How Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli became an AI trailblazer

Victor Riparbelli, co-founder and CEO of Synthesia, has become one of Europe’s leading voices on AI — despite starting far from the traditional tech path. 

Growing up in Denmark, Riparbelli often felt out of step with its consensus-driven culture.  

“It’s an amazing place, but it’s really not a place that inspires ambition and drive and innovation,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick on the “Executive Decisions” podcast.

He immersed himself in books and computers, developing what he calls a “rebellious” mindset and a knack for spotting trends early.

Riparbelli’s ambitions took him abroad for a semester at Stanford University and eventually London’s startup scene, where he came across the groundbreaking research paper, “Face-to-Face.”

“This is one of the first papers [on artificial intelligence] that used the neural network to actually generate new data, and in this case, video of people talking, which looked pretty realistic,” Riparbelli said. 

Describing it as a moment of epiphany, the idea sparked the company that would become Synthesia. But convincing investors was tough at first. 

“We tried a lot of people, more than 100 people. We got turned down by most of them,” Riparbelli said. 

The turning point came from a cold email to billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who invested $1 million after a 14‑hour exchange. Riparbelli says the experience underscored just how critical buy‑in is when you’re pitching an unconventional idea.

“If you have to both convince them on the vision and that you’re the right person to tackle it, it’s very difficult,” he said. 

With Synthesia most recently valued at $4 billion, Riparbelli has big decisions ahead as the company prepares for its next chapter.

“Our aspirations are very, very big. Getting to a billion dollars in revenue… probably requires us to go multi-product,” he said.

Watch Victor Riparbelli’s interview with Steve Sedgwick by clicking the video above, and subscribe to Executive Decisions wherever you get your podcasts.