Women who Build

About Women who Build

Learn Practical Tips About Company Building from the Top Leaders in Business & Technology.

Publisher

Shreya Bakliwal

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Sept 2020

Latest episode

11 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

62 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   11 Oct 2026

   Shannon Bradshaw, SVP, Viam: Scaling Robotics Adoption Through Developer Education.

   Robotics adoption is increasing, and the talent pool building robotics applications is changing: the ever-curious and experimental software engineer is joining the mix! Recognizing this shift, Viam has launched Viam Education, an initiative led by Shannon Bradshaw, SVP of Product and Education, to lower the barriers to robotics development and equip software engineers with the skills to build real-world robotics applications, even without prior robotics experience. Shannon brings extensive experience in developer education, having built education programs at MongoDB and Cockroach Labs that delivered training and certification to millions of engineers. He also served as an Education Partner at Unusual Ventures. Now, at Viam, he is applying that experience to robotics. In this episode of Humans Who Build, we learn: • Education as a product growth lever: Lessons from MongoDB, Cockroach Labs, and Viam on integrating education into product strategy, from start to scale. • Viam 101 and the evolving robotics talent pool: Making robotics accessible to software developers without prior robotics experience. • From prototype to scale: Managing larger robot fleets and building the right infrastructure early. • Productization and systems integrators: Reducing customization and lessons from Viam's partnership with Tech Mahindra. For those of you not familiar with Viam's work: Viam, founded by MongoDB co-founder Eliot Horowitz, is a robotics software platform that enables developers and companies to build, deploy, and manage robotic applications without developing the underlying infrastructure from scratch. At Protean, we're interested in understanding how technology companies move beyond successful prototypes to achieve repeatable adoption and growth. Shannon's experience offers an interesting perspective on how education can help expand the ecosystem of developers and companies building on a technology platform.

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Tim Stuart, CEO, AMP: Scaling Hardware/Robotics for Enterprise & Funding Physical AI Growth.

   The first thing we noticed when we spoke to Tim Stuart for our latest episode of Humans Who Build was his calm and clarity of thought.That clarity reflected in his customer understanding, which led Dennis Bagley and his team at SPSA to partner with Tim's team at AMP. In November 2025, SPSA signed a 20-year agreement with AMP to scale automated waste processing to 540,000 tons annually by 2029. In the last episode, we discussed how the government decides who and how to partner with a new technology company. In this episode, we get the opposite side of things to prep for working with the government and scaling a small pilot to a 20-year agreement with a public authority (SPSA), a project designed to reach 540k tons of annual processing capacity by 2029. AMP is a waste-technology company using AI, robotics, and automated sortation systems to reduce labor costs, increase resource recovery, and deliver more reliable operations. It is backed by Sequoia Capital, Congruent Ventures, California State Teachers Retirement, among many others.Tim brings a particularly relevant perspective to these questions. Before joining AMP, he spent nearly 18 years at Republic Services, ultimately serving as Executive Vice President and COO. There, he led the adoption, implementation, and scaling of new technologies across a large operating network, while overseeing field operations, integrations, and digital operations strategy. Prior to Republic, Stuart spent approximately 11 years at Waste Management, IncIn this episode, we will learn:1. SPSA deal architecture: Scalability, risk, and execution capacity.2. Scaling technology inside a large enterprise: Lessons from Republic and AMP.3. AMP’s evolution from a robotics vendor to an operating company: The importance of long-term ownership and accountability.4. Underwriting risk as a hardware company and sharing it with partners: Technology, construction, operations, and performance risks.5. Funding the growth of a hardware company: Cash Flow from Operations vs. Fundraising.6. Building execution capacity across multiple large projects: Managing attention, capital, and operational resources.This episode is part of our Humans Who Build x Robots for America series, where we speak with robotics companies and their customers about what it takes to move industrial automation beyond pilots and into scaled deployment.Link in comments.#hardware (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/hardware) #scale (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/scale) #government (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/government) #robotics (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/robotics) #roi (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/roi)

3. 

   11 Sept 2026

   Dennis Bagley, Executive Director, SPSA on Government Contracts, Underwriting Tech Risk & Fee Structures.

   Public waste authorities are increasingly looking for ways to recover more material, extend landfill life, improve long-term economics, and modernize processing infrastructure. In its 2024 assessment, the EPA estimated that the US needs $36-43bn of investment to modernize recycling infrastructure by 2030. The report notes that this modernization could include advanced technologies such as optical sorters and robotic arms as part of higher-end facility upgrades. SPSA’s work with AMP is an early example of what that modernization can look like in practice. SPSA Waste Solutions is a regional public authority serving communities in southeastern Virginia and responsible for managing municipal solid waste and long-term disposal infrastructure. AMP is a waste-technology company using AI, robotics, and automated sortation systems to reduce labor costs, increase resource recovery, and deliver more reliable operations. In November 2025, SPSA signed a 20-year agreement with AMP to scale automated waste processing across the region, with the project designed to reach 540,000 tons of annual processing capacity by 2029 and divert 50% of waste from landfill. In our conversation with Dennis Bagley, Executive Director, SPSA, we focus on what industrial automation founders can learn from that process: how to work with government customers, build trust, structure fee and incentives, move from pilot to long-term deployment, and how a public service authority underwrites risk. This episode is part of our Humans Who Build x Robots for America series, where we speak with robotics companies and their customers about what it takes to move industrial automation beyond pilots and into scaled deployment. #wastemanagement (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/wastemanagement) #public (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/public) #virginia (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/virginia) #publicprivatepartnerships (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/publicprivatepartnerships)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

4,657,715,922

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

11 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 59 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

60

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

51

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.