This founder built the famous AI robot teacher

Hi!

A week in AI is like a year in other industries. I hope these issues become your weekly source of AI information, inspiration, and ideas.

If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about AI and the fascinating folks who are building in this brave new world.

Good morning.

There are founders who use AI for operational efficiencies and there are founders who are using it to change the world. This week’s AI founder is the latter. Her north star is giving every child in the world access to a personalized teacher, via a friendly handheld robot. Cute right? 

Her story from new immigrant to successful serial entrepreneur defies all odds. 

Let’s meet Elnaz.

Growing up in Iran as a woman, opportunities were limited. Girls and boys went to separate schools. But for Elnaz Sarraf, her entrepreneurial father brought her along to show her how he did business. Her mom was the unofficial face of her father’s business, which was rare at the time. 

Sarraf moved to the United States in 2007, in search of a bigger business landscape in which to play. But her passion for access, especially for women with ideas, became her fuel as a founder. Sarraf made a promise to herself: To dedicate her career to creating technology that improves lives. 

iBaby, her first startup, was deep in AI before AI was cool. iBaby was the world’s first AI powered baby monitor. It was here that Sarraf learned product development, manufacturing, and global distribution. She built that for five years, but her passion extended beyond birth and the early years. She wanted to bring personalized education to every child. 

Sarraf created ROYBI Robot, an AI-powered smart toy that teaches children language and STEM skills. The groundbreaking educational companion for kids was named one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions in Education of 2019 and won first place in the World Economic Forum Smart Toys Awards. The awards were completely unexpected.  

The EdTech entrepreneur was ahead of the masses, creating self-guided learning through AI, with an immersive learning platform that hinted at the metaverse, before META had its claws in it. 

So what did she see? A huge gap in early childhood education. 

“The idea wasn’t just to follow tech trends. It was about solving a real need using the most effective tools. AI and robotics gave us the power to personalize learning and scale it globally, long before the market caught on.”

“I saw how technology could make learning more accessible and adaptive, especially for children who need extra support. I am passionate about STEM because it teaches children to think, solve problems, and understand the world around them. When children gain STEM skills, they gain confidence, curiosity, and opportunities that can shape their entire future,” Sarraf said. 

Winning the TIME Magazine Best Inventions Award the same year ROYBI launched changed their visibility overnight. “It opened doors to conversations with global partners, investors, and media. It also validated our mission and helped us build credibility with both parents and institutions,” she said.

That last part was key. Education has notoriously been a tough space to scale in, but ROYBI shows good innovation helps break through.  

ROYBI started in direct consumer channels, building trust with parents before moving into partnerships with retailers, distributors, schools, and educational organizations. “Early traction helped us grow brand awareness fast and reach families globally,” she said. 

“We tested, adapted and improved the product based on real usage, not assumptions. Kids loved the character, but parents wanted more localized and adaptive content. This guided our focus on personalized learning paths.” 

Language development and accessibility for children with autism were early use cases for the robot. This further helped sharpen the product direction, as 25% of ROYBI’s users come from neurodivergent communities. “By offering ROYBI to children with autism, ADHD and speech delays, we reached communities that were actively searching for personalized learning tools,” Sarraf said.

ROYBI has scaled through partnerships, organic communities, and international distribution. Today, Sarraf said their growth comes from schools, education partners, homeschool communities, military families, and global collaborations. 

One of their biggest growth levers was content localization. The team added multilingual support early on. Languages such as English, Chinese and Spanish were added, which opened doors to international markets. 

When asked about scaling a hardware-based AI startup, she replied: “It’s expensive. The supply chain, manufacturing, shipping and inventory management make it harder to iterate quickly.” 

“That’s why our long-term strategy includes licensing our AI and causational content as a SaaS model to scale without hardware limitations,” she added. 

Sarraf talks about the importance of founders, especially those in the tech space, to build a personal brand. “People follow people before they follow products. When founders show up, share their mission and build trust, growth accelerates.” Sarraf has 17,000 LinkedIn followers and 54,000 Instagram followers. 

As part of her role as founder, she supports key marketing and media responsibilities, speaking about AI learning in news segments and spots. Most of the media coverage is organic. She’s been featured in Forbes, TIME, Nasdaq, CNN, and TechCrunch. 

Being a female entrepreneur isn’t without its challenges. “I have often faced more obstacles and skepticism, especially in industries led mostly by men. These experiences have strengthened and motivated me to keep opening doors, not only for myself but for other women who are building companies.” 

Representation matters. The more women visible in leadership roles, the more others will be inspired to follow suit, no matter where they’re from. 

P.S. If you want to get a founder feature about your own story, reply to this email. If you’d like to reach our newsletter audience (founders, creators, and marketers), click the button below.

If you’re new here, I’m over the moon you’ve joined us! To help me craft content that’s actually useful (and not just noise in your inbox), I’d love it if you took 1 minute to answer this quick survey below. Your insights help shape everything I write.

Dive into our other newsletters - where psychology meets the creator economy, e-commerce marketing, and Human resources.