From an uncertain future to a 'tech' reference: the story of Nikias Molina's "sacrifice" and success

With the vitality he conveys when speaking and through his projects, it seems inconceivable that demotivation once ruled Nikias Molina's life. Poor school results were a constant for the now technological reference and youtuber. But grades were not the most important thing, but rather the perception they generated about himself: "The culture we have is that if you don't get good grades, you won't do anything with your life, and I wasn't brilliant at anything," he recalls in conversation with The New Barcelona Post. Faced with a reality that affects thousands of students, his mother did not remain impassive: she decided that he should study part of his Baccalaureate in the United States. And it was not precisely in a large metropolis, but in a town in Pennsylvania in the middle of nowhere, in "deep America." A stay that was supposed to be one year turned into a three-year experience: "It was something that changed everything."

And it didn't change precisely because the educational system, his English, or his contacts improved, but because of a casual event that led to the revelation of an unsuspected talent. "I started sending videos once a month to my mother and the whole family, explaining what I was doing, and they started telling me that I had a talent that I had never seen in myself," he explains. Molina then combined this unveiled talent with his passion: technology. "I was the typical classmate who spent hours talking about the new iPhone features when no one else cared, and I found a new format where people were interested in what I had to say": videos via YouTube. He made it his life's purpose and his goal to achieve: to dedicate himself to social media by generating content about technology.

It was when he started his Graphic Design degree upon his return to Barcelona that he set a crucial goal: he gave himself three years to try to fulfill his purpose of dedicating himself to social media, before the "cycle of life, of working and settling down" began. In those three years, he sacrificed everything, including university social life, and opened his professionalized channel in 2019. "I invested day after day, video after video to fulfill my dream": to dedicate himself to dissecting, through YouTube, technological news, especially from Apple, and to be able to do it before new products hit the market.

Molina has launched an app that aims to bring together resources on one platform to recommend and manage series and movie suggestions

Invited by Apple to Cupertino

"If they had told me seven years ago that I would reach Cupertino, I wouldn't have believed it. Based on my experience, I try to encourage people that it is possible to fulfill dreams through effort," says Molina. The youtuber highlights the importance of believing in one's own abilities regardless of academic results. "Talent can be debated whether I have it or not, but it is undeniable that I have a lot of passion, and anyone can fulfill their dreams if they have passion"; passion, sacrifice, and effort. Molina includes continuous and constant work in the formula for achieving life goals, an element to which ingenuity and skill must be added. Like the one he had when he was starting to stand out on social media to earn more, mainly with the aim of acquiring recording material to improve the quality of his videos. He looked for formulas that would not take away time from his activity on social media, and opened an online store aimed at his audience, with products linked to his content. All this with the aim of consolidating himself as a technological reference on social media, he recalls, leaning on a sofa at The Cover, the private club for entrepreneurs and innovators of which Molina is now a part. The club, located in the Hotel Sir Victor on Rosselló street with Paseo de Gràcia, hosted a talk last week in which Molina reviewed his career and projects.

These projects now go beyond social media: Molina has launched an app that aims to bring together resources on one platform to recommend and manage series and movie suggestions. "I am a friki and, when I like something, I like it a lot," as is the case with films and other audiovisual content. Dissatisfied with other applications and in the absence of a tool that allows one to note down and manage series and movie suggestions, he teamed up with a partner to create this new app. "When someone recommends a movie to you, you can note it down mentally, on your mobile, or in other places, but they end up disorganized," whereas his new application allows you to save them, as if it were a playlist. In addition, it offers trailers and information about the content and its cast, and indicates on which platform the series or movie can be found. The application was launched in September under the name Kernel, and in three months it has surpassed 100,000 users —"and without having spent anything on marketing," he emphasizes—. All under a peculiar name with a double meaning: kernel for nucleus in English, and for corn kernels before they pop and become popcorn, indispensable companions for series and movies.

Kernel, objective: reach one million users

Once they have surpassed 100,000 users, they are looking for investors: they aim to raise about 500,000 euros by mid-2024 to expand the functionalities of the app, among which it stands out that Kernel not only offers a list of recommendations, but also redirects to the platform where said content can be viewed. "We want to unify everything under one roof," given the disorder and the multitude of existing platforms. All of this, for now, without income: the app is free and does not include advertising. Their forecast is to monetize it in the future by offering production companies a prominent space in the app where they can promote their content. But that is yet to come: "We are focused on offering the best user experience; right now we don't earn anything, we are going for the user," with the aspiration of reaching one million by the end of 2024.

While some see a risk of isolation in new technologies, Nikias Molina sees opportunities for connection, the "magic of a technology that connects us"

Despite the launch of the app, the youtuber facet (which has over 293,000 followers) will remain Molina's priority. Not only to maintain it, but to enhance it with new projects, such as a podcast that will address Apple products not only by themselves, but by the use people give them. One of the stories with which this subchannel, called Inside the ecosystem, will premiere will be Kayleigh Williamson. The young woman became in November the first woman with Down Syndrome to complete the New York marathon, and she did it using an Apple Watch. "Technology is boring by itself, and I want to explain how people use it to improve their lives," he proclaims.

Thus, he will maintain his presence and content on Youtube as his core activity. "In life, we always have to have an anchor that holds everything for us. If there are good opportunities and you go for them, you should always return to the anchor; otherwise, the boat can escape. My anchor is Youtube." And it will continue to be so from a perspective that defends technology, confronted with a "dark gaze" that distrusts it in the face of uncertainties about advances such as Artificial Intelligence. Faced with what some see as a risk of isolation in new technologies, Nikias Molina sees opportunities for connection, the "magic of a technology that connects us all."