Victoria Weller, chief of staff at ElevenLabs, says its mission is to make content universally accessible in any language and voice.
Weller says ElevenLabs' AI Speech Classifier can tell whether audio was generated with ElevenLabs, which she calls almost 100% certain, while the company uses voice capture to verify speakers.
Cameron Herold argues the chief of staff is an early-stage role, and Weller agrees it can lead to COO as ElevenLabs hires for finance, talent and compliance.
ElevenLabs bets cloned voices can make all content universally accessible
ElevenLabs is building voice AI that can deliver any content in any language and voice, from multi-voice audiobooks to patients who lost their speech. Cloning a voice from a short sample makes narration fast and cheap, so the company pairs it with owner verification and a detection tool. Chief of staff Victoria Weller explains how she keeps the fast-growing startup running by owning whatever work has no owner yet.
Takeaways
ElevenLabs wants content accessible in any language. Weller describes text to speech with emotional range and contextual awareness, audiobooks with a distinct voice per character, and instant voice cloning from thirty seconds of audio. The platform supports 28 languages, and users can upload their own voices.
Voice cloning collapses audiobook cost and time. Herold spent two and a half days in a Dubai studio recording his sixth book and paid narrators $6,000 each for his other five. Recording those himself would take about fourteen more days. Weller says ElevenLabs could finish the job today.
Accessibility and healthcare matter beyond content creators. Creators are the first audience, but a hospital uses ElevenLabs to read pre-surgery risks to patients. People with visual impairments benefit, and throat cancer patients can speak again in their original voice. Next of kin can clone a deceased relative's voice after providing sufficient proof.
Safety rests on verification plus detection. Weller says AI companies carry an ethical duty to build safeguards and the public must learn to question whether audio is real. ElevenLabs uses voice capture to confirm speakers own their voice. Its AI Speech Classifier, usable without an account, is almost 100% certain.
An early-stage chief of staff fills ownerless gaps. At ElevenLabs Weller took the company through SOC 2 in seven weeks and handles hiring, taxes, entity setup and HMRC filings. She calls the role a SWAT team aimed at whatever is failing. The company plans dedicated hires in areas such as finance and compliance.
Herold sees chief of staff as a COO path. Herold, employee number 14 and later COO at 1-800-GOT-JUNK, argues the chief of staff role belongs to early stage companies. Weller agrees it can lead to COO, having already acted as chief of staff for sub organizations inside 3,000-person Palantir.
Speed and impact drove Weller's career moves. She left astrophysics because research timeframes were too slow and the people she admired were in business. She is motivated by recognition and visible impact. She joined ElevenLabs for a faster pace and deep trust with CEO Matti from their Palantir years.
How ElevenLabs grew so fast
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On this episode 2
Show 1
Matti leaves Palantir and, with the CTO, incorporates ElevenLabs in 2022, funded by a pre-seed round.
ElevenLabs launches publicly in beta in February 2023.
Weller joins from Palantir as chief of staff in May.
The product exits beta in August, and Weller says ElevenLabs was probably the fastest growing company in the world for a stretch of 2023.
The company skips a seed round and raises a Series A, which Herold puts at $20m on a $100m valuation.