Keep up with the innovative tech transforming business
Tech Brew keeps business leaders up-to-date on the latest innovations, automation advances, policy shifts, and more, so they can make informed decisions about tech.
Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.
How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?
A COO is in charge of overseeing the day-to-day of a business while also keeping an eye on the big picture. It’s a careful balance. At a startup, this job also means filling in key areas when needed to make sure things run smoothly and the business keeps growing. An example: Right now, I’m our interim head of marketing!
What’s the most compelling tech project you’ve worked on, and why?
It’s probably what I’m working on right now. We’re bringing AI to calendars through Clockwise AI, a first-of-its-kind conversational calendar experience, powered by GPT. By leveraging natural language processing, Clockwise AI lets you communicate with your calendar in the same way you communicate with an assistant.
If you aren’t familiar with Clockwise, we analyze data like individual schedules, preferences, and habits across multiple people’s calendars at once. But for the first time, thanks to AI, we have the ability to understand exactly what you want when it comes to your calendar. That’s powerful.
This means anyone can get access to a personalized calendar assistant. Just a few months ago, we couldn’t fathom this possibility, but now it’s a reality, and it’s super exciting to feel like we are on the cusp of delivering the most human-like calendar system that’s ever existed.
What technologies are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?
This ties into my last answer. I’ve been really excited about how we can use AI to make people more efficient rather than all-out replacing them. While there’s lots of understandable fear surrounding AI, I also think a lot of companies are also focused on simply making people better at what they do.
I’m least optimistic about Web3.
What’s the best tech-related media you read/watch/listen to?
I love the podcast WorkLife by Adam Grant. He’s an organizational psychologist who really knows his stuff and gives us great inspiration when we think about what our product should look like and how it can help people. Highly recommend checking it out.
What’s something about you we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?
I’m a big sports fan—whether it’s cheering on my rowing team from college or the 49ers, or playing tennis before work, I love to play and watch. I’m also really good at juggling.
What do you think about when you’re not thinking about tech?
Often it’s the latest book I read—I’m a big fiction and nonfiction reader, but you’ll rarely catch me reading a tech-related business book, for better or worse. My most recent favorites are The Splendid and the Vile, about Winston Churchill during the Blitz, and Lessons in Chemistry, a novel by Bonnie Garmus.