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Company: MachineGenius
Company Description: Olelo Captioned Calls is an easy-to-use, 100%-private app developed by MachineGenius, a telecommunications company founded in Holliston, Massachusetts in 2017 with a mission to help people with hearing loss have a seamless calling experience. Using advanced speech recognition technology, Olelo combines simplicity, accuracy, and speed to create next-generation captioned telephone service.
Nomination Category: Entrepreneur Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Entrepreneur of the Year - Health Products & Services
 Nomination Title: Erik Strand
- In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of this nominated entrepreneur since the beginning of 2020.
Total 149 words used.
- Used ASR to design & build at-scale call transcribing system
- Assembled a team of professionals at MachineGenius that are passionate about improving communication through technology.
- Grew his mobile app to approximately over 40k users since 2020.
- Improved hearing impared individuals lives by giving them an option to confidently make phonecalls.
- Created the first hard of hearing telecommunications application to obtained an FCC certification to distribute the Olelo app.
- Modernized and automated Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Services.
- Created an app with a transcription service that is completely private without a 3rd parrty.
- Made and continues to make a huge impact on the lives of the hard of hearing community by giving them the confidence to call businesses and doctors without the help of another individual.
- Made and continue to makes an impact on the the hard of hearing community by empowering these individuals to call their friends and family seemlessly.
- Which will you submit for this nomination, an essay of up to 650 words about the achievements of the nominated entrepreneur since January 1 2020, OR a video of up to five (5) minutes about the same? CHOOSE ONE:
An essay of up to 650 words
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video:
- If you are providing an essay of up to 650 words, place it in this space:
Total 439 words used.
Erik Strand, CEO, created MachineGenius, Inc. with the express purpose to modernize and automate the Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS) approach. MachineGenius’ smartphone app, Olelo Captioned Calls, was the first FCC-conditionally certified IP CTS provider to generate call captions exclusively using Automated Speech Recognition (ASR). Olelo Captioned Calls is an easy-to-use, 100%-private app developed by MachineGenius, a telecommunications company founded in Holliston, Massachusetts in 2017 and operationalized in 2020.
While building Olelo Captioned Calls for MachineGenius, Inc., Strand and team’s mission is to help people with hearing loss have a seamless calling experience. Using advanced speech recognition technology, Olelo combines simplicity, accuracy, and speed to create next-generation captioned telephone service. All calls are captioned in real-time and transcribed in under one second. The app works seamlessly with Wifi or cellular data and is available on both Android/iOS smartphones and tablets. MachineGenius is constantly working to modernize communication, with each release focused on not just meeting current standards as they are today, but with the forethought in mind of what may be needed or required in the future. Olelo is completely powered by Automatic Speech Recognition and advanced technology, resulting in no third-party interpreter, making all conversations 100% private. We transcribe both sides of the conversation to make a more seamless conversational experience and focus heavily on making the entire Olelo app closer the native phone experience as possible in a captioning service. Each user has the option to make Olelo the default calling app, syncing your contacts, and setting your caller ID on your Olelo phone. Olelo is also available in Spanish (with more languages to come). The app is at no cost for those with hearing loss as its supported by the Federal TRS/IP CTS fund. Olelo’s goal is simple: empower users with the independence to place and receive calls confidently.
Over the last fifteen years, Strand has used ASR to design and build at-scale call transcribing systems. He began his professional career leading the building of AI systems that extract meaning from free-form text. Strand has assembled a team of professionals at MachineGenius that are passionate about improving communication through technology. Each team member is rewarded by hearing from our users how Olelo Captioned Calls has not just improved their calling experience but often changed their lives. Strand earned a B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Science from MIT, has a proven track record of building innovation teams that keeps user experience top of mind of each decision. Strand believes if you do what is right then the rest will follow. You can see this reflected in Olelo Captioned Calls and within his 4 children.
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