001 | "From Dyslexia To Reading 800 Words Per Minute" (Cliff at Speechify)
Today’s guest on the “Phil with Forbes 30” podcast is Cliff Weitzman – Founder of Speechify
-- Forbes List: USA
-- Year: 2017
-- Category: Education
My guest, Cliff Weitzman, is the founder of the Speechify App, Text-to-Speech software. It’s the 10th highest grossing productivity app on Apple's App Store and the 3rd ranked app in Apple's Newspapers category. It’s used to read more than a billion words every month.
At 22 he was one of the youngest people named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list. He is a dyslexia advocate, listens to 100 books a year, & has the first chapter of Harry Potter memorized.
I admire my guest Cliff because he has a passion to help 70 percent of the world’s population who have dyslexia. Cliff’s personal dyslexia challenge led him to develop his text-to-speech software that now helps others learn and achieve.
In this episode, Cliff shares his incredible story:
- How his remote teams carry on as business as usual through Covid-19
- His interviewing techniques
- The dyslexia struggle – from Hebrew to English with the help of Harry Potter
- Why his struggle led to the creation of Speechify
- How to use Speechify
- Goal setting and backflips!
- Mentors and pivotal people in his life
- Relationship building methods and people who inspire
- Advice - Build a pipeline for your product and test it
- Goal setting for next year
“Under 30 Seconds Round”
1. What is the book you’ve gifted more often than any other book, and why?
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
2. What’s one of the best investments and one of the worst investments you’ve ever made and why?
a. Best - Hiring young hungry engineers.
b. Worst - Not hiring the right people. I hired a senior engineer from Snapchat and a senior engineer from Apple.
3. What’s your guilty pleasure or favorite cheat meal?
No guilty pleasure, only good pleasures: Vega protein powder with frozen blackberries and blueberries, as well as vegan chocolate cake
4. Pretend you won the Peter Thiel Fellowship and you were going to get money to start a business instead of go to college, what’s the very first thing you’d do to start a new business?
I'd explore a bunch of different areas; validate demand and invest time in finding really good people to work with.
5. What’s something you never knew you needed?
Ostrich Travel Pillow
In the REVIEW SECTION, please let me know…
- The city / country you’re tuning in from!
- How Cliff’s story has inspired you! And, your favorite part of this episode!
- Tell me the questions you’d like me to ask future Forbes 30 Under 30 Members!
GUEST INFO: Cliff Weitzman – CEO & Founder of Speechify App
CONTACT: on instagram @cliffweitzman
WEBSITE: https://www.getspeechify.com/
HOST INFO: Phil Michaels
SOCIAL MEDIA: @iamphilmichaels
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/philmichaels
PODCAST WEBSITE: www.philwithforbes30.com
PHIL’s WEBSITE: www.iamphilmichaels.com
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