What if your voice could replace your keyboard—and be smarter than Siri ever dreamed of? Meet Tanay Kothari, the CEO and co-founder of Wispr Flow, a voice-first AI company redefining how we interact with technology. From teaching himself to code at age nine to building and selling a company fresh out of Stanford, Tanay’s journey is a masterclass in entrepreneurial obsession, resilience, and product-driven thinking.

In this episode, Tanay shares how his childhood dream of building Jarvis (yes, Iron Man’s assistant) led him to develop one of the most exciting voice AI tools today. We dive into the difference between good engineering and great design, why most voice assistants fail, and what it really takes to lead teams and raise capital in Silicon Valley. If you're into startups, AI, or just love hearing from product-obsessed founders, this one's a must-listen.

✨ Listeners of Forward Obsessed can sign up for 1 FREE month of Flow:

https://ref.flowvoice.ai/pete

🔎 Find Out More About Tanay Kothari and Wispr Flow:

https://x.com/tankots

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tankots/

https://ref.wisprflow.ai/fopod 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/wisprflow

https://x.com/WisprFlow

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to Tanay Kothari

04:17 - Entrepreneurial Roots: Tanay’s Parents and Early Hustles

08:00 - Simples Inc: A 12-Year-Old Builds His First Company

10:10 - Going Viral with Convert.cc and Google’s Cease & Desist

18:39 - Journey to Stanford and Embracing Silicon Valley

25:06 - Learning to Lead: From Engineer to Team Manager

33:22 - The Hardest Part of Scaling: Managing People

38:12 - Deep Values Alignment: Early Co-Founder Conversations

45:36 - What Makes Wispr Flow Different from Every Other Voice Tool

50:45 - How Wispr Flow Fixes Transcription Accuracy

54:57 - Product Hunt Success: Tips for a Top Launch

59:47 - The Future of Voice Interfaces and Contextual AI 

🔗 Other Links & Resources:

The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062367544

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0465050654

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553208845

DISC Leadership Framework: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc

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