In this episode of Max Value, host Ben Towne welcomes Jared Mousano and Wayne Betts Jr., co-founders of Convo Communications — a deaf-led, deaf-owned video relay service provider operating in five countries with 700 employees. Both founders share how their personal experiences as deaf individuals shaped Convo’s mission to center the deaf consumer, disrupt an outdated interpreting industry, and make communication accessible without the cost burden. The conversation covers the company’s 16-year bootstrapped journey, cultural challenges of scaling globally, the QR code initiative with the MTA and Port Authority, and the “hang-up” feature that restored deaf users’ agency on calls. Throughout, Jared and Wayne emphasize that their goal has never been mere accessibility — it’s seamless, natural, human connection for everyone.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Max Value
The episode opens with preview clips capturing the core themes: impact over profit, the complexity of scaling the technology, the decision to avoid outside investors, the lack of consumer-centric design in the industry, and the legacy Jared and Wayne want to leave through Convo’s innovation and creativity.
Chapter 2: The Journey Behind the Business
Host Ben Towne introduces Jared Mousano and Wayne Betts Jr., co-founders of Convo Communications, joined by sign language interpreters Ralph Blank and Bobby Laughler. Ben explains the podcast’s video format and sets the stage for the conversation by noting Convo’s high profile in the deaf and hard of hearing community, asking the guests to describe what Convo does and why it matters.
Chapter 3: What Really Happens When a Firm Scales
Jared explains that Convo was founded as a deaf-led, deaf-owned company with a mission centered on impact rather than profit, contrasting with VC-backed competitors. Wayne describes the FCC-funded video relay service model that allows deaf people to make phone calls through interpreters and video platforms. He shares how, unlike competitors driven purely by fiscal considerations, Convo became user-centric by centering the deaf consumer’s experience. Jared recounts working at his father’s real estate business where everything ran by phone, making him feel valueless — a turning point that drove his determination to disrupt the antiquated, expensive interpreting industry.
Chapter 4: The Hidden Cost of Growth
As Convo scaled, the founders faced the challenge of sustaining human connection globally with a finite pool of interpreters and complex funding structures, while remaining true to their deaf-centered mission. Jared highlights their goal of making interpreting costs feel like a utility bill rather than a budget spike — and how, when companies treat accessibility as optional, deaf individuals lose out. He illustrates the stakes by pointing to Wayne’s Emmy nomination as an example of the talent that goes unleveraged when communication barriers remain. The founders also note the steep learning curve for hearing employees joining a deaf-culture-first company, seeing it as proof that solving internal communication gaps could translate to global solutions.
Chapter 5: Protecting Culture During Rapid Expansion
Wayne describes Convo’s vertically integrated structure — leadership, operations, R&D, interpreters, finance, and marketing across five countries — and the layers of cultural complexity involved, including different national sign languages (ASL, Auslan, BSL) and CODAs alongside hearing colleagues. The founders reflect on starting as a very US-centric company and having to unlearn assumptions as they went global — for instance, the concept of a “North Star” doesn’t translate in Australia. Wayne stresses that shutting out diverse talent and perspective hobbles innovation, and shares Convo’s QR code pilot with the MTA and Port Authority as an example of creative, low-cost scalability that puts deaf users in control of their own communication.
Chapter 6: Building Systems That Support Growth
Ben and Jared challenge the “bridge” metaphor, arguing it implies otherness rather than shared humanity — Jared describes it as a small ditch, not the Mississippi River. Jared adds that he dislikes the word “accessibility” because it feels limiting; what deaf people want is simply a seamless, one-click conversation. Wayne recounts the discovery that when a deaf person hung up on a Convo call, the interpreter remained connected to the hearing party — a flaw that required months of architectural work to fix, ultimately giving deaf users true agency over their calls. This “hang-up” feature became a major loyalty driver and a turning point for the company’s identity.
Chapter 7: Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Ben reflects on the ripple effect of the deaf community’s 70 million people and the broader network it touches, including CODAs and family members. Jared speaks to the hearing community, inviting them to partner with Convo to drive down costs and unlock the rich but underutilized talent in the deaf community. Wayne emphasizes the mutual benefit of deaf-hearing collaboration within Convo, noting how different spatial perspectives strengthen UX, design, and creative output. Both founders reinforce that making communication sustainable and turnkey — not expensive or complicated — is the only way to ensure the fragile light of connection doesn’t go out.
Chapter 8: Practical Advice for Growing Firm Owners
Asked about legacy, Wayne draws on the story of the 1913 NAD film at the Chicago World’s Fair — deaf leaders using new film technology to create a time capsule preserving sign language for future generations — as an analogy for Convo’s mission to build infrastructure that outlasts them. Jared returns to his founding motivation: the humiliation of standing helpless in his father’s phone-driven real estate office, and his determination that no other deaf person should feel that way. Both founders envision a world in 30 to 40 years where organic, instantaneous global conversation is the norm — a foundation that will benefit all of humanity, whether or not deaf people are still signing.
Chapter 9: Defining Sustainable, Long-Term Success
The episode closes with personal questions. Wayne reveals that before becoming a filmmaker, he spent nearly five years in theater at RIT after being initially rejected from film school — an unexpected experience that built his confidence to present ideas to large audiences. Jared shares that he is a lifelong learner, currently studying strategy frameworks, private equity (including KKR), and the energy-sector real estate boom driven by AI infrastructure demand. Both can be found at convo.io, and Jared welcomes LinkedIn messages from anyone who heard him on the podcast.
