The Future Is Now: Alexander Konovalov Of vidby On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Be cautious about what experts say. Asking for their opinion is necessary, but you don’t need to follow their vision to the letter. Listen to your gut and do it your way.
As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alexander Konovalov.
Alexander Konovalov, serial tech entrepreneur, business expert, and inventor with patents in the fields of voice technologies, e-commerce, and security. Alexander is the CEO and founder of vidby, AI-powered software that translates and voices videos across 70 languages with an unparalleled 99% accuracy rate. Prior to vidby, he launched Droid Translator, the world’s first video call service with automatic real-time voice-to-voice translation across 45 languages, which transformed into vidby in 2021. Alexander is also a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
When I was in the first grade, my grandfather, who was an inventor, gave me a construction toy which could be assembled as a radio. It’s worth noting that back then construction toys were nothing like what they are today. Today all you need to do is put several blocks together. But back in my day, you had a board, a mountain of spare parts, and instructions. When I built my first radio and it worked, I was on cloud nine!
That’s how I got involved in radio electronics. By the eighth grade, I was already earning my pocket money by repairing radio equipment for a recording studio. Tape recorders, amplifiers, equalizers — I could resuscitate any of them.
It was working out well, but then the Soviet Union collapsed. Everything was falling apart. That meant that there was no way my passion for radio electronics could turn into a profession that would allow me to earn a living. At first, I was thinking of going into finances, but you had to pay for this kind of education and I couldn’t afford it. That’s why I decided to become a civil engineer. The exams were hard, but there was an opportunity to study for free and even get a scholarship. I got in. Yet, by the end of my senior year at the university, I became a financial director at an industrial corporation.
As the time went by, I kept earning money and experience in the fields of finances, legal, and manufacturing. Meanwhile, my interest in technology and electronics never went away, albeit there was nowhere to act on it. Finally, in 2013, at the age of 35, I decided to quit everything and start anew.
That’s when I launched my first tech product — the world’s first automatic call translator dubbed ‘Droid Translator’ or ‘DROTR.’ I always knew I’d need to learn English to start a global business. But I also knew I was never good at learning languages. So, I decided to create DROTR, which had both hardware and software parts.
All the tech experts I turned to kept telling me: “Alexander, it won’t work.” It was just like the story of Henry Ford and his revolutionary V-8 engine. And just like Henry Ford, I never gave up. We made several unsuccessful attempts to develop a solution we needed. The problem was that we wanted to translate Skype calls, but we couldn’t get access to the microphone — Skype would lock it. Eventually, it dawned on me that we can make a second microphone. I bought a sound card with a microphone and had it delivered from China. It cost me $1. With the help from an electronics engineer, we assembled just the device I was looking for. DROTR officially launched in June 2013.
Personally, I used DROTR when having talks with partners and customers from around the world and even doing an interview for CNN. I was able to speak to the whole world while still using my native language. In 2021, we pivoted to our current product — vidby, AI-powered B2B solution for video translation and dubbing across 70 languages.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I was meeting a potential investor in Zurich. He was an experienced, wise seventy-something year old man. Our talks weren’t going anywhere until he asked me the following question: “What is the difference between a smart and a wise person?” I responded: “A smart person knows their way out of a difficult situation, whereas a wise person would avoid such a situation altogether.” My answer became a turning point in our conversation. These weren’t my words, I heard them somewhere. But I believe everyone can learn from them.
Can you tell us about the cutting edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
My team and I are working on vidby, an online service that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to help video creators of all kinds translate and dub their videos across 70 languages. What’s worth mentioning is that, unlike similar services, we can also engage humans who double-check the translation and fix mistakes, if any. This allows us to ensure an unprecedented 99%-100% accuracy of translation.
To summarize, at vidby, we are creating the technology of understanding. Our mission is to help people understand video and audio content in their own languages and preserve the linguistic diversity of humankind.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
Sure! My team and I were going through hard times with our first tech project, DROTR. We knew we had to switch to B2B and video translation because it was and still is a more financially promising field. But we needed something to start with. And that’s when I saw a LinkedIn post saying: “I was offered a job for a higher salary than I expected. But I refused because I didn’t like the project. I do not want to do this”. I remember thinking: “This man is right!”. So, I decided to approach him saying that I had an interesting project, but I couldn’t pay him right away. And he accepted my offer. We started working together and, miraculously, I was able to pay him at the beginning of the following month. After that, I raised his salary by 50% and offered a company stock option. Everything else just followed. Soon, we found an investor and were able to bring together our first team.
That was a turning point. I found a believer who risked not getting anything in return for his work. And he took this risk. And I don’t think he has ever regretted it.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
The first thing we need to do is to integrate with YouTube. This would be the most effective way to bring vidby’s technology to a wider audience. And we are working on it.
I’ve heard that YouTube is looking to develop a similar technology to vidby’s. And that’s ok. Competition is the driver of progress and growth. In 2012, when I first had the idea for Droid Translator, I heard that Microsoft was going to introduce video call translation. It’s 2022 and Microsoft’s project is still in the works. In 2015 or 2016, Skype also started working on video call translation. At first, everyone thought it was the end for Droid Translator. But eventually, it helped us a lot, because investors saw that Skype was trying to do the same thing and realized that we were on the right track.
