Public speaking isn’t easy. Getting up in front of people can cause so much anxiety for some people that their palms get sweaty, their heart starts to race and their voice begins to tremble.
Stage fright is so common that a Chicago startup is working to address the trend with its artificial intelligence app that gives users feedback on their spoken word.
Launched in 2018 by University of Chicago and University of Iowa alums, Speeko is an app that allows users to record themselves speaking and afterwards, uses artificial intelligence to give feedback on talking pace, word choice and patterns, and clarity. Speeko’s algorithms are designed to process speech and give users constructive feedback on their public speaking to help them gradually get better over time.
“We’re building technology to help you with your public speaking,” said Speeko co-founder and CEO Niko Aguilar. “We want you to be the most confident and best public speaker that you can be. You can think of Speeko almost as like a Fitbit for your voice.”
Speeko won UChicago’s annual Alumni New Venture Challenge in September and took home $75,000. However, several of the judges during the competition decided to invest personally in Speeko after seeing the team present, Aguilar said.
In 2018, Speeko was also one of 10 startups in the Techstars Chicago accelerator program, which provides accepted startups mentoring and $120,000.
Speeko was born from a personal challenge Aguilar had to overcome. For years, he struggled with anxiety linked to public speaking. During one public speaking engagement in college, Aguilar says he became so nervous that he was losing his breath and eventually left the room without finishing his speech.
“I was so scared,” Aguilar said. “For me, public speaking is something that’s held me back for many years and overcoming that was a journey.”
Aguilar took strides to address his fear by working with speech coaches and reading self-help books. And after seeing some success and realizing there were concrete steps to be taken to improve one’s public speaking abilities, Aguilar decided to turn it into a business.
Now, Speeko has “several thousand” paying users, many of whom are early to mid-career professionals, students or people that struggle with speaking anxiety. The Speeko app is available for iPhones but will soon be available for Androids, Aguilar said. The startup is also launching a desktop app.
In the future, Speeko plans to launch B2B verticals in which the startup would sell its software to companies who want to disperse it to their employees in an effort to improve their teams' public speaking skills, especially in an ever-growing digital world filled with Zoom meetings.
“It’s never been more important to show up and be present with your speaking voice than in the past,” Aguilar said. “We’re all in these little boxes in our team meetings and we have to exert influence through our voice in this totally new way. Our mission is to help the world speak more effectively, confidently and inclusively.”
