# Connor Zwick

> Connor Zwick is the CEO and co-founder of Speak, an AI-powered language learning platform that crossed $1 billion in valuation and $100 million in annualized revenue in 2024. A Thiel Fellow who dropped out of Harvard, Zwick built his first app at age 13 and sold Flashcards+ to Chegg as a teenager. He founded Speak in 2016 with Andrew Hsu, and spent years living between San Francisco and Seoul to perfect AI conversation technology for English learners. Today Speak counts over 15 million downloads, backing from OpenAI and Accel, and enterprise customers including KPMG and HD Hyundai.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-founder at Speak
- **Organizations:** Speak, Y Combinator, Thiel Fellowship
- **From:** Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (did not complete degree), Harvard University
- **Known for:** Built Flashcards+ as a teenager - the #1 education app in the US App Store, Selected as Thiel Fellow in 2012 (fewer than 5% acceptance rate), Sold Flashcards+ to Chegg with 5M+ users while still a teenager

## Career timeline

- **2008-2010** — Freelance blogger at Envato, writing about programming and design for millions of readers
- **2010** — Built Flashcards+ study app in high school; app reaches nearly 1 million downloads
- **2012** — Accepted to Harvard University; also accepted into Y Combinator
- **2012** — Selected as a Thiel Fellow (20 Under 20 program); receives $100,000 to leave Harvard and pursue startups
- **2012-2015** — Co-founded Coco Controller with Colton Gyulay - a gaming controller that slides over smartphones
- **2013** — Sold Flashcards+ (5M+ users) to Chegg (NYSE: CHGG)
- **2013-2015** — Served as Mobile Strategy Advisor at Chegg Inc.
- **2015** — Self-taught machine learning by auditing courses at UC Berkeley and Stanford
- **2016** — Co-founded Speak with Andrew Hsu (fellow Thiel Fellow); both share deep interest in AI
- **2019** — Speak launches in South Korea, identifying 'silent English' as a massive unmet need
- **2022** — Speak raises $27M Series B led by OpenAI Startup Fund
- **2023** — Speak raises $16M Series B-2, backed by OpenAI Startup Fund; expands to US market
- **2024-06** — Speak raises $20M, doubles valuation to $500M
- **2024-12** — Speak raises $78M Series C at $1B valuation, led by Accel; total raised $162M
- **2025** — Speak named to Forbes AI 50 list; surpasses $100M annualized revenue; 15M+ downloads

## Achievements

- Built Flashcards+ as a teenager - the #1 education app in the US App Store
- Selected as Thiel Fellow in 2012 (fewer than 5% acceptance rate)
- Sold Flashcards+ to Chegg with 5M+ users while still a teenager
- Founded Speak and scaled it to unicorn status ($1B valuation) in 2024
- Grew Speak to $100M+ annualized revenue
- Raised $162M total from investors including OpenAI, Accel, Khosla Ventures, and Founders Fund
- Named to Forbes AI 50 list in 2025
- Speak processes over 1 billion spoken sentences annually
- Expanded Speak to 40+ countries teaching English, Spanish, Japanese, French, Italian, and Korean
- Built enterprise business serving 500+ companies including KPMG and HD Hyundai
- At age 13, was anonymously approached by Australian tech site Nettuts.com to be a paid writer

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Speak named to Forbes AI 50 list recognizing most innovative global AI companies
- **2025-04** — Connor Zwick spoke at ASU+GSV Summit 2026 on panel 'At the Speed of AI - Personalizing Knowledge for 8 Billion People'
- **2024-12** — Speak closes $78M Series C at $1B valuation led by Accel; Connor announces via Twitter thread
- **2024-12** — Speak surpasses $100M in annualized revenue
- **2024** — Speak launches enterprise product; over 500 companies signed up including KPMG and HD Hyundai

## Links

- Website: https://speak.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/connorzwick
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/connorzwick

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/connor-zwick
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-13