So, we’ll keep going.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Indeed, voice technology has potential drawbacks to be aware of. One of them is a voice deepfake. By using a fake voice, you can engage into all kinds of fraud — from stealing money from the bank to using the “voice” of a celebrity in advertising to get their royalties. You name it. But the good news is that, as I believe, along with the rise of deepfakes, we’ll also see the rise of startups helping to handle these issues. Personally, I know a tech startup that does only one job: it checks the authenticity of photographs for law enforcement agencies.
Let’s go back to “Black Mirror.” For some people, it is just a feature film. But in reality, it is the greatest creation and a message to humankind about what awaits it if technologies get into in bad hands. It feels like the stuff of science fiction, but there is almost nothing fictional about it anymore. All the tech from the series is already here or will be here in the nearest future. The underlying technology necessary to make it happen already exists.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
Thank you for this great question! Having been in business for almost ten years, I know that however innovative your invention is, if it doesn’t have the right business and marketing models, it is likely to fail. Did you know that the first video call was made in 1963. Yet, Skype emerged in 2004, forty years later. Why didn’t the idea take off the first time? Because of the wrong business model. So, your business and marketing models are what gives you a competitive edge.
As for vidby, we have already started introducing novel business and marketing models. One of them is crowdfunding as a payment method for video translation. Here is how it works. A content creator can order a translation and then send their friends and followers the payment link. As a result, they not only have their video translated for free, but even get a share of collected funds. This way, we are turning expenses into revenue for content creators.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I’ve had many opportunities to learn from various people I’ve met. But my first employer is my biggest teacher. People who didn’t know him well saw him as someone who was born with a silver spoon. They attributed all his success to the fact that he came from a wealthy family. But, in reality, it was all him as he managed to do even better than his parents.
What he taught me was to clearly understand whether I was an entrepreneur or an employee. It was and always is all about mindset. I started out as one of his employees and ended up as his partner. I made my first big money at the age of 28, because I chose to be an entrepreneur.
I’ve met a lot of people saying they would want to be entrepreneurs, but deep in their hearts still willing to have a steady income and not to worry about paying bills. And there is nothing steady about entrepreneurship. So, you either say yes to risks and not being paid regularly, or you stay in a safe harbor. It’s up to you.
In addition to this mindset thing, this man also gave me an opportunity to rise to the challenge. At his company, I was managing 19 factories as a chief financial officer and a de-facto operational director. This taught me a lot!
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I believe that today knowledge is limited to one language. vidby’s contribution to bringing goodness to the world is to change this status quo. We can translate video content across 70 languages, which covers roughly 93% of the world population (and bear in mind that only 12% of people speak English).
This way, we can help spread knowledge about various cultures and countries, social and eco initiatives, educational projects, etc. For example, recently we’ve given out a grant to translate excerpts of the Bible into 70 languages, which can potentially change someone’s life. So, by giving people access to information, we can help move the needle, move the world forward.
Real innovation is about scaling the market. The way I see it, our task is to give voice to all the content that has been accumulating for a very long time. No one touched this treasure because translating it used to be an impossible task. It used to be extremely expensive and time-consuming. Today, the cost of translating a 60-min movie into one language would range anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 plus a salary of a person managing the process. Imagine translating it into 30 or 70 languages. That’s why so many movies and other vidoes have been sitting on a shelf waiting for their time to come.
With vidby, you can translate such a movie for roughly $500 in a matter of days. Or, if you are a blogger, you can use our crowdfunding feature to invite your followers to pay for the translation.
That’s the change.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why.
Sure!
- Be cautious about what experts say. Asking for their opinion is necessary, but you don’t need to follow their vision to the letter. Listen to your gut and do it your way.
- Build with the resources you have now, not with the resources you may have in the future. I had to learn it the hard way. One of our investors convinced us that we would have enough money to run five projects. So, we hired people and launched the development. Then the funding ended abruptly. We were forced to lay off people and suspend the projects.
- Delegate. And let me add right away that finding the right people is enormously hard. For example, we are still looking for a Marketing Lead. When we find this person, we’ll get ten times stronger than now.
- Never give up. This idea helped me go through the toughest of times. What is the difference between strong and weak people? In times of difficulty, strong people start working ten times harder, whereas weak people just give up. So, just keep going.
- Be extraordinary. Why do some people get paid a lot and others a little? It depends on how difficult it is to replace that person. So, my advice would be to choose a niche and become the best. Knowing it all is not the winning strategy. Knowing how to do one thing better than everyone else is. As people say, an expert is a person who has made every mistake possible in a very niche area.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would start a movement to promote entrepreneurship. Everything that we use, from shoes to spaceships, is about entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is what allows us to develop technology and improve people’s lives in every area. And, coincidentally, it’s not taught anywhere. This needs to be rectified.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I love this idea that everything starts with your thoughts. As the saying goes: “A thought creates an action. An action creates a habit. A habit creates character. Character determines your destiny.” Everything starts with a thought. The destiny of a person begins and ends with a thought. Some goes for projects. Therefore, if you want your company to be successful, then start with the right thoughts.
Some very well known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
We are creating a project that allows you to translate video and audio across 70 languages quickly, efficiently, conveniently and at an affordable price for the fast growing market of video and audio content. The world market of subtitles alone is valued at $30 billion, meanwhile IT solutions account for 3% of this market. This means that companies like vidby that create breakthrough solutions for this field have an enormous investment potential.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I’d be happy to connect on LinkedIn!
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
The Future Is Now: Alexander Konovalov Of vidby On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
