Edition 6: Humans of Build Club

An inside peak inside the arena, spotlighting builders turning their dreams into reality.

Humans of Build Club

[Edition #6] Interview with Steve Olesansky, with Rebecca Williams and Annie Liao

We are so excited to share the next installment of “Humans of Build Club”. A series spotlighting the authentic human story of ambitious AI Builders.

This week, we’re chatting with Steve Olesansky of Kippy AI, which is an AI language tutor that is designed to help people practice speaking foreign languages. Kippy can test your pronunciation and will guide you through unscripted and fun conversations!

How did it all start? What was the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey like?

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and have always been doing my own thing. My first freelance gig was when I was 14. I had to use my mom’s ID to open a bank account because I didn’t have one of my own!

I have always been fascinated by computers, networks, microchips, robotics and all things technical. This led to series of projects, (ad)ventures and this fascination is still alive and kicking 🙂 

What inspires you as an entrepreneur?

Freedom.

I think that entrepreneurship is about having a curious mindset. It’s a way of life that involves exploration but also delusion and self-deception. No one of reasonable mind would decide to be an entrepreneur. That’s why all progress depends on unreasonable people! (I’ve paraphrased a GB Shaw quote here).

How do you acquire your technical expertise for the projects you work on?

I experiment and tinker with things and tools to see how they work and what can be done with them. I started experiments as soon as OpenAI opened their APIs to the public with the goal of finding a niche. First was a YouTube Video Summary extension, then plugin for Gmail that will write your email replies from a simple voice request and then a chatbot app.

From these experiments I've learned about LLMs, and even more about how people interact with "smarter" AI assistants, compared to Siri or Alexa. People used the chat bot to practice speaking foreign languages. These experiments and insights led me to build Kippy - AI Language Tutor.

Can you recommend any books, podcasts, links that have helped you on your builder journey?

• 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. A classic for anyone who feels entrepreneurial 🙂

• 4 Steps to Epiphany and Crossing the Chasm for anyone building tech products.

• Trillion Dollar Coach for anyone in a leadership role.

What are you most excited about right now?

Too many things! 🙂

The world does not change as fast as we think. In 2020 it looked the world is never going to be the same, and here we are, returned to the mean.

For example, I am quite excited to see merging of AI and robotics. I think the future will soon start to look like the future we came to expect from sci-fi movies. Imagine when every household will have a robotic helper. I quite look forward to that.

What are you building right now?

I have just launched Kippy (www.kippy.ai) - AI Language Tutor designed to help people practice speaking foreign language. Most learning resources focus on reading, grammar and listening but research shows that speaking is key for becoming fluent. Many people cannot afford $200/month for a tutor or a class just to practice speaking 1h per week.

Kippy can test your pronunciation and will guide you through unscripted and fun conversations while practicing English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese or Russian languages.

How does Kippy differ from other language apps?

Traditional apps like Duolingo are great for anyone who's starting to learn a new language. Once you reach a certain level, these apps become boring. Most of them lack conversational features or are very repetitive. It can also be difficult to learn more complex, scenario-specific language skills like filling out immigration forms, or doing job interviews. Kippy is all about being immersed in the conversation.

Compared to other AI apps, Kippy guides you through the conversation with contextual hints and phrases, tests your pronunciation and tracks your vocabulary so you know how much you know.

Do you have an ask for people reading this post?

If you are learning a language or are part of a language learning community - reach out to me for a promo code. You can also follow my entrepreneurial journey on LinkedIn.

You can stay up to date with Steve’s builder journey by following his LinkedIn here

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