Technology’s Role in Supporting the Very Human Need to Create

Technology’s Role in Supporting the Very Human Need to Create

Author: Amazon Web Services May 8, 2020 Duration: 11:33
Georg Petschnigg doesn’t think of himself as purely a designer, yet he has spent a career building products like Paper and Paste that helps us all create more beautiful things in the course of our work and fun. “It’s human potential,” says Petschnigg. “It’s always been about augmenting the human and their capabilities.” Where Petschnigg has come at design over the course of his career at Microsoft, at the startup FiftyThree which he co-founded, and now as part of WeTransfer, is from the vantage of point of a trained engineer. “I come from the church of tech,” he says. “I believe in technology from stick to stone, to printing press, to servers in the cloud. Technology is a huge enabler. For me the driving force has always been is technology should enable a richer human experience. “The most important thing it means to be alive is to create. So, supporting people’s creative pursuits, in whatever shape or form they come, is the best application of my engineering training.”

Building a company is a messy, exhilarating, and deeply personal journey. The AWS Startup Podcast, from Amazon Web Services, moves beyond theory to capture the real voices from the trenches. Each conversation is a direct line to founders who have navigated the specific challenges of scaling a business, offering an unfiltered look at what actually worked when the pressure was on. You'll hear them break down the practical technology choices and operational tools that powered their growth, but also the less-discussed human elements-the leadership decisions that shaped their culture and the hard-won lessons that never make it into a business plan. This podcast digs into the gritty details of creation, from initial architecture to managing a team through uncertainty. And because a founder's life isn't all pitch decks and code, these discussions often touch on something equally precious: how these dedicated builders actually step away to recharge during their scarce moments of downtime. It’s a collection of stories for anyone curious about the tangible mechanics and the personal resilience behind today's most interesting companies.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 38

The AWS Startup Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Building One of the Tech Giants of Tomorrow in Pakistan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:10
For being home to the fifth largest population in the world, Pakistan has a comparatively small startup community. That said, the country is hitting an inflection point, with internet and smartphone usage becoming more a…
Applying AI to the Ever-Expanding Music Industry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:14
The music industry has gone through massive changes in recent decades. Gone are the days of being able to track each week’s new releases. Now, over 40,000 tracks are uploaded on to music platforms each day. While new tec…
Using Data to Reinvent the P2P Lending Market in ASEAN [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:43
Fintech as a sector has been exploding for the better part of a decade now. Fueled by mass amounts of new data and powerful algorithms, startups around the world have sprung up to innovate within a once stagnant industry…
Connecting the Dots to Launch a Travel Startup in Myanmar [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:47
When users head to Oway’s website to book travel in and out of Myanmar, they arrive at an easy-to-use portal where planning a trip end-to-end is within a few clicks. Much like U.S.-based Expedia, the 8-year-old startup o…
Optimizing Waterflows Using Machine Learning and IoT [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:05
From large metropolises like Singapore to smaller villages in places like Thailand, water is a constant need that flows through any community. And with climate change accelerating, the demand to properly manage this vita…
Betting on a New Wave of Pakistani Entrepreneurs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:01
For Kalsoom Lakhani, investing in the future of the Pakistani startup ecosystem was something of a homecoming. Having grown up in Pakistan before moving to the U.S. for university, Lakhani watched as her native country b…