Kath Blackham built voice ordering for Domino's back when every single word a bot said had to be scripted. Then Amazon switched off the platform her entire business stood on. Kath is the Founder and CEO of VERSA, the Melbourne agency she started in 2010 that grew into one of Australia's first conversational AI agencies. Before that she was head of product at Seek and realestate.com.au, and helped float a business on the ASX that raised about $42 million. By 2017 she was selling voice AI to some of the biggest brands in the world, building on Amazon Alexa for Domino's, Netflix, Village Cinemas, Huggies, Pfizer and the American Red Cross, with 70 staff and offices around the world at the peak. VERSA has also run a four day work week for eight years. And at 19, before any of it, she opened one of the first foreign supermarkets in the Russian Far East. In this conversation she tells the story she says she's never told before. Amazon killed smart speaker skills in 2020, COVID landed the same year, she looked over the abyss financially, pivoted three times, raised money in the US and won Mint Mobile. Plus how the four day week really works (100 percent of the pay for 80 percent of the time at 100 percent productivity), why she calls it the antidote to AI, and her prediction that we will spend the next five years catching up to the technology we already have. CHAPTERS 0:00 The woman who goes in headfirst 1:16 Her first sale, a heavy metal festival 4:28 The trend she missed, and the one she caught 7:05 Hey Alexa, order my usual 8:18 Scripting all 27 ways to say hello 10:46 Netflix, Huggies and the Alexa skills era 12:19 Late 2022, when everything changed 14:03 Amazon switches off her platform 20:27 The story she's never told before 23:16 Three pivots, one lane, one mission 27:33 Gut over data 31:34 Eight years of the four day week 33:26 Measuring a four day week, and the antidote to AI 39:06 Her prediction, five years to catch up 46:37 Autonomous cars and what keeps her up at night 48:48 A business idea born live on air 54:56 Why do we still work five days? 56:57 Feel the fear, and your business is not your family 1:01:43 Wrapping up CONTACT KATH Kath's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathblackham/ VERSA: https://versa.agency CONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST) My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network. I build with AI daily! If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompson/ Subscribe for more conversations with the people actually building AI in Australia!
