Equity ElevenLabs just hit $6.6B, but its CEO says the real money isn't in voice anymore
28 snips
Dec 10, 2025 
Mati Staniszewski, Co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs, reveals how the company evolved from two annoyed engineers into a $6.6 billion AI powerhouse. He shares bold predictions about voice models becoming commoditized and discusses ElevenLabs' pivot towards conversational AI and music generation. Mati tackles challenges like AI deepfakes with innovative solutions and emphasizes the enduring value of human-created content. He envisions a future where AI democratizes creativity, enabling more creators to thrive in the audio landscape.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
From Voice Models To Agent Platforms
- ElevenLabs shifted from static voice models to building conversational agents and creative audio tooling.
- Mati Staniszewski says the real value lies in integrating models with data, deployment, monitoring, and safeguards.
Author Used 300 Copy-Pastes For An Audiobook
- An early audiobook author pasted his entire book into ElevenLabs in 300 chunks to create a narrated version.
- That revealed the need for richer tooling to handle pronunciation, voice selection, and workflow.
Healthcare Use Case: Hippocratic
- ElevenLabs worked with Hippocratic to automate appointment scheduling and reminders using voice agents.
- That customer project illustrated the complexity of combining speech-to-text, LLMs, and orchestration for production use.