Podcast appearances and mentions of alexa fund

We want to hear from you! Email us at BCGInHerEllement@bcg.com with a voice memo describing your In Your Ellement moment. We might feature your story in an upcoming episode!***How do today's business leaders balance performance with empathy in a changing world?Leagh Turner is the CEO of Coupa, a business spend management platform that manages trillions in spending for thousands of customers. In this episode, Leagh shares her perspective on where enterprise software and AI are headed next. She talks about leading through geopolitical uncertainty, how she's driving innovation at Coupa, and why diversity, empathy, and humor matter just as much as results. She also shares how having a performance scorecard has shaped her career. [01:54] The Future of AI and SaaS[04:50] Impact of Geopolitics on Business[07:52] How AI is transforming the job market[11:12] Human Elements in Leadership[15:12] Diversity and “Spiky” People[23:06] Hard Work and Keeping Score[26:10] ReflectionsLinks:Leagh Turner On LinkedInSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

We want to hear from you! Email us at BCGInHerEllement@bcg.com with a voice memo describing your In Your Ellement moment. We might feature your story in an upcoming episode!***Could open source be the key to building trustworthy AI?Nithya is Director of Amazon's Open Source Program Office and also Chair of the Linux Foundation. With more than 30 years of experience in enterprise software, she's helped shape how businesses approach open source across the tech industry.In this episode, we talk about the growing importance of open source in AI development, what motivates companies like Amazon to open source their tools, and how these decisions impact innovation. Nithya also shares a personal story about the role of CEO of the family—and what that taught her about leadership.[01:26] The Evolution of Open Source[03:52] Amazon's Commitment to Open Source[09:04] Open Source, Trust, and AI[13:05] The Role of Dads[18:49] CEO of the Family[25:13] ReflectionsLinks:Nithya Ruff on LinkedInSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

What makes a great manager in today's workplace? And how can AI help companies develop better leaders?Elise Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Praxis Labs, a startup using AI-powered immersive learning to train leaders at some of the world's biggest companies. Praxis is shaping the future of workplace learning with clients like Google, Amazon, and Accenture.In this episode, Elise shares how her time at IBM Watson influenced her career, what she's learned about effective leadership in today's workplace, and her perspective on the evolving future of DEI initiatives. Elise was recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her work on enterprise technology.[01:55] Kamila's Mindset Shift with Praxis Labs[03:42] Adapting Leadership Training for the Modern Workplace[06:44] Navigating Generational Shifts[09:12] Green Flags for Job Seekers[10:44] People Don't Leave Companies, They Leave Managers[13:28] The Future of DEI work[18:02] Finding the Right Co-Founder[21:40] ReflectionsLinks:Elise Smith on LinkedInSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

Join host Richard Hon on this episode of Hot Topics on the Edge of Show as we dive into the latest advancements in AI. Richard welcomes Addy Crezee, Founder & CEO /function1, FORKED, CREZEE and Victoria Neiman, Co-founder & COO, /function1 | FORKED | CREZEE to discuss Google's bold claims about Gemini 2.5, GitLab's latest insights on developers embracing AI, Amazon's Alexa Fund fueling AI startups, and a sneak peek at the upcoming Function One AI Conference in Dubai. Don't miss their take on the future of AI and its impact on industries across the board. Support us through our Sponsors! ☕

How do you know when it's time to make your next big career move?With International Women's Day around the corner, we are excited to feature Avni Patel Thompson, Founder and CEO of Milo. Avni is building technology that directly supports the often overlooked emotional and logistical labor that falls on parents—especially women. Milo is an AI assistant designed to help families manage that invisible load more efficiently.In this episode, Avni shares her journey from studying chemistry to holding leadership roles at global brands like Adidas and Starbucks, to launching her own ventures. She discusses how she approaches career transitions, the importance of unpleasant experiences, and why she's focused on making everyday life easier for parents. [01:26] Avni's University Days and Early Career[04:36] Non-Linear Career Paths[05:16] Pursuing Steep Learning Curves[11:51] Entrepreneurship and Safety Nets[15:22] Lived Experiences and Milo[19:55] Avni's In Her Ellement Moment[20:03] ReflectionsLinks:Avni Patel Thompson on LinkedInSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInIpsos report on the future of parentingAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

Marina Gerner is an award-winning financial journalist and author. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Commerce & Culture at NYU Stern. In her new book, The Vagina Business, she explores the innovations shaping women's health and the forces that have held the field back.In this episode, Marina shares some of the biggest success stories in health tech, as well as the innovations that have personally impacted her. She also explains how to navigate this rapidly growing space—and how to avoid what she calls “scam-tech.”Over her career, Marina has reported on health, technology, and finance for leading publications, bringing a critical lens to the intersection of business and innovation.[03:44] Women's Heart Health and the Smart Bra[05:28] Birth Innovations[08:29] Challenges in Femtech Funding[14:36] Misinformation in Women's Health[16:49] Adoption Barriers and Consumer Habits[19:28] Marina's In Her Ellement Moment[21:44] ReflectionsLinks:Marina Gerner's newsletterSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInThe $32 Trillion Opportunity in Women-Focused Products and ServicesAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

