With 4 million app downloads, Estonia-based startup Vocal Image aims to help people improve their voice and communication skills with AI-powered coaching. But out of its 160,000 active users, it may be its CEO, Nick Lakhoika, who best embodies its mission.

Lakhoika was born in Belarus, didn’t speak English until his relocation to Estonia, and once struggled with speaking anxiety. Yet, he went on to “win a lot of pitch competitions” on behalf of the voice coaching startup, which was inspired by his journey, he told TechCrunch.

“When I was at school, I was a little bit bullied for unclear diction,” Lakhoika said. In his early twenties, as a young, insecure founder, he met a vocal coach, Maryna “Rusia” Shukiurava, who taught him that voice and communication could be trained.

To help othe

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