35M Users. $100M ARR. My 10-Year Bet Was Right. | Otter.ai, Sam Liang

"Shakespeare never left a voice note. That's the problem Sam Liang has spent 10 years solving." Sam Liang, Co-founder and CEO of Otter.ai, started in 2016 when recording a meeting felt invasive and sharing notes felt strange. He had a PhD from Stanford, and a belief that most people thought was wrong: voice would become the primary interface for business intelligence. He built his own speech recognition from scratch instead of using third-party APIs. He watched competitors come and go. Today, Otter.ai has 35 million users and $100M ARR. Here's what he got right about voice AI before anyone else did and why he thinks 95% of the world is still just getting started. 00:00 Intro 01:24 The Bet Nobody Believed In 03:54 Why He Refused to Use Third-Party APIs 06:01 The Next Interface Isn't a Screen 🔗 Read the full transcription of Sam’s interview: https://www.eomag.io/article/otter-ai-sam-liang?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description EO stands for Entrepreneur& Opportunities. As we're looking to feature more inspiring stories of entrepreneurs all over the world, don't hesitate to contact us at partner@eoeoeo.net X | @eostudi0 LinkedIn | @EO STUDIO Newsletter | https://www.eomag.io/subscribe?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description

Sam Liangguest

Mar 24, 20268mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: March 24, 2026
Duration: 8m
Channel: EO Studio
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

"Shakespeare never left a voice note. That's the problem Sam Liang has spent 10 years solving." Sam Liang, Co-founder and CEO of Otter.ai, started in 2016 when recording a meeting felt invasive and sharing notes felt strange. He had a PhD from Stanford, and a belief that most people thought was wrong: voice would become the primary interface for business intelligence. He built his own speech recognition from scratch instead of using third-party APIs. He watched competitors come and go. Today, Otter.ai has 35 million users and $100M ARR. Here's what he got right about voice AI before anyone else did and why he thinks 95% of the world is still just getting started. 00:00 Intro 01:24 The Bet Nobody Believed In 03:54 Why He Refused to Use Third-Party APIs 06:01 The Next Interface Isn't a Screen 🔗 Read the full transcription of Sam’s interview: https://www.eomag.io/article/otter-ai-sam-liang?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description EO stands for Entrepreneur& Opportunities. As we're looking to feature more inspiring stories of entrepreneurs all over the world, don't hesitate to contact us at partner@eoeoeo.net X | @eostudi0 LinkedIn | @EO STUDIO Newsletter | https://www.eomag.io/subscribe?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description

SPEAKERS

Sam Liang
guest
Co-founder and CEO of Otter.ai, focused on AI-powered meeting transcription and productivity tools.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of EO Studio, featuring Sam Liang, 35M Users. $100M ARR. My 10-Year Bet Was Right. | Otter.ai, Sam Liang explores otter.ai’s decade-long bet on voice AI becomes enterprise platform Sam Liang argues education and work must embrace AI note-taking because historical “voice knowledge” is largely lost and modern systems are outdated.

RELATED EPISODES