What does it take to drive meaningful change in venture capital?Pam Kostka is an executive in residence at Magnify Ventures, a VC firm focused on transforming the care economy. She was also the founding CEO of All Raise, an organization dedicated to increasing representation of female and non-binary founders and investors.In this episode, Pam talks about why she thinks women are reaching a tipping point in the startup ecosystem. Plus, she discusses the impact of AI and demographic shifts on innovation, as well as what networking and your kitchen cabinet have in common.Over her 30-year career, Pam has led multiple companies and she currently holds an advisory role at several organizations.[01:41] The Importance of Health Tech and the Care Economy[02:36] Demographic Shifts and Their Impact on Work[05:51] Innovation from Lived Experiences[08:51] Tipping Point in Startups and Venture Capital[16:58] Networking and Your Kitchen Cabinet[20:57] The Power of Saying No[24:44] Pam's In Her Ellement Moment[26:42] ReflectionsLinks:Pam Kostka on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInRynaa Chagti on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Rynaa Chagti is a student and BCG X Co-op. She grew up in Dubai. She is currently studying business and design at Northeastern University, where she is the public relations coordinator for IDEA, the university's student-led venture capital accelerator. She is passionate about building a career that does not box her into one role or title and rather one that reflects who she is authentically. Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

What would a career pivot reveal about your greatest strength? Zoe Samuel is a Venture Partner at Starshot Capital, where she supports climate-focused startups. Zoe traveled a unique path to get here, moving from a career as a writer and producer to becoming a co-founder at Anthropocene, Google's largest internal climate solutions community. Today, she supports and invests in early-stage founders, helping them build startups aimed at reducing global emissions.In this episode, Zoe shares her perspective on how any job can be a “climate job,” and on the unique opportunities women can find in climate. She also reflects on some of the lessons that have served her well during her career in both the entertainment and tech sectors.Links:Zoe Samuel on LinkedInA growing climate tech marketSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

People want to feel supported and safe at work – and inspired to innovate. What can people working at large corporations do to create this kind of environment?Saskia Mureau is the Director of Customer Digital at the Port of Rotterdam where she is harnessing digital systems to reduce emissions. She is passionate about creating inclusive workplaces where psychological safety and collaboration drive meaningful change.In this episode, Kamila sits down with Suchi to talk about why she chose to work at large corporations rather than startups. Saskia also reflects on her personal experiences, including navigating IVF while at work, and discusses how organizations can foster environments where employees feel empowered to bring their whole selves to work.Links:Saskia Mureau on LinkedinWHO infertility researchBCG 2024 report on psychological safety in the workplaceSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

Join us for this special episode from Season 3 with Molly He, CEO and Co-founder of Element Biosciences.Many expert women decide to take the plunge into entrepreneurship - but what are the realities of this decision? For Molly He, it was never her dream, but something she saw as a means of pushing the groundbreaking scientific work she was doing forward.Molly grew up in an economically disadvantaged village in rural China. She studied hard while at the same time developing her skills as a professional sprinter. At the end of high school, she decided to take a leap of faith and move to the US. In retrospect, Molly acknowledges that this was a courageous thing to do and that she used this courage and optimism throughout her career. Links:Molly He on LinkedInSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

Join us for this throwback episode from Season 3 with Jaimee Michaud, Head of Portfolio Digital at Advent International, a global private equity firm. Making career decisions driven by fear can lead us astray. Instead, we need to be courageous and persistent, seizing new opportunities as they arise. This is the wisdom shared by today's guest, Jaimee Michaud.Jaimee's journey began when she moved from Seoul to the United States as a high school student, boldly embracing a new culture and language. She built a successful career in investment banking before transitioning to Shutterfly, where a trusted general manager saw her potential for a data-focused role. Despite her lack of coding skills, he believed her experience and attitude would ensure her success.Jaimee acknowledges that balancing career and personal commitments is challenging and rarely goes as planned. She emphasizes that making small, mindful decisions daily is more impactful than striving for perfection.Links:Jamiee Michaud on LinkedInSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInJumana Alnahdi on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.

Young professionals are increasingly seeking meaning in their careers—but what does that look like in practice? Pia Heidenmark Cook, former Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA, believes finding purpose in any type of work is possible. However, she acknowledges that working in fields as impactful as sustainability can sometimes lead to burnout.In this episode, Suchi sits down with Pia to discuss staying positive and motivated in her field. They also explore how leaders can support their teams in finding meaning at work while maintaining a healthy balance with life at home.Pia advises a diverse range of organizations—from healthcare to hospitality— on sustainability. In 2024, she co-authored Embedding Sustainability: How to Drive Organizational Transformation, a practical guide on integrating sustainability into an organization's core operations.Links:Pia Heidenmark Cook on LinkedInEmbedding Sustainability: How to Drive Organizational TransformationWhy young people worldwide want and need ‘meaningful work'Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInJumana Alnahdi on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Jumana Alnahdi is a student and BCG X Co-op. She is originally from Bahrain—a small island in the Middle East. She came to the U.S. to study at Northeastern University, and while navigating a new culture far from home, Jumana leaned on the power of women's communities and support systems to overcome challenges and find belonging. Jumana is passionate about highlighting the impact of young women in innovation.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

So many women in their early careers have an aversion to risk. How can they harness their confidence and begin building their risk profile?In this episode, Suchi sits down with Mythili Sankaran, CEO and co-founder of Neythri.org, a global community of professional South Asian women and the founding managing partner of the Neythri Futures Fund, a unique venture fund for and by South Asian women. In this conversation, Mythili shares her insight on the challenges women face in venture capital, how taking incremental risks is critical to success, and how cultural nuances affect the careers of South Asian Women.Links:Mythili Sankaran on LinkedInNeythri Futures Fund WebsiteNeythri.orgNeythri Inaugural Gala Celebration & Member SummitIs marriage killing women's careers? World Bank report shows many South Asians pay 'marriage penalty'Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

In this episode of In Her Element, hosts Suchi Srinivasan and Kamila Rakimova kick off season four by reflecting on the key themes and discussions from season three. They dive into issues shaping the workplace today, including economic volatility, the impact of AI on jobs, return-to-office mandates, and the status of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Throughout the episode, they provide tricks and tips to help early-career women overcome some of the challenges that branch off from these issues, including the importance of continuous learning and self-evaluation and how to avoid professional and personal burnout.They also share personal anecdotes and insights about how some of these issues have bubbled up in their own lives and careers.LINKSSuchi Srinivasan on LinkedInKamila Rakhimova on LinkedInNavigating Silicon Valley with Autotech Ventures Ivy NguyenClearing Space for Yourself with BCG's Adi ZolotovBeing Courageous with Element Bioscience's Molly HeAbout In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

