Throughout my time at Amazon and AWS, I’ve been very fortunate to meet many of our customers who are working hard to deliver for their own customers. Many of these companies are solving really hard human problems and doing so in ways that are inspiring to builders like me. These interactions were the inspiration for Now Go Build, which chronicles my conversations with these innovators from across the globe, and shows how they’re using technologies from AWS to build delightful experiences and products that might just change the world.

S1 E1: Financial Health for Smallholder Rice Farmers

In this episode, I travel to Indonesia, to meet with HARA Token, a startup based in Jakarta, to explore the technology that links smallholder rice farmers with financial services and their innovative platform.

S1 E2: Automating Old Routines

In this episode, I head to Singapore, to dive into their hot startup scene, and meet with Zimplistic, the company behind the Rotimatic. You might be surprised by the role that IOT and machine learning are playing in bread making, and how these technologies are being used to replicate a process that’s been handed down from parents to children for generations.

S1 E3: Growing Protein for the World

In this episode, I travel to Bergen, Norway, to meet with the founder of Aquabyte, and learn more about the role that machine learning plays in fish farming. They’ve developed a solution that can identify individual fish, track their health over time, monitor water conditions, and identify the best times to harvest. Aquabyte are an example of how responsible fish farming can help meet the world’s ever growing demand for protein.

S1 E4: Creating Opportunity for Refugees

In this episode, I travel to Berlin, Germany, to chat with the founders of the ReDI School and Babbel to learn about the role that technology is playing to help refugees learn in-demand skills and integrate into the German workforce.

S1 E5: Protecting Wildlife

In this episode, I visit South Africa. Home to Africam. A startup that’s playing a critical role in wildlife conservation efforts. Advances in camera technology, video algorithms, and edge computing allow Africam to provide NGOs with the data and tools they need to curb poaching efforts and to increase awareness for their efforts and raise funds in ways that just weren’t possible before the cloud.

S1 E6: Reinventing Healthcare in Brazil

In this episode, I journey down to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to meet with Dr. Consulta and Epitrack to see first-hand how cloud technology is helping to reinvent private health care solutions in one of the most beautiful and densely populated cities in the world. The convergence of healthcare and technology has tremendous potential to alleviate stress on an overburdened healthcare system, increase access, and improve the quality of care for patients.

S1 E7: Creating Human-centric Cities

In this episode, I travel to Porto, Portugal, where they are re-imagining the modern city – a place for people, not cars. Join me as I meet with startups like Venium and CEiiA to explore how they’re using cloud technologies to transform a city that’s more than 2,000 years old into a smart city that meets the needs of their growing and connected population.

S1 E8: Cloudified Music Creation

I didn’t have to travel far for this episode. It’s in my hometown. The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is one of the world’s largest EDM festivals, drawing large crowds and some of the most innovative musicians and creators in the industry. Join me as I meet with DJ Shiftee and Kate Wild, and companies like Splice, Native Instruments, and GUTS to learn how technology is helping to enhance the artistic process and improve experiences for music fans.

S2 E1: Bringing Traditional Arts to Life

The first stop of season two is Bengaluru, where I meet with Zwende, an e-commerce platform for handcrafted products and experiences from all over India. Co-founded by Innu Nevatia and Sujay Suresh, Zwende is helping to preserve traditional crafts, and providing opportunities for makers to sell their goods to a much larger audience – and in the process creating new economic opportunities.

S2 E2: The Future of Elder Care in Japan

In this episode, I travel to Tokyo, Japan, to learn about innovation in elder care. Japan is one of the oldest countries in the world with one of the lowest birthrates in the world, which means that there are less people to care for the elderly. Join me as I meet with builders from across the country that are imagining solutions in very different ways.

S2 E3: Helping Others with Remote Learning

This episode is a bit different than the others. COVID-19 shut things down, people were working from home, students were out of the classroom and learning online. Life seemingly changed overnight. Join me as I virtually meet with Brainly, a startup focused on helping students bridge the gap between remote online learning, and the one-on-one attention and guidance that they had previously had access to in the classroom.

S3 E1: Harnessing Natural Resources

In the kick-off episode of season three, I travel to Iceland, to speak with two innovative companies that are using AWS to tackle some truly hard problems. Join me as I meet with Nanom, a company applying advanced nanotechnology to energy storage, and Kerecis, a company using the skin from Atlantic Cod to create skin grafts used to help heal wounds.

S3 E2: Reforesting the World

In this episode, I travel to Hawai’i. Home of Terraformation. A startup with grand ambitions to reforest more than 3 billion acres globally. But it starts on the Big Island at the Pacific Flight Kaupalaoa pilot restoration site, where they’ve regrown a native forest of more than 6,000 trees, and run one of the largest solar powered desalination sites in the world. Join me as I tour their facilities, visit modular seed banks, and learn how they’re combining human intuition and cloud technologies to plant the right things, in the right places, at the right times.

S3 E3: Electrifying Flight

In this episode, I head to South Burlington, Vermont, the home of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream to meet with another innovative startup, BETA Technologies. Their CTO, Kyle Clark, believes that the future of flight is electric. And to help drive towards that future, his team has developed the ALIA-250c eVTOL aircraft which can travel 400 kilometers at 270 km/h while carrying 635 kg of cargo. Join me as I learn how vertical takeoff and landing, combined with a robust, modular charging network, are changing the way that we think about point-to-point deliveries, last-mile logistics, and commercial flight.

S3 E4: Leveling the Playing Field (In Sport)

In this episode, I visit Copenhagen, Denmark, home of Veo. A company that’s mission is to make sports technology more accessible to athletes at all levels from youth football to semi-professional senior leagues. Through a combination of hardware development and a lot of machine learning, they are providing athletes and sports lovers with unprecedented insights that were previously reserved for the world’s elite clubs. Join me as I speak with their co-founders, and learn how they’re using the cloud to democratize sport.

S3 E4 (Behind the Scenes): A Conversation with Veo’s Co-Founders

A lot of what we film is left on the cutting room floor. Veo is a perfect example. I had an opportunity to sit with two of the co-founders, Keld and Henrik, for nearly 90-minutes. We discussed everything from the overwhelming work it takes to get a startup off the ground to the challenges they have faced building their own hardware. But a lot of this didn’t make it into the episode. So, I’d like to share a bit of that conversation with you now (and don’t worry, we have trimmed it down to 15-minutes).

S3 E5: Bringing Digital Humans to Life

In this episode, I travel to Los Angeles, California, to meet with Soul Machines, a company focused on autonomous animation. As we find ourselves spending more time talking with and through machines than we do face-to-face, the popularity of conversational AI and large language models show that there is an appetite for interfaces that feel more like conversations with people. However, what’s still missing is the connection that’s established with visual and non-verbal cues. The folks at Soul Machines believe that autonomously animated Digital People are the answer.

S3 E6: The Advent of Autonomous Trucking

In the final episode of season three, I travel to Arizona, to see first-hand how autonomous trucking is transforming the global supply chain. To get goods where they’re going safely and efficiently, it’s about more than retrofitting trucks with cameras and sensors. It’s high-definition mapping, deep-learning and simulation, edge computing, and 5g connectivity. And it’s only possible because of the cloud.