The Unicorn: How Speechify Magically Allows People To Read and Write

(Image courtesy of Speechify.)

My brain has two speeds: fast and faster. My Wall Street trading floor mindscape capitalizes on constant bursts of ideas and energy. The cerebral Dow Jones and NASDAQ help index the top thirty projects in every area of my life and calculate how much equity I should infuse. While the charging bull provides value, it has some unintended consequences. 

(Image courtesy of Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.)

When I first started this blog, I was petrified. My writing was wordy, academic, and inconsistent with my peers. My history degree focused on descriptive instead of narrative writing. My first blog posts were riddled with spelling, grammatical, and syntax problems. 

At the end of the semester, I presented my blog analytics to my class. It was awful. The presentation highlighted my lack of attention to detail. My teacher told me my errors devalued the time and effort I put into this project. I knew that I never wanted to feel so defeated again. After turning off my Zoom camera and sound, I cried for an hour and decided that I needed to strengthen my weaknesses. I went online and looked for text-to-speech websites. I knew if I heard my mistakes, I could remedy them. Yet, these websites were slow, robotic, and redundant. The voice reading my words did not care what I had to say. 

(Gif courtesy of Wix.)

One day, I went onto the app store to find a mobile text-to-speech app to write wherever. I found Speechify. Since that random day, I have used the app a minimum of five times a day. It makes my life and writing easier. When thinking of companies to learn from, I knew Speechify was at the top of the list. I spoke with Conrad Abraham, Speechify's Head of Content, to learn more about the company. 

(Image courtesy of Speechify.)

1. What makes Speechify different from other speech-to-text companies?

This can be separated into two parts: mission and products.

As a company, Speechify is mission-based. The genesis of Speechify was to help remove reading barriers for those with dyslexia. Along with this, there is a genuine empathy for people and to help bring tech solutions to common problems. Though the product suite has grown since the early days, every product sits firm on that mission that hasn't changed.

From a product perspective and a wide range of products, Speechify offers the best-in-class text-to-speech, AI voice generators, voice cloning, AI dubbing, AI video editors, and more. With a nimble team, Speechify can iterate much faster.

Speechify obsesses over its customer satisfaction and feedback. The time between vetting a customer's feature requests and for it to make it to production is staggeringly short. No wonder Speechify has over 250,000 5-star reviews.

(Image courtesy of Speechify.)

2. How does Speechify incorporate its mission and vision into its products?

It starts with the idea and communication within Speechify. Speed, but without compromising on user experience, is a driving factor. It is incorporated in the development lifecycle all the way to a finished product.

The products themselves are extremely mission-based. The Text to Speech app even has a dyslexia font so people can read along as they listen. The product also highlights words, like karaoke, so readers can read along as they listen. This is true to the original mission - to never make reading a barrier.

The other suite of products follows the same principles. The user experience is a reflection of the empathy for its users. Constant iteration and updates revolve around the users - the genuine urge to help people.

3. How does Speechify help bridge the public with AI and machine learning?

Speechify is one of the leaders in educating the public about AI and machine learning. With a robust blog and videos, Speechify helps teach people about many topics around AI, machine learning, disabilities, reading, education, and more.

Through products. Though this is seamless, it rarely feels like a user is using AI. The public can use AI without feeling like it is AI - the focus is on solving problems and not the tool that solves them.

(Image courtesy of Speechify.)

4. What is the future of the company?

Just over a year ago, Speechify was a single product, though a multi-platform company. Within a few months, Speechify will offer a suite of AI products, from text to speech to AI voice generators and more, that help people do complex things easily. Speechify will constantly better its existing product suite while bringing more tools to help make people's lives easier.

(Image courtesy of Speechify.)