AWS Startups Blog

Michelle Kung

Author: Michelle Kung

Michelle Kung currently works in startup content at AWS and was previously the head of content at Index Ventures. Prior to joining the corporate world, Michelle was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, the founding Business Editor at the Huffington Post, a correspondent for The Boston Globe, a columnist for Publisher’s Weekly and a writer at Entertainment Weekly.

How Uber Survives Its Busiest Nights of the Year

Halloween and New Year’s Eve are among Uber’s busiest nights of the year. According to Matt Schallert, a site reliability engineer at Uber NYC, those days can see 50-100% extra trip volume over the rest of the year. See how Matt and his team rely on AWS to make sure they are fully prepared to handle the volume of requests that come through on such ride-share heavy holidays.

Startup Battlefield Winners Pi on Presentation Prep, Picking Co-Founders, and Mastering Live Demos

Sometimes going first can have its advantages. Pi, a tech startup based in San Bruno, California that produces wireless charging devices, won the grand prize at the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield at Disrupt 2017. The first of the 22 competitors to give their presentation, Pi impressed two rounds of judges with their device’s ability to charge up to four phones at full speed, as long as they are located within a foot of Pi’s patented power platform.

AWS Startups on Air Featuring Segment

Startups on Air: On the Ground in San Francisco

With 125, 175, and 160 employees, respectively, Periscope Data, Segment, and Turo are all growing companies with some similar startup aesthetics (work anniversary balloons abound in their offices). But each, as you can see in the videos below, is working on a unique problem and trying to keep their customers happy.