Meet the Man Who Left Siri to Build the Future of Voice AI
Thu Feb 05 2026
Nikola has been building voice AI since it was basically a lab experiment.
Cambridge → a startup that got acquired by Apple → then straight into the deep end with PolyAI: enterprise voice agents for customer support, CX, and the brutal reality of contact centers.
In this episode, Nikola and Manny go right at the parts people avoid:
why voice is still the dominant interface, why contact centers are structurally broken (attrition, no-shows, “hiring as strategy”), and why the BPO model collapses the second you try to automate it.
Then the real fight: monetisation.
They unpack why CCaaS incumbents move slowly, why “outcome-based” is trickier than it sounds in enterprise, and how PolyAI actually prices today — consumption vs outcome vs license, plus what happens when buyers demand predictability.
If you’re building agentic CX, selling into enterprise, or trying to price AI without nuking your margins — this one is for you.
🟢 Links & resources Get Paid.ai
→ Follow Manny Medina, Founder/CEO of Paid.ai on LinkedIn -
→ Paid.ai on LinkedIn
→ Subscribe to AgentTalk (Substack)
🟢 Listen on other platforms:
→ Substack
→ Apple Podcasts
→ Spotify
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Nikola has been building voice AI since it was basically a lab experiment. Cambridge → a startup that got acquired by Apple → then straight into the deep end with PolyAI: enterprise voice agents for customer support, CX, and the brutal reality of contact centers. In this episode, Nikola and Manny go right at the parts people avoid: why voice is still the dominant interface, why contact centers are structurally broken (attrition, no-shows, “hiring as strategy”), and why the BPO model collapses the second you try to automate it. Then the real fight: monetisation. They unpack why CCaaS incumbents move slowly, why “outcome-based” is trickier than it sounds in enterprise, and how PolyAI actually prices today — consumption vs outcome vs license, plus what happens when buyers demand predictability. If you’re building agentic CX, selling into enterprise, or trying to price AI without nuking your margins — this one is for you. 🟢 Links & resources Get Paid.ai → Follow Manny Medina, Founder/CEO of Paid.ai on LinkedIn - → Paid.ai on LinkedIn → Subscribe to AgentTalk (Substack) 🟢 Listen on other platforms: → Substack → Apple Podcasts → Spotify See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.