We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicholas Prufer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicholas, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
After years of working in Hollywood, I decided to take a gamble on myself and my storytelling abilities. With a small team and a small budget, we created a hit audio fiction series called Earth Eclipsed which garnered global recognition around the world, winning more than 30+ awards including being a selection at the Tribeca Film Festival 2021 and being nominated for Podcast of the Year at the Ambies (the Oscars equivalent for podcasts). After launching our series, we faced many of the issues that other audio fiction shows face including terrible discoverability and difficulty monetizing our work. Knowing that this was a problem that all fiction podcasters face, we took it upon ourselves to fix the issues plaguing this industry. That lead us to the creation of Apollo Podcasts, an app made exclusively for fiction audio stories.

At the same time, my passion for storytelling lead me to the creation of a non profit called Story Leaf devoted to using storytelling to help bring awareness and support causes around the world.

Starting a business is always scary but the world needs great entrepreneurs who are ready for the challenges to help fix the issues plaguing the world. Be brave and be bold.

What should our readers know about your business?
We all start as novices in life. No one is born an expert and my story is no different. Originally from Brasil, I came to the United States for my studies. I got a bachelors in Cinema Production from Ithaca College and then a Masters degree in 3D Animation from the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

Like most things in life, the road is never a straight one and ones ability to adapt and change is one of the main factors in achieving success. I originally wanted to be a 3D animator and film maker but life had different plans for me. I worked for a number of years at a VR company in LA, working on prestigious projects like the Disney Coco VR experience. And while that was a fun phase of my life, I was granted the opportunity to work with the co-creator of Power Rangers in developing IPs for Hollywood. I learned a lot through that experience and after a couple of years managing and working with creatives around the world, I decided that I wanted to go back to my roots in storytelling.

I was always an avid audio book listeners and I wanted to create a sci-fi story in audio that resonated with relevant themes of our modern society. Together with my now co-founders of Apollo, we developed a sci-fi epic called Earth Eclipsed that touches on subjects like colonialism, data-privacy and what it means to be human. We got over 30 awards with our project. And while our show was recognized globally, we faced many of the issues that other fiction podcasters face. We had two choices. Face these issues the same way every struggling audio fiction storyteller faces. Or we could try to build a better world based on our experience. We decided on the latter and created Apollo Podcasts.

Building a company is never easy. The knowledge that most start ups fail did not deter us. We built an ecosystem entirely made for fiction audio stories where people can find shows easily through tags, genres and more while providing unique monetization opportunities for creators. Challenges along the way but we never gave up, pushing our thinking further with each step we took. Today I am proud to say that Apollo has more than 9000 fiction shows and our audience is growing with each day. We are proud to support the amazing creators in this industry and help to create a more sustainable ecosystem for audio fiction.

The lessons are many but I think the main lesson is not to get discouraged. The start up life is filled with ups and downs. Many of which are not in your control. But if you believe in your mission and the work you do, you can achieve anything. Don’t let your inexperience (or perception of inexperience) guide you down the wrong path. There will be people that don’t believe or discourage you but listen to your own beating heart. What does it say? Does it say you are on the right path? If so, listen to it and keep you chin up. There will be bad days. Recognize those days and put a pin in it because tomorrow will be a better day.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Hikes around Boulder are some of the best I have ever done and it is a must see for anyone into physical activity or nature as I am. As someone that worked for a foodie app in my college days, I can say that there are many options for food and drink around here. I would recommend checking out the amazing Mama Joes food truck! There are always stationed in many different breweries around the area so if you are craving a delicious fried chicken sandwich (my favorite) and having a beer with it, I would highly recommend checking them out.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I could not have started Apollo Podcasts without the support of my two co-founders AJ Churchill and Victor Lee. We are all originally from Brazil and without them, we would not be where we are today with Apollo.

Also, I have to give a shoutout to my co-founder, partner and mentor, Gil Banducci that helped bring Story Leaf to life in a way that I never could have done alone.

Website: www.apollopods.com

Image Credits
Tribeca with Team on rooftop – Nick, Victor, AJ Tribeca sign – Nick, Alexa, Victor, AJ Ambies – Nick, Alexa, Victor, AJ, Allegra, Reggie

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