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A Q&A With the Founder of Speechify

Writer's picture: hannahcrosswriterhannahcrosswriter

Updated: Jan 27



Have you heard of the app Speechify? If you’re dyslexic, have ADHD, low sight, or any other conditions that make it difficult for you to read you might have come across it. Speechify is an app that was built for you to turn anything into an audiobook.

 

Being a passionate writer, researcher, and advocate for neurodivergence myself, I spoke with the founder of neurodivergent friendly app Speechify, Cliff Weitzman, and he answered some questions so that you can learn a bit about what the app has to offer. I hope you enjoy learning about Speechify as much as I did. I will add some useful links at the end of the interview.



Cliff Weitzman, founder of Speechify
Cliff Weitzman, founder of Speechify

 

 

1. What inspired you to develop Speechify?


I created this platform based on my own personal experience with dyslexia and ADHD, and the challenges that it presented in my life. As a child, reading a sentence took me as much energy, focus, and brain power as most people take to do a long math equation in their head. It was tough, and on top of that, I was often labelled as 'slow' or 'lazy' by those around me, even teachers.


2. Do people who don’t have ADHD or dyslexia use this app?


Yes – all kinds of people with accessibility needs use Speechify. This includes users with low vision, users overcoming concussions, and many other neurodivergent conditions.


3. What were some of the symptoms of your dyslexia and ADHD that hindered your vision for Speechify?


I’ve encountered many challenges brought by my dyslexia and ADHD while I was building Speechify but the prominent ones are having a short attention span / inability to focus, and procrastination.


4. And how did you overcome these?


Whenever I notice myself having difficulty focusing or having low energy in my work, I go ahead and look through my phone for people I'm grateful for, and then I send them a message to let them know exactly what I appreciate about them.


5. Did you have input from other people? And were they neurodivergent?


Yes. As a matter of fact, most of the work during the development of Speechify’s first version was done by my younger brother, Tyler. He isn’t neurodivergent but he has a visual impairment that causes reading to be difficult for him as well – his left eye is blind while he is astigmatic on the right eye. Tyler has done a lot in building Speechify both as a product and a company. He is currently our Head of AI.


6. Would you say people with dyslexia ADHD can achieve any goals they put in place for themselves?


Absolutely! Aside from having a great support system such as your family, friends, educators, etc., there are already a lot of tools and resources available to help you overcome the common challenges that come with having ADHD and/or dyslexia. Anything is possible as long as you have vision and grit.


7. How did you leverage your unique strengths and overcome the challenges associated with dyslexia and ADHD to successfully start and grow your company?


I used the challenges that I experienced as a kid to build a product that would benefit users, especially those with neurodivergent conditions and learning disabilities, and to make reading and listening an enjoyable experience for them.If you 're a founder, your number one rule is to learn how to code, design, and how to talk to users. Your role is to collect incredible people and have them row in the same direction for a really big vision.


8. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs with dyslexia who are just beginning their journey?


One thing I think that aspiring entrepreneurs should focus more on is founder product fit. My goal is to be the person that I needed most when I was young  and what I really needed was someone to read my books to me. So I also made sure that my mission in life, the thing I worked on most, was something that was congruent with who I am and the type of help that I needed and that's my way of giving love to the universe; building the thing that I needed and getting to benefit those people and benefit myself. I'm uniquely capable of doing that because I understand the problem better than anybody else. If you can align your life in that way, you find a problem that you have solved for yourself and you can broadcast how to solve that problem, which is great!


9. What strategies and resources have you found most effective in supporting students and professionals with dyslexia or ADHD to help them thrive academically and in their careers? Are there specific tools or approaches that you believe make a significant difference?


I think love is the most important thing in life and the more you give it the more you have to give, it's like fire you light a flame and you can then light another one without extinguishing the original one. 

 

Create as much value in the world as possible and elevate the collective quality of life. I see creating value as a function of love.

When you interact with a new person, none of it matters, it just matters that you come into things with good intention, and as long as you give more than you receive your life would be amazing. It costs me nothing to give you love. If in a short period of time you can significantly improve someone else's life, do it!

 

I used to write a lot of productivity Medium blog posts. I used to post them as an organic post on my Facebook feed for the freshman classes that would come into Brown. Then that feed got so big with the resources that it became a Medium post . All these good things that happened in my life were just because I was doing things for nothing less than a desire to help other people figure out what I had figured out.

 

Every person has their own strengths and so one key that I tell people who are working on building companies is to design your workflow to allow you to work on the things that are zones of your genius and have the team to work on everything else.  

 

Another thing I do is I always look to spend time with people who are going to make me a better person.


10. What final thoughts or key messages would you like to share about dyslexia or ADHD? How can we continue to support and empower individuals with dyslexia to reach their full potential?


I typically read and listen at the same time. The problem is my reading sucks but Speechify highlights words as it goes. So, for people with Dyslexia, it's a decoding problem more than a reading problem. If I see the word house five-hundred times a month in a random text and I hear it at the same time, next time I see the word house I treat it like an emoji. I just know that those shapes mean house. I hear and listen at the same time so my retention goes up, my comprehension goes up, my understanding goes up, I can do it faster, and there's no fatigue.You've also got to practice listening. Typically, it takes ten audiobooks to become a fluent listener. Once you become a fluent listener, you can listen faster, you can retain more, you can do other things at the same time, and you understand better. If you practice, you get really good at it, and it becomes an absolute superpower. Because you can intake information from the internet three times faster than people without the app, and you can do it while walking around, or doing whatever you want.  

 

 

More information and helpful resources

 

·      To find out more about Speechify’s overall work click here.

·      A free resource for dyslexic students to try turning any text into audio, includes voices of Gwyneth Paltrow, Snoop Dogg, and Mr. Beast can be found here.

·      For a free resource for teachers or parents to create mp3s of any text into audio click here. Helpful to circulate with students/kids.




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