said.

Stavitsky cited ambient sound pioneer and musician Brian Eno, and the tap-tap-tapping of his 3-year-old daughter playing Eno’s Bloom app that launched on the first-generation iPad in 2010, as inspiration. Watching his daughter, he became entranced by the ambient sounds resonating from her finger as she used the app to create her own piece of art. He immediately knew he wanted to create digital art apps for kids, and decided to leave the journalism world to start an app development company.

And so he set out to build a team of like-minded art, music, and sound enthusiasts. That founding group includes Chief Music Officer Dmitry Evgrafov, a neoclassical composer; Chief Design Officer Protey Temen, a contemporary visual artist; Chief Data Officer Dmitry Bezugly; Chief Technology Officer Kirill Bulatsev; and Chief Product Officer Philipp Petrenko. “It’s a very diverse collective of people, and we all just clicked together,” Stavitsky explained.