Hakob Astabatsyan, Co‑Founder and CEO of Synthflow, is leading the event of cutting-edge voice AI technology that helps businesses automate customer calls with human-like responsiveness. Based in Berlin, Hakob co-founded Synthflow in 2023 with the goal of creating advanced conversational AI accessible to firms of all sizes.
Under his leadership, Synthflow has rapidly scaled across Germany and the U.S., enabling clients in real estate, healthcare, finance, and other industries to deploy custom no-code voice agents in only weeks. These AI agents handle inbound and outbound calls, integrate with 200+ apps and CRMs, and operate at low price with exceptional accuracy. With rapid revenue growth and a growing global team, Synthflow is becoming a number one voice automation platform—and Hakob is on the forefront of its expansion.
What inspired you to start out Synthflow, and the way did your background as a strategist and serial entrepreneur influence the corporate’s mission?
Once we began Synthflow, voice AI was still in its infancy, limited to robotic IVRs and hard-coded scripts. But having worked across multiple startups and tech ventures, I could see a deeper opportunity. My background as a strategist taught me to identify moments when a shift in infrastructure reshapes an industry, and that’s exactly what large language models did for voice.
We knew that if we could mix cutting-edge AI with real-time voice interaction we could transform customer communication. That mission to democratize voice AI wasn’t only a tagline; it was a response to a market gap. Our north star has at all times been to construct human-like automation that is simple to deploy, scalable, and secure.
Your mission is to “democratize access to AI voice automation.” What does that appear like in practical terms for small and mid-sized businesses?
Democratizing voice AI means removing the technical and financial barriers which have historically limited access to this technology. Whether you are a fast-scaling startup, a mid-sized operation, or an enterprise team trying to modernize customer engagement, our goal is to make human-like voice automation deployable in days.
This is the reason we built Synthflow as a no-code platform. As an alternative of counting on engineering resources or lengthy integrations, teams across sales, support, and operations can design and launch voice agents through a straightforward browser-based interface. It’s a shift from AI being a back-office R&D project to a frontline business tool.
Are you able to walk us through what it takes to construct and deploy a voice agent from scratch using your tools?
It’s remarkably intuitive. Our no-code, browser-based interface lets users drag and drop elements to design an entire call flow conversation from greetings to follow-ups. You possibly can define tone, fallback behaviors, and integrations together with your existing systems like CRMs or calendars.
We maintain every thing behind the scenes—transcription, speech synthesis, LLMs, and call setup—so teams can give attention to the experience, not the plumbing. That’s how we earned G2’s Fastest Implementation badge for AI Agents globally, because most of our customers go from zero to live in under two weeks.
What breakthroughs allowed you to realize human-like latency of <500ms and near-perfect uptime?
Achieving sub-500ms latency was a significant technical milestone. It required a mix of edge computing, real-time streaming architecture, and model-level optimization. We decoupled our speech-to-text and text-to-speech layers from the LLM inferences to make sure parallel processing wherever possible.
On the infrastructure side, we designed for reliability from day one—leveraging redundancy, failover routing, and distributed cloud systems to keep up uptime even at high volumes. Today, we process over 40 million calls monthly, and our customers profit from that battle-tested scale.
How does Synthflow’s AI avoid hallucinations and stay inside brand-safe “guardrails” during conversations?
Unlike general-purpose chatbots that attempt to handle anything and every thing, our voice agents are built to be goal-driven. That focus dramatically reduces the possibilities of hallucination. If an agent is designed to schedule calls, it simply won’t reply to unrelated prompts like “tell me a joke” or “what’s the weather.” It sticks to the duty it was created for, keeping the conversation purposeful and heading in the right direction.
On top of that, our platform features a built-in knowledge base that allows you to define exactly what the agent should know—and more importantly, what it shouldn’t. This makes it easy to maintain conversations brand-safe, accurate, and relevant, while supplying you with full control over how the AI handles information.
What makes users trust an AI voice agent, and where do things typically go incorrect in customer experience?
Trust comes all the way down to speed, relevance, and tone. If an AI responds quickly, understands intent, and sounds natural, individuals are more likely to have interaction. We’ve in-built subtle human cues like pauses and filler words to make conversations feel real.
Things go incorrect when AI tries to do an excessive amount of. That’s why our agents give attention to specific tasks and escalate when needed. It’s not about doing every thing—it’s about doing the appropriate things well.
That said, we all know some individuals are still skeptical. And that’s fair—every latest technology goes through that phase. As a pioneer in voice AI, we see it as our job not only to construct great tech, but to assist people feel confident using it.
How do you be sure that Synthflow voice agents handle sensitive data securely while complying with HIPAA, SOC2, and GDPR?
Security and compliance are core to our architecture. We’re certified under SOC 2 and GDPR and operate with HIPAA-compliant safeguards for healthcare clients. This includes data encryption at rest and in transit, role-based access controls, audit logs, and consent frameworks baked into call flows.
What role do humans still play when Synthflow is deployed — and where is human-AI collaboration most important?
Humans will at all times play a critical role. Synthflow isn’t here to switch people, we’re here to make them higher at their jobs. Our AI voice agents tackle the repetitive, routine calls so human teams can give attention to what they do best: handling complex, emotional, and high-impact conversations.
We predict that the longer term of customer communication is sort of a relay. The AI runs the primary leg of the conversation—capturing intent, collecting details, handling routine actions. When things get more complex, it passes the baton to a human with full context in order that they can pick up seamlessly. That sort of human-AI collaboration creates higher experiences for each side of the conversation.
You’re based in Berlin. How does the European tech ecosystem shape Synthflow’s growth strategy, especially around privacy and AI regulation?
Being in Europe, especially in Berlin, has sharpened our give attention to privacy, ethical AI, and compliance-first development. European customers demand high standards, and we’ve embraced that as a competitive advantage. Our architecture is designed to be data-sovereign and regulation-ready, which positions us well as global AI regulations tighten.
Berlin also offers a novel talent pool. It’s helped us grow thoughtfully while staying grounded in trust, which is crucial when your product talks on to customers on behalf of a brand.
Where do you see the longer term of AI voice agents heading — and what’s one major trend in enterprise AI that’s currently underhyped?
The longer term is accelerating faster than anyone predicted. Inside a number of years, I consider over half of all B2B voice interactions will likely be AI-driven, and we’re already seeing glimpses of AI-to-AI conversations managing entire workflows.
One underhyped trend is the rise of no-code and low-code AI orchestration. Everyone talks concerning the models, but the true unlock comes when businesses can deploy and iterate on AI solutions without writing code. And we’re excited to be a part of this wave.
