Ross Finman (Augmodo) on Customer Discovery and Leveraging AI + AR (Part 2)

The Guest

Ross Finman is the CEO of Augmodo, a company utilizing AI and AR to revolutionize grocery store experiences and economics starting with the personal shoppers who fulfill online grocery purchases.

Previously Ross spent 4 ½ years at Niantic. There he founded the AR mapping and Visual Positioning System (VPS) effort before becoming the AR Strategy Lead and then the general manager for the AR Headset group.

He joined Niantic through the acquisition of his first startup, Escher Reality, which became the foundation for Niantic’s AR Platform, now called Lightship.

He started Escher Reality as he was finishing his Ph.D. in Robotics from MIT, after previously completing his undergrad in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon.

Ross Finman

LinkedIn | Twitter
Augmodo

The Conversation

In this conversation, the second of two parts, Ross digs into his current startup, Augmodo.

We discuss:

  • the problem they are solving,

  • the importance and approach to customer discovery,

  • how AR and AI work together to form a solution,

  • why now is the right timing and this the right opportunity, and

  • some recent progress and announcements.

Ross goes on to share additional lessons learned and advice for deep tech startup founders.

Jason McDowallAR smartglasses, enterprise, consumer, UX