Building One of AI’s Fastest-Growing Companies | Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs

Mati Staniszewski is the co-founder of ElevenLabs, an AI audio company he started in 2022 with his longtime friend Piotr Dąbkowski. He explains how a frustration with poorly dubbed content in Poland led them to build frontier speech technology, why ElevenLabs combines audio research with product deployment and how its focus on voice shapes where the company chooses to compete. Mati also describes the Palantir-inspired operating model behind ElevenLabs: small autonomous teams, a flat organization and forward deployed engineers who work directly with customers and feed what they learn back into the product. He discusses using AI to amplify human potential, helping people who have lost their voices speak again, why imperfections can make AI voices feel more human and his belief that voice will become one of the primary ways people interact with AI. After turning down multiple acquisition offers, Mati says he and Piotr are committed to building ElevenLabs independently and pursuing what they see as a rare opportunity to reshape how humans communicate with technology. Show notes: https://www.davidenra.com/mati-staniszewski Made possible by Ramp: https://ramp.com Deel: https://deel.com/senra AppLovin: https://applovin.com/senra David Senra Website: https://www.davidsenra.com X: https://x.com/davidsenra Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsenra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsenra Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/company/senrashow Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsenra Spotify: https://spti.fi/TVrr557 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4msoZtb Mati Staniszewski ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/blog/authors/mati-staniszewski X: https://x.com/mati LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matiii Chapters 00:00:00 Building an AI-Native Company Before ChatGPT 00:02:59 Why ElevenLabs Started With Audio & Dubbing 00:12:37 Research + Product Deployment: How ElevenLabs Is Built 00:16:15 Focus as a Competitive Advantage 00:18:47 Building an Ecosystem Around Voice 00:22:25 The Communication Platform & Deutsche Telekom 00:28:29 Forward Deployed Engineers & Lessons From Palantir 00:33:41 Flat Organizations, Transparency & AI-Native Management 00:37:19 Small Teams & Putting Engineers Everywhere 00:43:00 Where ElevenLabs Is Growing Fastest 00:44:38 Taste, Art & Science in AI 00:48:23 Using AI to Amplify Human Potential 00:55:19 Becoming an Entrepreneur & Building With Piotr 00:56:49 Why Mati Won’t Sell ElevenLabs 01:04:01 Voice as the Interface for AI 01:06:49 Turning Conferences Into a Business Tool

David SenrahostMati Staniszewskiguest

Sep 9, 20261h 11mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: September 9, 2026
Duration: 1h 11m
Channel: David Senra
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Mati Staniszewski is the co-founder of ElevenLabs, an AI audio company he started in 2022 with his longtime friend Piotr Dąbkowski. He explains how a frustration with poorly dubbed content in Poland led them to build frontier speech technology, why ElevenLabs combines audio research with product deployment and how its focus on voice shapes where the company chooses to compete. Mati also describes the Palantir-inspired operating model behind ElevenLabs: small autonomous teams, a flat organization and forward deployed engineers who work directly with customers and feed what they learn back into the product. He discusses using AI to amplify human potential, helping people who have lost their voices speak again, why imperfections can make AI voices feel more human and his belief that voice will become one of the primary ways people interact with AI. After turning down multiple acquisition offers, Mati says he and Piotr are committed to building ElevenLabs independently and pursuing what they see as a rare opportunity to reshape how humans communicate with technology. Show notes: https://www.davidenra.com/mati-staniszewski Made possible by Ramp: https://ramp.com Deel: https://deel.com/senra AppLovin: https://applovin.com/senra David Senra Website: https://www.davidsenra.com X: https://x.com/davidsenra Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsenra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsenra Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/company/senrashow Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsenra Spotify: https://spti.fi/TVrr557 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4msoZtb Mati Staniszewski ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/blog/authors/mati-staniszewski X: https://x.com/mati LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matiii Chapters 00:00:00 Building an AI-Native Company Before ChatGPT 00:02:59 Why ElevenLabs Started With Audio & Dubbing 00:12:37 Research + Product Deployment: How ElevenLabs Is Built 00:16:15 Focus as a Competitive Advantage 00:18:47 Building an Ecosystem Around Voice 00:22:25 The Communication Platform & Deutsche Telekom 00:28:29 Forward Deployed Engineers & Lessons From Palantir 00:33:41 Flat Organizations, Transparency & AI-Native Management 00:37:19 Small Teams & Putting Engineers Everywhere 00:43:00 Where ElevenLabs Is Growing Fastest 00:44:38 Taste, Art & Science in AI 00:48:23 Using AI to Amplify Human Potential 00:55:19 Becoming an Entrepreneur & Building With Piotr 00:56:49 Why Mati Won’t Sell ElevenLabs 01:04:01 Voice as the Interface for AI 01:06:49 Turning Conferences Into a Business Tool

SPEAKERS

David Senra
host
Host of the podcast Founders, known for studying entrepreneur biographies and interviewing founders.
Mati Staniszewski
guest
Co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs, an AI audio company focused on speech, dubbing, and voice agents.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of David Senra, featuring David Senra and Mati Staniszewski, Building One of AI’s Fastest-Growing Companies | Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs explores elevenLabs’ playbook: frontier audio research, fast deployment, and voice-first AI platform Mati Staniszewski describes ElevenLabs as an AI-native company built to combine frontier audio research with rapid product deployment into real customer workflows.

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