AWS Startups Blog

Whether you’re adventuring through an unfamiliar  country or closing an overseas business deal, there’s no question that in our increasingly globalized world, conversation is key. And while functional multilingual AI transactions are likely on the technological horizon, when it comes to forging meaningful connections across cultures, true personal communication is essential. As Nehal Shah, director of engineering at Babbel, puts it, AI is “growing rapidly, evolving at a tremendous pace, but there’s still no replacement for human interaction or that human element.” Especially when it comes to picking up a new language, humans simply need to connect.

“There’s a burgeoning ecosystem of African entrepreneurs that wants to make products for the community. They want to see upliftment amongst their friends and family,” says Murray Legg, the accelerator director of Founders Factory Africa.

If you live at a distance from farm country, agriculture might seem like an unchanging industry, built around traditional methods and relatively low-tech tools. Even a Google Image search primarily brings up pictures of tractors plowing through fields. However, the economic risks of agriculture actually force farmers to be early adopters of new technology.

By any measure, according to a World Bank report last year, South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world. “The only hope that this country has is deep, inclusive growth,” says Jenny Retief, CEO of Riversands Incubation Hub, a startup initiative helping the country’s diverse entrepreneurs thrive.

In 2009, Johannes Reck, a student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, arrived in Beijing one day earlier than his friend and classmate, Tao Tao. Tao, who knew Beijing well, was able to serve as a local guide to Reck once he arrived, and the trip was a success. Without Tao, however, Reck found himself at a loss as to where to go or what to do.

When creating your startup’s online presence, it’s essential to understand the vital role that content marketing plays. From blog and social media posts, to videos, and press releases – good content lasts forever and can do wonders for your SEO. Director of Marketing at HubSpot for Startups, Amanda Sibley, shares the benefits of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content. She discusses how this cost-effective alternative to traditional marketing can differentiate a startup’s brand and build authority, reputation, and a voice of influence.

Updating the features on a company’s site is intended to boost capabilities, but new additions become thousands of independently built moving parts that must work together in a single ecosystem without interruption. Tobias Kunze, the CEO and founder of Glasnostic, tells us more.

As a former venture capitalist turned three-time founder, Darin Brannan has learned a thing or two about starting a successful startup. Not only has he nurtured at least two companies from birth to IPO, growing each to hundreds and thousands of employees, but he’s also managed 34 company acquisitions at the same time.

In 2018, AWS launched its Hackdays program, offering teams from around ASEAN the opportunity and resources to build projects and compete for prizes, the top of which was a trip to Las Vegas for the annual re:Invent conference. Over 1,000 developers from countries including Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand formed teams to develop new technologies during a one day hackathon. The winners of those days then squared off in Jakarta, with the team from Thailand ultimately winning the top prize and the trip to Las Vegas.

Despite being a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico’s healthcare landscape is vastly different from the mainland. Federal funding for Medicare and Medicaid is 40-50% lower than the average U.S. state, creating financial strains for hospitals and providers managing those patients. Federal incentives for using electronic medical records are also far lower, with many hospitals and clinics choosing to stay on paper. At Health Gorilla, we’re committed to making interoperability actionable in real-world clinical practice.