Voice has long been the final frontier of computing interfaces, and now with the technology of smart speakers and other voice-enabled technologies we are finally able to access what science fiction has been writing about for decades. Our guest today, Braden Ream , founder and CEO of Voiceflow , is helping create that future. Voiceflow, then known as Storyflow, was one of the first portfolio companies backed by Ripple Ventures. Back then it was a platform that helped build skills on Alexa, but has since grown to become the go-to platform for voice and chat-based interfaces and is being used by global Fortune 500 companies like USAA, McDonalds & BMW. About Braden Ream: Braden Ream is the Co-Founder and CEO of Voiceflow, a platform that helps teams design, prototype and launch voice & chat assistants. Founded in 2018, Voiceflow currently powers 300M monthly messages and is deployed across 75,000 teams. Prior to Voiceflow, Braden worked at RBC and founded a social media app. A word from our sponsor: Ripple Ventures is always focused on helping our founders and CEOs find the best partners to work with. But before we introduce any provider to our companies, we always make sure we try the product first. And when it comes to managing business expenses at Ripple, we were super excited when the team at Jeeves came knocking on our door. Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at any time. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or pay any setup or annual fees either. Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us up to 3% cashback on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. The best part, Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves offers a truly all-in-one expense management corporate card program for international startups and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of a $700 discount and skip the waitlist  by visiting tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more. In this episode we discuss: 03:12 The history of voice tech leading to Voiceflow 09:32 Why Alexa, Siri, and other voice-enabled platforms are succeeding where prior platforms have failed 14:02 How the pandemic has helped shape the voice tech industry 16:36 The other factors pushing forward voice tech 21:42 How the voice apps are the new landing pages and the next internet 25:23 Becoming a standard toolset for developing voice interfaces 31:32 Addressing privacy concerns around voice tech 36:02 How wake words work on Alexa and other platforms 38:29 Plans for their recent raise from Felics Ventures, Ripple Ventures, True Ventures, Craft Ventures and others Fast Favorites: Podcast Economics Explained Newsletter/Blog Paul Graham Tech Gadget iPad/Apple Pencil New Trend Chess Book Crossing the Chasm Blue Ocean Strategy Life Lesson The world is run by people no smarter than you. Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here! Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency