# Cliff Weitzman

> Cliff Weitzman is the founder and CEO of Speechify, the text-to-speech app that reads anything aloud in natural AI voices and now serves over 56 million users in 200+ languages. Diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade, he taught himself English by replaying a Harry Potter audiobook 22 times, then built the software he wished he'd had to keep up with the reading load at Brown University. What began as a personal hack for one dyslexic student became a Forbes 30 Under 30 company and an Apple Design Award winner.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Speechify
- **Organizations:** Speechify
- **From:** Ra'anana, Israel
- **Nationality:** Israeli-American
- **Education:** B.S. in Renewable Energy Engineering (computer science, engineering, physics), Brown University, Industrial design coursework, Rhode Island School of Design
- **Known for:** Founded and scaled Speechify to 56+ million users across 200+ languages, Forbes 30 Under 30, Education (2016), Apple Design Award winner, WWDC 2025

## Career timeline

- **2009** — Diagnosed with dyslexia in third grade; describes it as the best day of his life
- **2014** — Began building the text-to-speech software that became Speechify to handle a Brown summer reading assignment
- **2016** — Graduated Brown University; named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (Education)
- **2017** — Speechify named to Inc.'s America's Top 30 Emerging Companies; seed funding raised
- **2018** — Named to New York Jewish Week's 36 Under 36
- **2023** — Speechify named a favorite Google Chrome extension
- **2025** — Speechify wins an Apple Design Award at WWDC 2025
- **2026** — Speechify surpasses 56 million users with a team of 200+ engineers

## Achievements

- Founded and scaled Speechify to 56+ million users across 200+ languages
- Forbes 30 Under 30, Education (2016)
- Apple Design Award winner, WWDC 2025
- New York Jewish Week 36 Under 36 (2018)
- Inc. America's Top 30 Emerging Companies (2017)
- Built 1,000+ AI-generated voices and OCR scanning into a single reading platform
- Earlier ventures including BoardBrake, CellArmor, StarterPack (70,000+ downloads) and Find Me Scholarships

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Speechify won an Apple Design Award at WWDC 2025.
- **2026-01** — Speechify surpassed 56 million users with a team of more than 200 engineers.

## Links

- Website: https://speechify.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliffweitzman/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/cliffweitzman
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cliffweitzman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cweitzman/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cliffweitzman_

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/cliff-weitzman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25