While attending Brigham Young University as an undergrad, Cameron met and became friends with a deaf student in one of his classes. She shared her experience of trying to get the most out of her education while facing an accessibility program that wasn’t supporting her needs in the best way possible.

“Her entire education was dependent on these lower-trained individuals,” Stoker said. He set off to create a product to help his friend get the most out of her education. He created an Artificial Intelligence transcription platform which, with the help of a small microphone, transcribed everything their teacher was saying onto his classmate’s computer screen.

“[T]he kicker that we ended up finding is that students, majority of students with disabilities or mental struggles … still want to get a quality education but not stand out … We ended up realizing this was a big problem. … Institutions were having this problem where many students weren’t going in to get help because the services provided made them standout.”

Cameron was motivated to create a product that would bring accessible learning to the classroom without “othering” students. BYU played an encouraging role in the early days of what we now know as Speechcloud.

Courtesy photo

Cameron told me about Scott Peterson, a former faculty member within the BYU Marriott School of Business, who heard about his transcription product and saw its value. Peterson mentored Cameron and encouraged him to enter into competitions with his product. BYU became a springboard for Cameron: “[BYU] has individuals that are pushing students who didn’t think, and don’t think, they could start companies. They build the fire — they fan the flame — of the potential.” The competitions and the mentorship helped ignite the flame that inspired Speechcloud.

Cameron gave me a crash course in starting a company, stressing that while most products are socially motivated, it is important for the success of a company to provide economic value along with the social. This balance was an obstacle for Speechcloud. How could Cameron advance his product to not only help the students but also the institution? By showing teachers its value.

“As a company, you have to provide value to the buyer and to the main adopter,” he said. Speechcloud needed to be appealing to the teachers within the classrooms. In a demonstration, Cameron showed me how a professor can use Speechcloud to record class lectures, send quizzes, take attendance and monitor student engagement. Cameron’s goal to create an accessible, all-in-one classroom product that benefits students and teachers has come to life.

Entering into the world of Ed Tech (educational technology) has been one of the greatest obstacles that Cameron and his team have had to work through. But that hasn’t kept Speechcloud from its emerging success. The first institution to adopt the first version of Speechcloud was Snow College in 2019. After a few years of learning and making updates, Cameron shared with me that they started their first enterprise pilot in 2022. “To finally break into [the Ed Tech world] was almost surreal because [we’ve] been working on it so many years!”

I asked Cameron how being in Provo has helped him with his startup. He was clear with his answer: “[T]here’s a huge value of being part of a community that is heavily focused around entrepreneurship and not only that but has a culture that wants to help one another succeed.” He went on to elaborate just how willing people are to help–that everyone knows someone who can help you with something, and they don’t hold back.

A friend in need sparked an idea that grew into a flickering flame. The flame, stoked by a supportive BYU and Provo community, is on its way to becoming a roaring fire.

Have questions, suggestions, or experiences you want to share with Cameron and the members of Speechcloud? Email them at info@speechcloud.com