Wispr: Creating the future of human-technology interfaces
This week's episode of the "The Baking Soda podcast", features Tanay Kothari, the CEO and co-founder of Wispr, his views on the future of human computer interaction and the journey to building a company to bring it into reality.
The world of human-computer interaction is undergoing a seismic shift, and Wispr is emerging as a pioneer in this technological revolution. As founder and CEO Tanay states, "Our core mission is to make communication a lot more effective and efficient. Both between people and between people and AI systems."
But the bigger question driving Wispr's mission is whether the ubiquitous smartphones and screens that have dominated the last decade represent the peak of human-machine interfaces. As Tanay provocatively asks, "Because if you've used your iPhones for the last 15 years, Is that what the next 10 years are going to look like? Or can we build something better?"
At the vanguard of this quest for the next computing paradigm is Wispr's flagship product Flow, a voice interface that aims to liberate users from the constraints and limitations of traditional keyboards and text input. Tanay outlines the driving motivation:
"I don't want my kids to grow up with their hands stuck on screens with their phones in their faces all day long...can we build something better?"
While voice technology has been around for decades, previous approaches significantly missed the mark according to Tanay: "What speech to text companies have tried to do is put down every word you say verbatim...Voice dictation has never been built to be used in day-to-day life."
Wispr takes a radically different tack by harnessing advanced neurotechnology and AI to capture the innate intent and meaning behind natural speech patterns in a coherent, grammatically correct manner. As Tanay describes,
"That's where neurotech comes in, which is interesting because if you think at the core about if you want to capture what a person's intentions are, well, the best way is to pick it up where they originate, which is in your brain. And relating to that, the neurons and where all the signals fall from."
However, building a product pushing the boundaries of voice AI and neurotechnology requires an exceptional caliber of talent across a multitude of disciplines. Tanay lays bare the competition for such elite human capital: "I had to go through 2000 applications. We rejected 1999 people before we found the one...That has been a process we've had to follow for every role that we hire for. It pays off because at Wispr we're hiring electrical, mechanical, machine learning, software, people all across the stack, and we want to build a lot with a really small team."
Attracting and recruiting that rarefied level of talent is an immense challenge that Tanay has grappled with head-on through a blend of patience, rigorous screening, and providing an environment primed for continuous growth. His personal philosophy is guided by deeply understanding the core motivations of his team: "The three things I care about is what drives them, how they learn best, and how they like to get feedback in the best way? If I know those three things really well about every single person, I can make sure that even at a distance, I can be the most effective. People also see that through the hiring process as well, that motivates them to join."
Wispr’s First product is Flow, which is a voice interface with computers. Check out the demo video below:
If you are looking to sign up for Flow, please go FlowVoice.ai and mention “Baking Soda Podcast” in the referral to skip the waitlist.
While the technological capabilities underpinning Flow's brain-computer are impressive, Wispr understands that true product-market fit hinges on delivering a superlative user experience. As Tanay frankly states:
"The biggest thing that's holding them (competitors) back is not just technology, but also a focus on the user experience."
Their strategy revolves around integrating Flow's voice AI seamlessly into existing user behaviors and workflows rather than attempting to uproot entrenched habits. Tanay expounds: "If you made Flow as a completely new...product, it's probably going to die. But you use Slack, email...every day. Let's just fit it into that." By prioritizing intuitive design that gradually shapes new behaviors through the familiarity of established patterns, Wispr, as Tanay says "lets people do things they’ve always done, in completely new ways", easing the transition.
Wispr recognizes that true disruption must be a seamless experience for users by starting with the familiar and gently nudging towards new paradigms. As Tanay asserts, "technological advancements can move pretty fast...user behavior is a bit more interesting where what you want to deliver is a good mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar."
In the rapidly evolving world of AI, Wispr is pioneering the future of human-machine interaction through voice interfaces. Their keys to success? Prioritizing natural user experiences, integrating into existing behaviors, incredible talent through disciplined hiring, and truly understanding what motivates that talent. It's an approach that just may leave competitors wondering "How do you like them apples?"
If you are looking to sign up for Flow, please go FlowVoice.ai and mention “Baking Soda Podcast” in the referral to skip the waitlist.