Staniszewski: Open Slack access causes distraction and requires restricted channel permission
Mati Staniszewski · ElevenLabs CEO: Why Voice is the Next AI Interface · Nov 4, 2025 · at 13:09
Mati Staniszewski, CEO of ElevenLabs, shares organizational lessons on maintaining employee focus while managing a flat workforce on the a16z Podcast.
0:00 / 0:15exact quote · 15.1s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“If you put a person into all the slack channels and give them transparency, they actually get frequently distracted because then they read all the messages. You can still choose not to read them, but they still do. So you kind of need to cut the access to a lot of those pieces to force the attention”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Mati Staniszewski
Staniszewski: Only 50 to 100 top-level voice AI researchers exist globally
“We don't think there's that many researchers in the world that are at the top level, especially in invoice, maybe 50, maybe hundred.”
Staniszewski: Screen-first computing devices will shift into the background
“A lot of things are screen first. Most people will have a laptop, the phone, and most of the day in front of them. I think a lot of that will move into the background where, where you will be able to be a lot more present.”
Staniszewski: ElevenLabs partnered with Merlin and Kobalt to license music
“The, so we worked with labels that the Merlin and Cobalt, so fourth majors to bring their music into the music model so we can do it in a licensed way so you can generate that and give commercial rights so you are fully protected.”
A foundational AI competitor attempted to license ElevenLabs models for demos
“We had this case recently where one of our foundational level competitor came to us wanting to license our models for demos, and of course the incentive would suggest that you should sell to them, but luckily, luckily we didn't.”
Staniszewski: AI voice tutors will personalize future classroom learning
“When I imagine, say, studying in a classroom in the future, you have on headphones, you can have the most smart physicist, mathematician historian helping you through learning the subject.”
Staniszewski: Voice AI will dissolve global language and cultural barriers
“And with voice and with technology, suddenly this will become possible, where you can speak any language in the world, and fully understand, ah, not, not only what is said, but how it's said, ah, kind of feel a closer part, which will be just incredible future…”