In this special episode, we're taking you back to Season 2 for Corin Line's conversation with Dr. Sophie Chung, Founder and CEO of Qunomedical an organization that helps patients navigate often complicated healthcare systems to get the treatment they need. Sophie may have started on the path to cardiology, but she decided to pivot into management consulting. In this role, she soon realized that she could create a digital solution for many of the problems that patients and hospitals face when allocating appropriate care and services. Sophie is candid about the challenges women face in becoming entrepreneurs and has a solid support network around her helping her to survive and thrive.Sophie's parents emigrated from Cambodia in the 80s to start a new life. She's often asked if her parents were also entrepreneurs, and in a way, she says, they were. The most important thing she learned from them was hard work and determination, no matter what the circumstances.About In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in business, technology, and digital innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

How do you find the right career path with so many options available? According to Hayete Gallot, Corporate Vice President of Commercial Solution Areas at Microsoft, the key is experimentation—trying new things, figuring out what excites you, and identifying what doesn't.In the final episode of Season 3, Hayete reflects on her eclectic career journey. She shares how her passion led her to frequently switch roles, gaining experience across diverse areas such as engineering, product management, marketing, sales, and business planning.Where does Hayete find the confidence to continually explore new paths? She credits her mom as a major source of inspiration. After becoming a widow at 32, she worked full-time while raising four young children. Her advice to Hayete was simple but powerful: always strive to be independent because life can be unpredictable.Hayete has a resourceful approach to balancing work and family life. When she became a mom, she developed a strict calendar management system to ensure she dedicated time to her children. This structure not only helped her be present with her family but also boosted her productivity within the time she allocated for work.About In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in business, technology, and digital innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn't just arrived—you were truly in your element?About The Hosts:Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.Mentioned in this episode:CEO Moments of TruthBefore we hear from our guest on this week's episode of In Her Ellement, I want to take a moment to highlight a fantastic new video series from BCG that I think you will really enjoy. It's called CEO Moments of Truth, and it's hosted by BCG CEO and previous In Her Ellement guest, Christoph Schweizer. Join Christoph as he talks to top CEOs about the most difficult decisions they've faced so far—how they navigated them and how those moments shaped them into the leaders they are today. Visit bcg.com/mot to watch the series.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Stuart Lombard has built and sold several companies, as well as having been a VC on the other side of the table. His latest venture, ecoBee, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Energy Impact Partners, Thomvest, Relay Ventures and Amazon's Alexa Fund.

Amanda L. Goltz, MPA is the U.S. Lead for Worldwide Healthcare Venture Capital and Startups at Amazon Web Services (AWS), responsible for managing a portfolio of digital health companies and driving opportunities with AWS's enterprise healthcare and life sciences business. In a previous role at Amazon, Amanda led partnerships to power voice AI experiences at Alexa Health and Wellness. Before coming to Amazon, Amanda was Vice President of Digital Innovation at BTG (now Boston Scientific), a global medtech, managing the portfolio of digital initiatives combining clinical interventions, device technology, and digital services to incorporate the patient experience and improve measurable outcomes. As part of this role, Amanda founded Oncoverse, a software startup in cancer care, in a joint venture with CommonSpirit Health. Previously, Amanda was the Director of Product Strategy and Innovation at Aetna, sourcing emerging solutions from the digital health and innovative networks marketplace, pairing them with employer clients, and directing implementation of the solutions at scale. Amanda has led innovation and strategy initiatives at Pacific Business Group on Health, a large employer coalition; the State of California, MassGeneralBrigham, and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. Amanda advises several start-up companies as a mentor for the Alexa Fund, 500Startups, Rock Health, and StartXMed, the health and life sciences incubator for Stanford University.

Wouldn't it be great to have access to fresh, homegrown produce all year long? No worrying about what got sprayed on it, how long ago it was harvested or how far it traveled. No wasted resources, no nutrient loss -- just fresh taste. Hank Adams and the team at Rise Gardens is making that dream a reality with their hydroponic indoor gardening systems. They've merged all the best of personal gardens with today's technologies to create a range of IoT-connected growing systems for greens, microgreens, tomatoes and even some root crops like beets! But it's more than a pretty tech toy (although it is that!). Rise Gardens systems address some of the biggest problems with our food system today and provides individuals and families with the opportunity to learn how to grow--and then enjoy--a variety of healthy foods. In this episode, Hank talks with Theresa "Sam" Houghton about Rise Gardens' systems, the food industry, the importance of traditional regenerative farming and why Rise wants to get kids involved with growing their own veggies. Want more plant-based nerdity and industry insights? Subscribe to The Modern Health Nerd for weekly updates: https://www.modernhealthnerd.com/news/ Hank Adams - CEO & Founder, Rise Gardens (www.risegardens.com) Prior to founding Rise Gardens, Hank Adams started three previous sports technology companies, including Sportvision, which was named one of the world's 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company Magazine (#34, Fast Company, March 2010) and earned Hank a spot on Fast Company's “Ten Most Creative People in Sports” list (June 2009). Sportvision forever altered the sports landscape with its iconic products such as the “Magic Yellow Line” for football. Seeking a new venture that would make a lasting impact, Hank decided to focus on solutions to the broken food system, which contributes to poor health, depleted soils and environmental degradation. In addition, Hank has had a lifelong passion for gardening, starting as a boy growing strawberries in his native Colorado. Combining these interests, Rise Gardens was born. About Rise Gardens Rise Gardens designs state-of-the-art indoor hydroponic produce gardens that make it easy for anyone to grow their own food. The system makes a complicated process productive and fun for gardeners constrained by busy schedules, short growing seasons or access to land in urban settings. The modular, WiFi-connected platform allows for expansion and enables growing of a wide variety of greens and vegetables. Founded in 2019 and backed by $3.1M in seed funding from investors including True Ventures and the Alexa Fund, Rise Gardens encourages better nutrition and healthy outcomes by helping people grow their own food year-round and by partnering with schools to build nutrition education into the classroom. Follow Rise Gardens! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risegardens/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/risegardens LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/risegardens/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-modern-health-nerd/support

We report that Amazon met with startups about investing, and then launched their own, competing products. The news comes just days before CEO Jeff Bezos is set to testify before Congress in a hearing about antitrust concerns. Reporter Dana Mattioli joins us to explain. Amanda Lewellyn hosts. Correction: When it invested in DefinedCrowd, Amazon's Alexa Fund gained access to DefinedCrowd's financials and other confidential information. A previous version of this podcast incorrectly said Amazon gained access to those details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paolo Pirjanian is the founder and CEO of Embodied, Inc. Founded in 2016, Embodied is an industry-leading robotics and AI company creating state-of-the-art companion robots to revolutionize human-centric care and wellness by enhancing quality of life for individuals and families. They recently developed Moxie, a revolutionary new animate companion for children designed to help promote social, emotional, and cognitive development through play-based learning and captivating content.In this episode, Paolo shares his incredible story of being smuggled out of Iran during the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970s, living as a refugee in Denmark for 15 years and earning his Ph.D. in Robotics, the pressures and challenges he and his family had to deal with as immigrants, falling in love with technology and teaching himself how to code at a young age, where the concept of robotics comes from, starting his first company and selling it to iRobot, being iRobot’s CTO and developing one of the world’s leading technologies for robotic navigation which completely transformed iRobot’s Roomba, the importance of innovating fast, and why he always wanted to be an entrepreneur.He also shares how the idea for Embodied and Moxie came about, how he and his team stay motivated through uncertainty and complexities, the evolution of robotics throughout his career and what the future of the space looks like.Stay tuned towards the end as we get a chance to chat with Moxie (available now for pre-order and shipping in late 2020) LIVE on the show to see what it’s all about!SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER & STAY UPDATED > http://bit.ly/tfh-newsletterFOLLOW TFH ON INSTAGRAM > http://www.instagram.com/thefounderhourFOLLOW TFH ON TWITTER > http://www.twitter.com/thefounderhourINTERESTED IN BECOMING A SPONSOR? EMAIL US > partnerships@thefounderhour.com

This Week In Voice (Season 4 Episode 11) features guests Lauren Helmer (Editor, More Than Just Weather & Music) and Mary Alice McMorrow (Chief Marketing Officer, Earplay) to discuss the stories of the week in voice tech and AI, including Spotify's free tier now being available on Alexa, Sonos acquiring Snips, Black Friday deals on smart speakers, Voiceflow's investment from the Alexa Fund, Matchbox.io's acquisition of Alexa skills from Opearlo, and whether AIs will be able to tell better jokes than humans.

Steve Glenn is CEO of Plant Prefab, a Rialto, Calif.-based builder of high-quality, sustainable, prefabricated single-family and multifamily homes. The company made a splash last year when Amazon announced it had invested in the company through its Alexa Fund, the company’s first investment in home construction. Plant Prefab’s niche is in the custom urban market, which in the past has predominantly been served only by small, local general contractors. Glenn sees an opportunity to build these small urban projects faster, less expensively, and with higher quality using modular techniques. Tune in to hear more of Glenn’s thoughts on why modular construction offers an opportunity to build projects as much as 25% less expensively than site-built homes and why Plant Prefab is developing a new panel to work alongside its prefabricated modules.

Welcome to Episode 52 of The VentureFizz Podcast, the flagship podcast of your most-trusted source for startup and tech jobs, news, and insights! For this episode of our podcast, I interviewed Allison Page, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at SevenRooms in New York City. SevenRooms is an all-in-one reservation, seating and guest management platform that is used by customers ranging from neighborhood restaurants to international hospitality groups. The company raised a $8M Series A round of funding last December and they just announced an investment for Amazon's Alexa Fund to introduce in-service, voice-enabled technology for the restaurant industry. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: -Allison's background, including the lessons she learned having a side hustle while working in investment banking. -How the founding team spent their time learning the hospitality industry to discover the pain points that SevenRooms would initially focus on. -How the curiosity factor is helpful for people who are considering a career in product management. -The trickle-down effect that has happened in terms of hiring across the company based on having a diverse leadership team. -Plus, a lot more. Lastly, if you like the show, please remember to subscribe to and review us on iTunes, or your podcast player of choice!

Hello! We're back with episode 14! Loads of exciting Voice-related news. Facebook's new smart speaker 'portal' - will it work out? We think probably not. Alexa fund has been busy investing in pre-fab homes (I wonder why...), voice-first learning platform Bamboo, and patient-carer Skill Aiva. Our Skill of the Week goes to Stoked Skills (congrats chaps) for their Angel Investor Skill - a fun game that lets you play out your Dragon's Den fantasy. FINALLY, another head-to-head with Google Home and Amazon Alexa. We'll be testing local business knowledge.

As Denver suffered in its third year of drought, Chris Klein saw an opportunity. So he co-founded Rachio, where today he’s CEO, leading 60 employees. Rachio is the personal watering assistant that automatically adjusts for the weather & improves the water efficiency of your home. Installation takes less than 30 minutes and you begin saving water & improving your yard's health immediately. And of course, its smartphone-controlled.  Rachio is “blossoming” thanks to venture funding from top investors like Arborview Capital, Amazon’s Alexa Fund, and Bonaventure Capital. I was blown away by his “First of Four” & “Hiring Sprint” process. In this 20-minute interview, Chris shares how he’s growing the organization that’s growing lawns everywhere.

Sep 3, 2018 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 10 of The Alexa Podcast, presented by VoiceFirst.FM, features special guests Aviel Ginzburg (Alexa Accelerator, Powered By Techstars) and Rodrigo Prudencio (Amazon's Alexa Fund). The discussion spans what constitutes success for a startup coming through the Alexa Accelerator, how both of our guests assess companies, a history of Alexa Accelerator alum Novel Effect, and a broad discussion around voice-first technology with two key players at the center of Amazon's efforts. The Alexa Podcast is hosted by Bradley Metrock (CEO, Score Publishing) and Kevin Old (software developer, LifeWay).

In this episode Dave chats with with Rodrigo Prudencio from Amazon's Alexa Fund and Aviel Ginzburg, Managing Director Alexa Accelerator powered by Techstars. The Amazon Alexa Fund provides up to $100 million in venture capital funding to fuel voice technology innovation. The Alexa Accelerator, powered by Techstars, is a startup accelerator created by the Alexa Fund and built around the belief that voice will fundamentally improve the way we interact with technology. The companies chosen are taking part in a 13-week program in Seattle to work with technologists and product leaders from Amazon and Techstars. Don't know what an accelerator is? What about the difference between an incubator and accelerator? This episode will get you started and offer examples of startup voice innovations happening right now. Links: Amazon Alexa Fun: http://alexafund.com Amazon Alexa Fund Signup: https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-fund/fund-signup Alexa Accelerator powered by Techstars: http://www.techstars.com/programs/alexa-program/

JSJ 274 Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith On today’s episode of JavaScript Jabber, we have panelists Joe Eames, Aimee Knight, Charles Max Wood, and we have special guest Terrance Smith. He’s here today to talk about the Amazon Alexa platform. So tune in and learn more about Amazon Voice Services! [01:00] – Introduction to Terrance Smith Terrance is from Hacker Ferrer Software. They hack love into software. [01:30] – Amazon Voice Service What I’m working on is called My CareTaker named probably pending change. What it will do and what it is doing will be to help you be there as a caretaker’s aid for the person in your life. If you have to take care an older parent, My CareTaker will be there in your place if you have to work that day. It will be your liaison to that person. Your mom and dad can talk to My CareTaker and My CareTaker could signal you via SMS or email message or tweet, anything on your usage dashboard, and you would be able to respond. It’s there when you’re not. [04:35] – Capabilities Getting started with it, there are different layers. The first layer is the Skills Kit for generally getting into the Amazon IoT. It has a limited subset of the functionality. You can give commands. The device parses them, sends them to Amazon’s endpoint, Amazon sends a call back to your API endpoint, and you can do whatever you want. That is the first level. You can make it do things like turn on your light switch, start your car, change your thermostat, or make an API call to some website somewhere to do anything. [05:50] – Skills Kit Skills Kit is different with AVS. Skills Kit, you can install it on any device. You’re spinning up a web service and register it on Amazon’s website. As long as you have an endpoint, you can register, say, the Amazon Web Services Lambda. Start that up and do something. The Skills Kit is literally the web endpoint response. Amazon Voice Services is a bit more in-depth. [07:00] – Steps for programming With the Skills Kit, you register what would be your utterance, your skill name, and you would give it a couple of sets of phrases to accept. Say, you have a skill that can start a car, your skill is “Car Starter.” “Alexa tell Car Starter to start the car.” At which point, your web service will be notified that that is the utterance. It literally has a case statement. You can have any number of individual conditional branches outside of that. The limitation for the Skills Kit is you have to have the “tell” or “ask” and the name of the skill to do whatever. It’s also going to be publicly accessible. For the most part, it’s literally a web service. [10:55] – Boilerplates for AWS Lambda Boilerplates can be used if you want to develop for production. If you publish a skill, you get free AVS instance time. You can host your skill for free for some amount of time. There are GUI tools to make it easier but if you’re a developer, you’re probably going to do the spin up a web service and deal it that way. [11:45] – Do you have to have an Amazon Echo? At one point, you have to have the Echo but now there is this called Echoism, which allows you to run it in your browser. In addition to that, you can potentially install it on a device like a Raspberry Pi and run Amazon Voice Services. The actual engine is on your PC, Mac, or Linux box. You have different options. [12:35] – Machine learning There are certain things that Amazon Alexa understand now that it did last year or time before that like understanding utterances and phrases better. A lot of the machine learning is definitely under the covers. The other portion of it Alexa Voice Service, which is a whole engine that you have untethered access to other portions like how to handle responses. That’s where you can build a custom device and take it apart. So the API that we’re working with here is just using JSON and HTTP. [16:40] – Amazon Echo Show You have that full real-time back and forth communication ability but there is no video streaming or video processing ability yet. You can utilize the engine in such a way that Amazon Voice Services can work with your existing tool language. If you have a Raspberry Pi and you have a camera to it, you can potentially work within that. But again, the official API’s and docs for that are not available yet. [27:20] – Challenges There’s an appliance in this house that listens to everything I say. There’s that natural inclination to not trust it, especially with the older generations. Giving past that is getting people to use the device. Some of the programming sides of it are getting the communication to work, doing something that Alexa isn’t pre-programmed to do. There isn’t a lot of documentation out there, just a couple of examples. The original examples are written in Java and trying to convert it to Node or JavaScript would be some of the technical challenges. In addition, getting it installed and setup takes at least an hour at the beginning. There’s also a learning curve involved. [29:35] – Is your product layered in an Echo or is your product a separate device? Terrance’s product is a completely separate device. One of the functionality of his program is medicine reminders. It can only respond to whatever the API calls from Amazon tells you to respond to but it can’t do anything like send something back. It can do an immediate audio response with a picture or turn on and off a light switch. But it can’t send a message back in like two hours from now. You do want your Alexa device to have (verbally) a list of notifications like on your phone. TLDR, Terrance can go a little further with just the Skills Kit. [32:00] – Could you set it up through a web server? Yes. There are examples out there. There’s Alexa in the browser. You can open up a browser and communicate with that. There are examples of it being installed like an app. You can deploy it to your existing iPhone app or Android app and have it interact that way. Or you can have it interact independently on a completely different device like a Raspberry Pi. But not a lot of folks are using it that way. [33:10] – Monetization Amazon isn’t changing anything in terms of monetization. They make discovery a lot easier though. If you knew the name of the app, you could just say, “Alexa, [tell the name of the app].” It will do a lazy load of the actual skill and it will add it to your available skill’s list. However, there is something called the Alexa Fund, which is kind of a startup fund that they have, which you can apply for. If you’re doing something interesting, there is a number of things you have to do. Ideally, you can get funding for whatever your product is. It is an available avenue for you. [36:25] – More information, documentation, walkthroughs The number one place to go to as far as getting started is the Amazon websites. They have the Conexant 4-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit. It has 4 mics and it has already a lot of what you need. You have to boot it up and/or SSH into it or plug it up and code it. They have a couple of these kits for $300 to $400. It’s one of the safe and simpler options. There are also directions for the AVS sites which is under Alexa Voice Services, where you can go to the Github from there. There will give you directions using the Raspberry Pi.  If not that, there’s also the Slack chatroom. It is alexaslack.com. Travis Teague is the guy in charge in there. Picks Joe Eames Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak Aimee Knight Conference: React Rally Pancakes Charles Max Wood Conference: Angular Dev Summit Conference: React Dev Summit JavaScript Jabber Slack Terrance Smith Language: Elm Youtube channel: The School of Life Game: Night in the Woods Hacker Ferret Software Hackerferret.com

JSJ 274 Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith On today’s episode of JavaScript Jabber, we have panelists Joe Eames, Aimee Knight, Charles Max Wood, and we have special guest Terrance Smith. He’s here today to talk about the Amazon Alexa platform. So tune in and learn more about Amazon Voice Services! [01:00] – Introduction to Terrance Smith Terrance is from Hacker Ferrer Software. They hack love into software. [01:30] – Amazon Voice Service What I’m working on is called My CareTaker named probably pending change. What it will do and what it is doing will be to help you be there as a caretaker’s aid for the person in your life. If you have to take care an older parent, My CareTaker will be there in your place if you have to work that day. It will be your liaison to that person. Your mom and dad can talk to My CareTaker and My CareTaker could signal you via SMS or email message or tweet, anything on your usage dashboard, and you would be able to respond. It’s there when you’re not. [04:35] – Capabilities Getting started with it, there are different layers. The first layer is the Skills Kit for generally getting into the Amazon IoT. It has a limited subset of the functionality. You can give commands. The device parses them, sends them to Amazon’s endpoint, Amazon sends a call back to your API endpoint, and you can do whatever you want. That is the first level. You can make it do things like turn on your light switch, start your car, change your thermostat, or make an API call to some website somewhere to do anything. [05:50] – Skills Kit Skills Kit is different with AVS. Skills Kit, you can install it on any device. You’re spinning up a web service and register it on Amazon’s website. As long as you have an endpoint, you can register, say, the Amazon Web Services Lambda. Start that up and do something. The Skills Kit is literally the web endpoint response. Amazon Voice Services is a bit more in-depth. [07:00] – Steps for programming With the Skills Kit, you register what would be your utterance, your skill name, and you would give it a couple of sets of phrases to accept. Say, you have a skill that can start a car, your skill is “Car Starter.” “Alexa tell Car Starter to start the car.” At which point, your web service will be notified that that is the utterance. It literally has a case statement. You can have any number of individual conditional branches outside of that. The limitation for the Skills Kit is you have to have the “tell” or “ask” and the name of the skill to do whatever. It’s also going to be publicly accessible. For the most part, it’s literally a web service. [10:55] – Boilerplates for AWS Lambda Boilerplates can be used if you want to develop for production. If you publish a skill, you get free AVS instance time. You can host your skill for free for some amount of time. There are GUI tools to make it easier but if you’re a developer, you’re probably going to do the spin up a web service and deal it that way. [11:45] – Do you have to have an Amazon Echo? At one point, you have to have the Echo but now there is this called Echoism, which allows you to run it in your browser. In addition to that, you can potentially install it on a device like a Raspberry Pi and run Amazon Voice Services. The actual engine is on your PC, Mac, or Linux box. You have different options. [12:35] – Machine learning There are certain things that Amazon Alexa understand now that it did last year or time before that like understanding utterances and phrases better. A lot of the machine learning is definitely under the covers. The other portion of it Alexa Voice Service, which is a whole engine that you have untethered access to other portions like how to handle responses. That’s where you can build a custom device and take it apart. So the API that we’re working with here is just using JSON and HTTP. [16:40] – Amazon Echo Show You have that full real-time back and forth communication ability but there is no video streaming or video processing ability yet. You can utilize the engine in such a way that Amazon Voice Services can work with your existing tool language. If you have a Raspberry Pi and you have a camera to it, you can potentially work within that. But again, the official API’s and docs for that are not available yet. [27:20] – Challenges There’s an appliance in this house that listens to everything I say. There’s that natural inclination to not trust it, especially with the older generations. Giving past that is getting people to use the device. Some of the programming sides of it are getting the communication to work, doing something that Alexa isn’t pre-programmed to do. There isn’t a lot of documentation out there, just a couple of examples. The original examples are written in Java and trying to convert it to Node or JavaScript would be some of the technical challenges. In addition, getting it installed and setup takes at least an hour at the beginning. There’s also a learning curve involved. [29:35] – Is your product layered in an Echo or is your product a separate device? Terrance’s product is a completely separate device. One of the functionality of his program is medicine reminders. It can only respond to whatever the API calls from Amazon tells you to respond to but it can’t do anything like send something back. It can do an immediate audio response with a picture or turn on and off a light switch. But it can’t send a message back in like two hours from now. You do want your Alexa device to have (verbally) a list of notifications like on your phone. TLDR, Terrance can go a little further with just the Skills Kit. [32:00] – Could you set it up through a web server? Yes. There are examples out there. There’s Alexa in the browser. You can open up a browser and communicate with that. There are examples of it being installed like an app. You can deploy it to your existing iPhone app or Android app and have it interact that way. Or you can have it interact independently on a completely different device like a Raspberry Pi. But not a lot of folks are using it that way. [33:10] – Monetization Amazon isn’t changing anything in terms of monetization. They make discovery a lot easier though. If you knew the name of the app, you could just say, “Alexa, [tell the name of the app].” It will do a lazy load of the actual skill and it will add it to your available skill’s list. However, there is something called the Alexa Fund, which is kind of a startup fund that they have, which you can apply for. If you’re doing something interesting, there is a number of things you have to do. Ideally, you can get funding for whatever your product is. It is an available avenue for you. [36:25] – More information, documentation, walkthroughs The number one place to go to as far as getting started is the Amazon websites. They have the Conexant 4-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit. It has 4 mics and it has already a lot of what you need. You have to boot it up and/or SSH into it or plug it up and code it. They have a couple of these kits for $300 to $400. It’s one of the safe and simpler options. There are also directions for the AVS sites which is under Alexa Voice Services, where you can go to the Github from there. There will give you directions using the Raspberry Pi.  If not that, there’s also the Slack chatroom. It is alexaslack.com. Travis Teague is the guy in charge in there. Picks Joe Eames Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak Aimee Knight Conference: React Rally Pancakes Charles Max Wood Conference: Angular Dev Summit Conference: React Dev Summit JavaScript Jabber Slack Terrance Smith Language: Elm Youtube channel: The School of Life Game: Night in the Woods Hacker Ferret Software Hackerferret.com

JSJ 274 Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith On today’s episode of JavaScript Jabber, we have panelists Joe Eames, Aimee Knight, Charles Max Wood, and we have special guest Terrance Smith. He’s here today to talk about the Amazon Alexa platform. So tune in and learn more about Amazon Voice Services! [01:00] – Introduction to Terrance Smith Terrance is from Hacker Ferrer Software. They hack love into software. [01:30] – Amazon Voice Service What I’m working on is called My CareTaker named probably pending change. What it will do and what it is doing will be to help you be there as a caretaker’s aid for the person in your life. If you have to take care an older parent, My CareTaker will be there in your place if you have to work that day. It will be your liaison to that person. Your mom and dad can talk to My CareTaker and My CareTaker could signal you via SMS or email message or tweet, anything on your usage dashboard, and you would be able to respond. It’s there when you’re not. [04:35] – Capabilities Getting started with it, there are different layers. The first layer is the Skills Kit for generally getting into the Amazon IoT. It has a limited subset of the functionality. You can give commands. The device parses them, sends them to Amazon’s endpoint, Amazon sends a call back to your API endpoint, and you can do whatever you want. That is the first level. You can make it do things like turn on your light switch, start your car, change your thermostat, or make an API call to some website somewhere to do anything. [05:50] – Skills Kit Skills Kit is different with AVS. Skills Kit, you can install it on any device. You’re spinning up a web service and register it on Amazon’s website. As long as you have an endpoint, you can register, say, the Amazon Web Services Lambda. Start that up and do something. The Skills Kit is literally the web endpoint response. Amazon Voice Services is a bit more in-depth. [07:00] – Steps for programming With the Skills Kit, you register what would be your utterance, your skill name, and you would give it a couple of sets of phrases to accept. Say, you have a skill that can start a car, your skill is “Car Starter.” “Alexa tell Car Starter to start the car.” At which point, your web service will be notified that that is the utterance. It literally has a case statement. You can have any number of individual conditional branches outside of that. The limitation for the Skills Kit is you have to have the “tell” or “ask” and the name of the skill to do whatever. It’s also going to be publicly accessible. For the most part, it’s literally a web service. [10:55] – Boilerplates for AWS Lambda Boilerplates can be used if you want to develop for production. If you publish a skill, you get free AVS instance time. You can host your skill for free for some amount of time. There are GUI tools to make it easier but if you’re a developer, you’re probably going to do the spin up a web service and deal it that way. [11:45] – Do you have to have an Amazon Echo? At one point, you have to have the Echo but now there is this called Echoism, which allows you to run it in your browser. In addition to that, you can potentially install it on a device like a Raspberry Pi and run Amazon Voice Services. The actual engine is on your PC, Mac, or Linux box. You have different options. [12:35] – Machine learning There are certain things that Amazon Alexa understand now that it did last year or time before that like understanding utterances and phrases better. A lot of the machine learning is definitely under the covers. The other portion of it Alexa Voice Service, which is a whole engine that you have untethered access to other portions like how to handle responses. That’s where you can build a custom device and take it apart. So the API that we’re working with here is just using JSON and HTTP. [16:40] – Amazon Echo Show You have that full real-time back and forth communication ability but there is no video streaming or video processing ability yet. You can utilize the engine in such a way that Amazon Voice Services can work with your existing tool language. If you have a Raspberry Pi and you have a camera to it, you can potentially work within that. But again, the official API’s and docs for that are not available yet. [27:20] – Challenges There’s an appliance in this house that listens to everything I say. There’s that natural inclination to not trust it, especially with the older generations. Giving past that is getting people to use the device. Some of the programming sides of it are getting the communication to work, doing something that Alexa isn’t pre-programmed to do. There isn’t a lot of documentation out there, just a couple of examples. The original examples are written in Java and trying to convert it to Node or JavaScript would be some of the technical challenges. In addition, getting it installed and setup takes at least an hour at the beginning. There’s also a learning curve involved. [29:35] – Is your product layered in an Echo or is your product a separate device? Terrance’s product is a completely separate device. One of the functionality of his program is medicine reminders. It can only respond to whatever the API calls from Amazon tells you to respond to but it can’t do anything like send something back. It can do an immediate audio response with a picture or turn on and off a light switch. But it can’t send a message back in like two hours from now. You do want your Alexa device to have (verbally) a list of notifications like on your phone. TLDR, Terrance can go a little further with just the Skills Kit. [32:00] – Could you set it up through a web server? Yes. There are examples out there. There’s Alexa in the browser. You can open up a browser and communicate with that. There are examples of it being installed like an app. You can deploy it to your existing iPhone app or Android app and have it interact that way. Or you can have it interact independently on a completely different device like a Raspberry Pi. But not a lot of folks are using it that way. [33:10] – Monetization Amazon isn’t changing anything in terms of monetization. They make discovery a lot easier though. If you knew the name of the app, you could just say, “Alexa, [tell the name of the app].” It will do a lazy load of the actual skill and it will add it to your available skill’s list. However, there is something called the Alexa Fund, which is kind of a startup fund that they have, which you can apply for. If you’re doing something interesting, there is a number of things you have to do. Ideally, you can get funding for whatever your product is. It is an available avenue for you. [36:25] – More information, documentation, walkthroughs The number one place to go to as far as getting started is the Amazon websites. They have the Conexant 4-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit. It has 4 mics and it has already a lot of what you need. You have to boot it up and/or SSH into it or plug it up and code it. They have a couple of these kits for $300 to $400. It’s one of the safe and simpler options. There are also directions for the AVS sites which is under Alexa Voice Services, where you can go to the Github from there. There will give you directions using the Raspberry Pi.  If not that, there’s also the Slack chatroom. It is alexaslack.com. Travis Teague is the guy in charge in there. Picks Joe Eames Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak Aimee Knight Conference: React Rally Pancakes Charles Max Wood Conference: Angular Dev Summit Conference: React Dev Summit JavaScript Jabber Slack Terrance Smith Language: Elm Youtube channel: The School of Life Game: Night in the Woods Hacker Ferret Software Hackerferret.com

Hello and welcome back to the Early Stage podcast, where we listen to some of the most dynamic Founders in the startup scene talk about the origins of their companies, what makes them special, and the unique challenges ahead. I'm John Valentine, resident startup nerd, and I host this humble pod. I'm glad I was able to sneak in a few hours of editing, because I'm really excited to introduce my conversation with Vesper CEO, Matt Crowley. A technology founded in a University of Michigan lab by Bobby Littrell almost a decade ago, Vesper has built the first zero-power listen-to-wake microphone built with piezoelectric materials. This always-on technology can help an Amazon Tap run for years without being plugged in. Matt and I talk about how voice interfaces will enable the next class of business concepts, forcing people to think more creatively about their own products. As machine learning and AI systems reduced errors in voice analysis to make the tech comfortably usable, Vesper' digital transducer could usher in the IoT revolution. Accomplice and Amazon's Alexa Fund seem to think so too, and they put money into Vesper's first big funding round. They have truly built a full stack solution with their sensor, MEMS, mechanical devices, complex analog circuit, digital signal processing, and voice interface algorithms. This team turns sound information into digital information better than anyone else in the world.

The inside story of how Amazon created Echo, the next billion-dollar business no one saw coming Alexa Hardware Echo - $179.99 Echo Dot - $89.99 (only available through Alexa) Amazon Tap - $129, portable Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Alexa Skills Quick Start Sample Code alexa-skills-kit-js Score Keeper Declaring Intents Custom Slot Type alexa-skills-kit-java Standard Slot Types Alexa Fund Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Alexa on a Raspberry Pi hackster.io Alexa Skills contest

Project Manager and TKC Listener   Interview starts at 13:52 and ends at 39:03   I have the books that I read, and I read the books that I have. The ones that I collect now are meaningful to me.    News “Apple Loses Appeal, E-book Decision is Affirmed” by Andrew Albanese at Publishers Weekly - June 30, 2015 US Court of Appeals affirmation of verdict against Apple (PDF)- June 30, 2015 Frequently Asked Questions about eBooks lawsuit Amazon press release on Alexa Skills Kit - June 25, 2015 Amazon Opens Alexa Voice Service to Third Party Hardware Makers - July 25, 2015 “Amazon Introduces the Alexa Fund: $100 Million in Investments to  Fuel Voice Technology Innovation” - Amazon press release June 25, 2015   Tech Tips Information and download link for new Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation software update   Interview with John Sullivan John Sullivan's favorite mystery writers: Elmore Leonard, Michael Connelly, Tyler Dilts (author of The Pain Scale), Sue Grafton. Other writers mentioned: Rick Bragg, Kurt Vonnegut Kindle First Getting Things Done by David Allen “The 10 Most Cryptic Project Management Expressions” by John Sullivan at Tech Republic - July 7, 2010 Justified on Prime Instant Video The Sopranos on Prime Instant Video Get Carter by Ted Lewis Joyland by Stephen King Still Foolin' ‘Em by Billy Crystal (Audible) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Books on the Nightstand podcast   Content Blinkist.com   Next Week's Guest My wife Darlene   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!