AWS Startups Blog

To celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we’re featuring posts throughout the month that highlight women in technology who are building and creating. Meet Jill Stelfox. Jill is a serial founder and entrepreneur, holds multiple patents, and is the chief executive officer (CEO) and executive chair of Panzura. Panzura’s award-winning CloudFS global file system gives the ability to access files from anywhere with visibility, security, and control.

“Evolutionary Architectures” is a four-part blog series that shows how solution designs and decisions evolve as companies go through the different stages of the startups lifecycle. In this series, we follow the aptly named Example Startup whose idea is to create a “fantasy stock market” application, similar to fantasy sports leagues. They envision holding four “tournaments” over the course of a year.

In part 2, we learn how Example Startup continues evolving their solutions to meet an increase in requirements and growth.

To celebrate the voices of Black employees at AWS and amplify their work’s impact, we are honored to share the stories of eight AWS employees working to advance Black entrepreneurs in ways that strengthen Black businesses and support economic growth in historically underserved Black communities.

New research commissioned by AWS shows that workplace culture is vital to a startup’s success. Six out of seven startup leaders (86%) believe a company’s culture contributes to its growth, with 85% saying it can play a critical role in securing investment and the same number saying it is an important factor in attracting new talent.

The AWS Startups Blog is excited to introduce Sevetri Wilson. Sevetri is a serial entrepreneur whose most recent startup, Resilia, enables nonprofits to increase capacity and funders to go beyond the grant with technical assistance, coaching, and capacity-building support. In October of 2022, Resilia closed a Series B $35M funding round, the largest raise ever for a solo Black female founded tech company.

In October 2022, Amazon launched its Catalytic Capital initiative, investing $150 million in funds to underrepresented entrepreneurs. Now, AWS is further accelerating the conversation through strategic partnerships and data-driven reporting with the publication of the State of Black Venture Report, launched Tuesday at the 2023 State of Black Venture event hosted by BLCK VC at the AWS Startup Loft in San Francisco, California.

Today, we’re talking to three Black founders and leaders: Kwame Boler, CEO and co-founder of Spritz Natasha Greene, We Intervene; and Chandler Malone, CEO of Bootup. These Black leaders and innovators are making impacts in their communities, industries, and beyond. Read on to see how they’ve overcome obstacles and how they encourage and mentor young Black founders in tech and beyond.

Got a great idea? Build it with AWS Activate. AWS Activate is our free startup program that provides tools and resources including AWS credits, AWS Support credits, exclusive member-only offers, personalized guidance, expert advice and more.  It is designed to help startups build, launch, and grow.
To help you show your startup some love on Valentine’s Day, we’ve curated a list of exclusive offers from AWS Activate Providers.

Via her participation in the Black Founders cohort for the AWS Impact Accelerator Program, Dr. LaVonda Brown gained access to personalized coaching, capital funding, and technical solutions. Through this connection, she was able to deliver on a key requirement for their app to go to market.

For startups, coming full circle is a milestone defined by partnering with the programs used during early stage growth, or providing resources that help other startups succeed as well.

Ramp, a B2B fintech startup founded in 2019 by veteran founders Eric Glyman and Karim Atiyeh, does both. Ramp is a tech-first finance automation platform whose serverless modern application–in conjunction with its corporate card–allows businesses to more efficiently manage their finances.