Toby Sinclair, an AI entrepreneur and founder of Real Talk Studio, is transforming leadership development with immersive learning.
Real Talk Studio is a platform that uses Interactive Avatars to enable realtime role play with immediate feedback. With the power of HeyGen’s Interactive Avatars, the HeyGen API and AI coding tools, Toby has built an interactive learning experience that helps learners practice tough conversations in a realistic, low-stakes environment.
“Learners often complain about training delivering too much theory and not enough practice,” Toby says. “The problem is high quality, safe, deliberate practice is hard to do at scale. AI interactive avatars make it possible.”
What makes Toby’s journey remarkable isn’t just what he’s built but how he built it.
How Toby built Real Talk Studio as a solo entrepreneur
After 11 years at JPMorgan Chase as Director of Employee Experience, Toby saw firsthand how many workplace challenges are really “people” challenges - issues that leadership training and communication practice can help solve. In September 2024, he made a bold move to leave his corporate role and become an AI entrepreneur.
Rather than hiring a development team, Toby turned to AI tools like Cursor to prototype and build the role-play system that became Real Talk Studio.
“I started in technical roles nearly 20 years ago, but I hadn’t actively coded in a decade,” he shares. “When I saw HeyGen’s Interactive Avatars and API, I knew I’d found the missing piece. The challenge was - could I actually build it myself?”
With AI’s help, the answer was a resounding yes.
AI-First Development Approach
Toby used AI coding assistants like Cursor to develop Real Talk Studio himself, enabling him to build a working prototype in a weekend. Using HeyGen’s API, Toby quickly embedded interactive AI avatars into his platform, bringing conversational role-play to life.
“Historically, I would have needed an agency, and this would’ve taken months. Now, I went from idea to fully functional AI-powered role-play sessions in just a few weeks. That kind of speed was unthinkable even a few years ago.”
“People ask me how big my team is,” Toby says. “They expect me to say 50 people. When I say it’s just me, they don’t believe it. The truth is, I have an army of AI-powered tools doing the work.”
Toby’s journey is a blueprint for the new age of AI entrepreneurship - where one person, armed with the right AI tools, can build what once required entire teams.
Toby’s Tech Stack
“I pretty much said to Cursor, ‘I want to build a role-play platform using this SDK - go build it,’” Toby explains. “After a long weekend, I had the first version up and running.”
His tech stack includes:
- Cursor, an AI-powered coding assistant
- HeyGen’s Interactive Avatar API, which powers the realistic AI-driven conversation
- Deepgram for transcription
- OpenAI for generating role-play scenarios and analyzing user feedback
- Vercel for hosting
- Supabase for storage
“One of the key lessons is learning how to ‘talk to’ AI tools,” Toby says. “You can give them directions, course-correct if they’re going down the wrong path, and shape the experience dynamically. AI isn’t just a tool - it’s like having a development partner.”
For those looking to build with the HeyGen API, Toby recommends taking advantage of the HeyGen API’s flexibility for customization. Instead of using HeyGen’s built-in knowledge base, Toby dynamically generates personalized role-play scenarios, passing custom prompts directly into the avatar during the conversation.
How Real Talk Studio Works: AI-Powered Learning in Action
At its core, Real Talk Studio integrates HeyGen’s Interactive Avatars and API to create a realistic, AI-powered role-play experience that provides feedback and customizable scenarios.
“We’re in the business of hard conversations,” Toby explains. “Everyone has a conversation they’re avoiding or one that didn’t go well. We use AI to create a safe space to practice and build confidence before the real thing.”
With HeyGen’s Interactive Avatars users don’t just read about communication strategies, they actually practice them in real-time.
“The engagement is night and day,” Toby shares. “We tried text-based simulations, but they felt artificial. The moment we introduced AI avatars, engagement skyrocketed.”
The result? A highly immersive, scalable training solution that corporate training teams and independent trainers and instructors can tailor to their courses and development programs.
“Many leadership programs struggle with too much theory, not enough practice,” Toby explains. “With Real Talk Studio, companies get a practical, interactive way to reinforce learning.”
Connect with Toby to Learn More
Try Real Talk Studio and build your own AI-powered role-play experience.
Watch the webinar replay for the Interactive Avatar Workshop: AI Builder’s Story with Toby Sinclair.
Have questions for Toby? Ask them in the HeyGen forum.
Questions about building with the API? Get started with these resources:
- Interactive Avatar user group
- HeyGen Streaming Avatar SDK
- Interactive Avatar Q&A
