Founder Of The Week: Nick Price

• Nick Price is the founder and CEO of nmatic.ai, a hybrid AI creative production company that blends generative AI with human craft to deliver premium content at scale.
• A creative industry veteran with nearly 30 years’ experience, Nick has worked across film, advertising and production, including building BBDO’s in-house production arm, Flare, into a $120m global operation spanning 20 markets.
• He founded nmatic.ai in 2024 to challenge the idea that AI replaces creativity, championing a model where deep creative knowledge is what makes AI outputs truly valuable.
• Nick has led work for global brands including Dyson, Samsung, Investec and Warner Brothers, helping make broadcast-quality production faster, more sustainable and accessible to a wider range.

Tell Us About Yourself and nmatic.ai

I’m Nick Price, Founder and CEO of nmatic.ai, a hybrid AI creative production company. I have spent nearly thirty years finding new ways to make content – from the UK’s first audio-described film to building BBDO’s in-house production arm, Flare, into a $120 million operation across twenty markets.

I founded nmatic.ai in March 2024 because I saw something the traditional industry could not grasp: AI does not replace craft, it requires it. We work with brands including Dyson, Samsung, Investec and Warner Brothers, delivering content faster and more sustainably than traditional methods – while opening doors for businesses that could never previously afford broadcast-quality production.

What Inspired You to Start nmatic.ai? What Problem Were You Aiming To Solve?

I kept seeing the same tension: how do we create more, create better, and create responsibly — whilst empowering creators and opening markets to players who have never had a seat at the table? nmatic.ai exists to solve that.

We blend AI with human craft, and we blend it with traditional production methodologies enabling creativity at scale. Premium production has always been the preserve of those with the biggest budgets; our mission is to make it accessible and sustainable for everyone. The technology finally exists to level this playing field. Someone had to build the company that does it properly.

What Has Been Your Biggest Challenge So Far? How Did You Overcome It?

Overcoming scepticism about AI in creative production. People assume AI replaces human talent – and frankly, much of what passes for ‘AI content’ justifies that fear. We have addressed this by demonstrating tangible results, showing precisely how AI empowers creators rather than displacing them.

We have invested in education and collaboration, proving the value of a hybrid approach where human craft, live action, CGI, and AI coexist within single pieces of work. By combining transparency, hands-on experience, and measurable outcomes, we are shifting perceptions. The proof is in the work and the clients who keep coming back.

Describe A Pivotal Moment That Significantly Shaped the Direction of nmatic.ai?

Two moments, and the second made sense of the first. In 2023, as CPO at an agency, I suspected Gen AI could dramatically reduce animatic costs (that is how ads are tested). That got me started. But the real pivot came when I realised the AI outputs everywhere were mediocre.

What separated good from bad was not the technology – it was the creative knowledge behind the prompts. Decades of craft understanding of what makes a shot work, how light falls, why certain compositions tell stories. That second realisation formed our positioning: not AI replacing craft, but AI requiring craft to be any good.

How Do You Define Success? 

For Your Business: Building a scalable, ethical, AI-enhanced ecosystem that empowers creators and delivers exceptional content sustainably. We have grown from £90K to £1.5M in our first year – but the real measure is proving that the model works. If we demonstrate that hybrid AI enhances creativity rather taking away from it, others will follow. That is when the industry changes.

As A Founder: Seeing a diverse team of creatives thrive while contributing to a more inclusive approach to content creation, and seeing the results out in the world. I have built successful businesses before, but always inside larger organisations. This time the ownership and the outcome are mine. If nmatic.ai leaves a lasting industry impact, that is success.

What Advice Would You Give To Someone Considering Launching Their Own Startup?

Trust your instincts. Entrepreneurship means seeing what others might not – that is the whole point. Listen to experienced voices, but have faith in your differentiation and stick with it. The world is full of well-meaning people who will tell you to sand down your edges, play it safer, be more like the thing that already exists. Resist that. If people begin to follow you – wanting to work with you, wanting to work for you – you are on the right track. That is the signal that actually means something.

What’s Next For nmatic.ai? Are There Any Exciting Developments We Should Keep An Eye Out For?

We are unifying a fractured AI ecosystem by bringing professional craft, technical mastery, and ethical governance into a single platform through three divisions: Studio for production, Academy for training, and Marketplace for professional hybrid AI assets.

We are expanding into South Africa next, then the US and Asia. The Marketplace launch will set industry benchmarks for ethical generative AI production and creator compensation. The goal is not just building a successful company – it is establishing how this industry should operate.

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.

Founder’s Five with Nick Price

Here’s TechRound’s exclusive Founder’s Five with Nick Price, founder and CEO of nmatic.ai.

1. Favourite Business Tool?

On one level, listening to music – it helps me focus and I would be lost without it. Day to day, I use Claude to plan my schedule and chase me up on things I have let slip. But my current favourite is Notebook LM. It is insane what it is capable of for detailed analysis across multiple sources – less conversational than other LLMs and more like having a research team that is actually read everything you have thrown at it. If you have not tried it, you should.

2. One Lesson You’ve Learned the Hard Way?

Build your own business, do not build it for someone else. I have started successful ventures within larger organisations, and the issue is that other agendas hold you back – particularly when leadership changes and a new guard arrives with different priorities. Everything you have built can evaporate overnight.

My advice: cut your teeth in those places, learn how they work. Then take your knowledge of their weaknesses and exploit it by operating where they cannot. Large organisations are slow, political, and risk-averse. Be fast, focused, and bold.

3. A Future Trend You’re Watching?

Hybrid AI – where live action, CGI, and AI coexist within single pieces of work – will, for the first time in commercial creativity, give SMEs and individuals access to broadcast-quality production. That changes everything. New audiences become reachable. New storytelling becomes commercially viable. Entire markets open almost overnight. For an industry that has long skewed towards the biggest budgets, this levelling of the playing field will help smaller businesses scale faster than ever, with more sophisticated creative output than was previously imaginable.

4. One Quote You Live By?

“If you lose, don’t lose the lesson.”

5. A book/podcast you recommend?

There are so many. Favourite podcast: ‘The Rest is Politics’. Favourite classic: ‘Return of the Native’. Favourite modern novel: ‘One Day’ for its incredibly simple premise used to tell a complex story. But ultimately, ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’ If there is intelligent life out there capable of interstellar travel, this is probably what it is actually like. And the creativity in it is simply wonderful. And it will make you laugh, and that is important.

Want to be featured as TechRound’s Founder of the Week? Know someone who deserves to be recognised as a founder making waves in the startup landscape? Find out more about this weekly feature and how to get involved here.