ElevenLabs co-founder Mateusz “Mati” Staniszewski says the voice-AI company wants to be ready for a possible public listing within 18–24 months, while arguing that voice agents could become a primary way people interact with businesses and devices. His interview also offers a concrete glimpse of how the company is testing that pitch: an AI interviewer has brought in more than 3,000 leads, over 500 of which the company says were qualified.
ElevenLabs Watch analysis
What happened
Staniszewski told Semafor that ElevenLabs would like to be ready to go public in the next 18–24 months, while stressing that readiness does not mean a decision to list. He said the company wants users to have the chance to participate in its future, and that it is building for the long term.
He also described an AI interviewer for sales and development representative candidates. According to Staniszewski, more than 3,000 leads have come through it, with over 500 qualified. He said candidates shared more information through conversation than through a form. Those figures are the company co-founder’s account of one use case, not an independent measure of how voice agents perform more broadly.
Why it matters
Voice is often pitched as a more natural interface, but this example puts the claim in a business process with a measurable outcome: attracting and qualifying candidates. If the approach works beyond ElevenLabs’ own example, speaking to an agent could become a practical alternative to filling in forms, not just a novelty for asking a device to set a timer.
Staniszewski says agents need the right information, workflows, coaching and safeguards, and must know when to hand a conversation to a person. That is a more useful account of deployment than simply promising that a chatbot will talk back. It also puts the human hand-off, and who remains responsible for the result, squarely in the conversation.
Our read
The interview makes two consequential claims: that voice could become a major interface, and that ElevenLabs may seek public-market readiness within two years. The lead figures make the first claim tangible, but they come from the company itself and do not establish whether the approach is cheaper, better or suitable for other employers. On the listing, “ready” is not “filed”, let alone “listed”. There is a gap between those verbs, and it is not a small one.
What to watch
- Whether ElevenLabs shares further detail on the AI interviewer’s results, including how it handles human hand-offs.
- Whether the company makes concrete moves towards IPO readiness, rather than treating the timeframe as a goal.
- Whether voice agents spread into customer service and other business workflows, and how organisations measure their performance.
Discussion spark: Should companies use voice agents as the first point of contact for job candidates and customers, or should a human remain the default until agents can show clear, independently measured benefits?
Sources and evidence
- The $22B startup co-founder working to make chatbots talk back | Semafor (16 October 2026, 08:48 UTC)
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