Editor’s note: A founder’s origin story is incredibly important. It’s essential to understand why a founder started their company and how they envision the future when you’re considering their company as a potential investment. It also helps you understand the advantages or disadvantages they bring to the table.
Our friends at KingsCrowd research and analyze tons of startups on a regular basis. So, like us, they spend a lot of time talking to founders. And one of their recent founder profiles caught our attention. They interviewed Sami Halabi, founder of Univoice — an app designed to teach languages through music. We thought Sami had a compelling origin story that’s worth reading. So we’re sharing part of the founder profile below.
To read the full founder profile, visit the KingsCrowd website here.
Tools for learning a new language have never been as readily accessible as they are today. There are numerous free or low-cost videos, apps and other methods to help people pick up a new language. Perhaps the main challenge they face is deciding which option is the most effective.
Univoice believes it has the solution. It offers a mobile app that teaches the casual learner a variety of languages through music and singing, including informal words and slang speech. We reached out to founder and CEO Sami Halabi to learn more about his experiences and the future he envisions for Univoice.
Zee Zhong: Can you give us a brief elevator pitch for your company?
Sami Halabi: Univoice is the first mobile app that teaches languages exclusively through music. In a market flooded with clone flashcard apps using the same traditional teaching methods, we’re bringing a completely new — yet familiar — approach to the language-learning game. Univoice addresses the two biggest challenges in e-learning: (1) loss of interest and (2) lack of long-term retention. Supplementing its unique ability to engage and maintain interest, music is scientifically proven to anchor information to your long-term memory, so you can easily remember what you learn. In short, our unique language learning solution is as effective as it is entertaining.