''' I still remember the first time I tried to use a voice assistant. It was maybe 2014. I asked it to play a song, and it gave me the weather in a city I’d never heard of. I tried again. It wanted to set an alarm for 3 AM. After the third try, I just gave up and typed it in. It was a gimmick. A frustrating, useless gimmick.
Fast forward ten years. I just closed a deal, negotiated entirely through a series of voice notes transcribed by an AI, while I was hiking in the Marin Headlands. That same AI drafted the follow-up emails. That’s not a gimmick. That’s a superpower.
The Podcast That Runs Itself
I’ve invested in over 200 companies, and I can’t tell you how many founders I see burning out trying to do everything. They’re told they need a personal brand, so they start a podcast. Great idea. But then they spend 10 hours a week recording, editing, and writing show notes. The podcast dies after 6 episodes.
What if you could do it in 30 minutes? I was talking to a founder in my portfolio the other day. She runs a B2B SaaS company. She’s an expert in her niche, but she’s not a "content creator." We mapped it out. She could use an AI voice clone of herself, feed it her last 5 blog posts, and have it generate a 20-minute podcast episode. Not just a robotic reading, but a conversational-style show. The AI could even generate a transcript, show notes, and five social media posts to promote it. Total time for her? Review and approve. That’s it. That’s not just saving time; it’s creating an entirely new content engine that was impossible for her before.
Your AI Chief of Staff
People get hung up on the "robot voice" sound. They’re missing the point. The real magic is in conversational AI. I have an AI assistant that’s more effective than most human assistants I’ve worked with. It schedules my meetings, sure. But it also listens to my calls (with permission, of course). After a call with a founder, it can summarize the key points, identify action items, and even draft a preliminary investment memo based on my verbal cues and questions.
I was on a call with a startup I was considering investing in. I was asking about their customer acquisition cost and lifetime value. I just talked. I didn’t take a single note. An hour later, I had a full summary in my inbox with the key metrics broken down, and a red flag raised about their churn rate—something I had mentioned but hadn’t explicitly flagged as a major concern. The AI picked up on the subtle shift in my tone. That’s the kind of leverage that helps you move faster and make better decisions. It’s why I’ve been so bullish on companies in this space, from the foundational models at OpenAI and Anthropic to the application layer.
Text-to-Speech is Your Secret Weapon
When people hear "text-to-speech," they think of that Stephen Hawking voice. That’s ancient history. Modern text-to-speech is indistinguishable from human speech. I used it for the audiobook version of my book, "Becoming Top 1%." I could have spent a week in a recording studio. Instead, I fed the manuscript to an AI, and it generated the entire audiobook in my own cloned voice. I spent a few hours reviewing it and making minor corrections. Done.
But it’s more than just audiobooks. Think about accessibility. Think about personalized news briefings you can listen to on your commute. Think about turning every article on your website into an audio version with one click. We’re just scratching the surface here. The ability to turn text into high-quality, natural-sounding audio is a fundamental building block for the next generation of products.
My Framework for Building with AI Voice
I see a lot of founders chasing shiny objects in AI. Here’s my simple, no-BS framework for building something meaningful with voice.
- Solve a Real Pain, Not a "Wouldn't It Be Cool If." Don’t start with the tech. Start with a real, burning problem. The podcasting example isn’t cool because of AI voice; it’s cool because it solves the pain of founder burnout.
- Go Beyond Transcription. Transcription is a commodity. The value is in what you do with the transcript. Summarization, sentiment analysis, action item extraction—that’s where the opportunity is.
- Nail the User Experience. If your voice AI is clunky and frustrating like that 2014 assistant, nobody will use it. It has to be seamless. It has to feel like magic. The bar is incredibly high.
- Own a Niche. Don’t try to build a general-purpose voice assistant. Build a voice assistant for lawyers. For doctors. For sales teams. Go deep on a specific vertical and solve their unique problems.
The Hard Truth
This isn’t all easy. The "uncanny valley" is real. An AI voice that’s 99% human-like can be more off-putting than one that’s clearly a robot. There are also serious ethical questions we need to address around deepfakes and misinformation. And let’s be honest, the market is noisy. For every truly innovative company, there are ten others just slapping a voice interface on a mediocre product.
But the opportunity is massive. I believe the next decacorn won’t be a SaaS company. It will be a conversational AI company. We’re moving from a world of graphical user interfaces to a world of auditory user interfaces. The way we interact with technology is fundamentally changing. And for the founders who get it right, the rewards will be immense. Don’t just build another app. Build a conversation. '''
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need technical skills to do even more with ai voice - 104?
Not necessarily. While technical understanding helps, the most important skills are clear thinking and the ability to break problems into smaller pieces. Many successful founders I've invested in started with zero technical background and either learned enough to be dangerous or found the right technical partner.
What are the most common mistakes when doing even more with ai voice - 104?
The biggest mistake I see is overcomplicating things early on. Start with the simplest version that works, get real feedback, and iterate from there. Another common trap is copying what worked for someone else without understanding the context behind their decisions.
How do I measure success with this approach?
Pick one or two metrics that directly tie to your goal and track them weekly. Vanity metrics like page views or follower counts rarely matter. Focus on metrics that reflect real engagement or revenue impact.