Carles Reina | ElevenLabs: From a Y Combinator Rejection to a $3.3B Valuation

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Today I spoke with Carles Reina, Sales Director at ElevenLabs, the AI voice startup that has reached a valuation of $3,300 million in less than 3 years. Before ElevenLabs, Carles worked at Uber during the first years of international expansion, at Tractable (a unicorn AI startup for insurance), and led sales at Sonantic (a startup acquired by Spotify for $90M). He is also an active angel investor with more than 70 investments, including Revolut.

1:22 - From Being Rejected by Investors to $100M in Revenue

In the early days, nobody wanted to invest in ElevenLabs. The founders were rejected by Y Combinator and by dozens of VCs who did not believe in the voice market.

Why did Y Combinator reject their application, and what did they learn from that?
What made them hold firm to their vision for the voice market?

3:00 - What Made Them Different: Quality and Speed

ElevenLabs managed to stand out thanks to the quality of its voices and its speed of execution.

Why was voice quality the key factor in the product’s success?
How did they scale globally so fast without following the traditional expansion model?

8:00 - How They Think Strategically: “Kill the Competitors”

Carles shares his aggressive, tactical mindset for dominating the market.

What does “kill your competitors” mean in practice?
What tactics did they use, such as Eleven Credits and strategic partnerships?

10:40 - Real Use Cases and Tangible ROI

ElevenLabs already works with more than 60% of the Fortune 500, generating real value.

How do companies use AI voices in support, media, and marketing?
Which use cases are seeing the greatest adoption?

14:50 - The Future of AI Voices and Interaction with Software

Carles envisions a world where all software is used by speaking, not by typing.

What changes does he see in how we will interact with technology in the coming years?
How is ElevenLabs thinking about extending its technology to more languages and styles?

21:00 - Running an AI-Native Startup

In an AI-native startup, weekly execution and a self-serve product are key.

Why is launching features every week now the standard?
What does it mean to have a product you can use without talking to sales?

27:00 - Innovating in Sales and Dynamic Customer Profiles

Carles talks about how sales also have to experiment constantly.

What is a “dynamic ICP” and how does it affect their commercial strategy?
Why does he focus more on building community than on closing contracts aggressively?

33:00 - Advice for Founders in the AI Wave

Based on his experience, Carles leaves 3 principles for founding a company today: