In this episode, we sit down with Paul Wilson, founder and CEO of STAC (SmartThings Accelerator Centre) in Glasgow, to explore how Scotland can build a competitive cluster of homegrown tech companies. Drawing from his 25+ years in international tech, Paul shares insights on creating sustainable tech ecosystems and supporting deep tech startups, and the mission to build the next generation of Scottish tech companies that everyone's talking about.
Learn about
Checkout STAC on LinkedIn.
In this episode, we sit down with Bhagya Reddy, a data professional with over 20 years of experience, to discuss the critical importance of data literacy across organisations and how data skills can empower career transitions. Bhagya shares her journey of building a comprehensive data university at Virgin Media, training over 10,000 employees, and her passion project helping women and men return to work through data education.
What You'll Learn
Resources & Links - connect with Bhagya:
Guest Bio
Bhagya Reddy is a seasoned data professional with 20+ years of experience currently working at Virgin Media. She's a passionate advocate for data democratisation and sustainability, and the founder of Training in Data, an organisation dedicated to helping people transition back into careers through data education.
In this conversation, I sit down with Mauro Nicolao, Director of Data Science at Soapbox Labs - a trailblazing company building voice technology designed specifically for children. Recently acquired by Curriculum Associates, Soapbox Labs is now bringing their specialised speech recognition technology to over 13 million students across the US.
From his roots in academia to leading cutting-edge AI products, Mauro shares the story behind his journey and the mission driving Soapbox’s work. Listen to hear:
- Mauro's journey from academia to Soapbox Labs
- How AI tools can support teachers rather than replace them
- What it was like to go through an acquisition, and how Soapbox Labs benefited
- The unique challenges of building ethical and robust AI technology for children
- Real-world lessons from building AI for education
As schools adopt AI tools, understanding how to implement voice technology that works for ALL students has never been more crucial. Mauro's insights are valuable for anyone working at the intersection of AI, voice technology, and education.
Find Mauro on LinkedIn, and learn more about Soapbox Labs and Curriculum Associates.
In this conversation, Shawn Wen, co-founder and CTO of PolyAI, shares insights into the journey of building PolyAI into a successful series C AI startup focused on automating phone calls for contact centres. He discusses the early days of PolyAI, the challenges faced in scaling the team, the importance of company culture, and the evolving role of a CTO in a growing organisation. Shawn also reflects on the impact of industry changes in AI and the lessons learned throughout the startup journey. Listen to hear:
- How Shawn thought about his CTO role as PolyAI evolved
- How PolyAI's culture got set on the right path in its earliest days
- The challenges of hiring new roles into PolyAI
- Why keeping up with the AI firehose sometimes means throwing away what you've built
Follow PolyAI on LinkedIn to keep up-to-date.
Find Chris on LinkedIn, and learn about Obrizum.
I talk with Chris Pedder from Obrizum. Chris started his career as a Physicist, before moving into AI and Data. He is now Chief Data and AI Officer at Obrizum, who use AI to deliver adaptive learning.
In this episode we talk about the behaviours that Chris intentionally fosters in his team, including:
Find Sarah on LinkedIn, and learn about In The Room by visiting intheroom.global
Today we're talking with Sarah Coward from In The Room - who use conversational AI technology to enable organisations to make their best expert available to their audiences 24/7, 365 days a year.
We cover:
Find Prass on LinkedIn, and find his Feed Forward podcast on Spotify & YouTube.
In this first episode, I talk with Prassanna Ravishankar from Papercup. Prass started his career as a computer vision researcher, before moving into Engineering & MLOps. He now leads the ML platform initiative at Papercup, which is a London-based startup providing AI dubbing solutions.
We cover