Amazon Exec turns AI Founder to Create Ethical AI Data

Photo Credit: Nicole Culver

Alexandra McGauley, former Amazon exec turned AI Founder, is focused on creating ethical, socially responsible AI. After becoming one of the youngest ever female L8 Amazonians at just 27, she joined Unicorn startup Scale AI to build massive data labeling workforces. She realized that there was an opportunity to leverage her passion for advocacy in the AI world and left to build Erud AI - a full service operations management solution for companies who need high quality, ethical, and responsible AI data.

Can you tell our readers about your background? 

I spent about 7 years at Amazon after graduating college. I started as an entry level Area Manager at a huge Fulfillment Center. It was definitely being thrown into the deep end - I was 21 and managing 240 associates. I stuck with the Fulfillment world and promoted quickly, eventually becoming an Amazon Executive at just 27. From there, I went to Unicorn startup Scale AI where I was hired to create massive data labeling workforces. I built a team of about 600 highly skilled data annotators across 3 cities in just under 6 months. While I was at Scale, I saw an opportunity to really lean into the human experience with AI. I feel a huge social responsibility in helping people navigate the job market as AI continues to grow. I also find a lot of joy in creating jobs and a great place for people to work. It was a no-brainer to leave Scale and create Erud AI to solve the gaps I was seeing in the industry.

What inspired you to start your business? 

Like I mentioned, the social responsibility in creating ethical AI is huge. If you’re feeding AI models biased data, it’s going to give you biased opinions. In order to create high quality AI data, the people creating the data have to be unrelentingly focused on the inputs of good data. It isn’t just about creating factually accurate and well structured data - yes that is a huge input and very important - but we also have to focus on diverse sourcing practices and ethical responsibility to protect people’s privacy and gain implicit consent for using data to feed AI. My vision for Erud is that we can 1. Provide the highest quality data to our customers 2. Create really well paying jobs that allow people to coexist with AI without fearing it and 3. Ensure that there is someone in the market focused on the actual outcomes of AI data. We’re not just focused on running as fast as we can and hoping everything turns out okay - we’re truly focused on making data that is going to reflect the diverse perspectives of humanity and be socially responsible.

Where is your business based? 

Erud AI is a remote work first business. Most of our work can be completed remotely, and we’re leaning into that. We’re headquartered in Austin, Texas.

How did you start your business? 

I started with a ton of research and conversations with anyone I could chat with in the industry. I wanted to make sure that what I was building was actually important to my customers. From there, I took a huge leap of faith and decided to go all in. 

What were the first steps you took? 

There are a million little things to do at the beginning like deciding on a name, creating branding, building a website, etc. The first steps I took outside of the tactical things were spending a lot of time in the research phase and understanding what my customers need most.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business? 

The most effective way to raise awareness has definitely been warm outreach through our network. We’ve been reaching out to friends, friends of friends, old coworkers, you name it and asking for introductions or connections. Our community has been extremely generous with their time and invaluable in helping us get connected with customers. We’re also “pounding the pavement” with cold outreach. I actually did a cold-calling internship in college where I went door to door selling advertising space in a coupon book. It sounds silly, but gosh that internship set me up for success in so many ways. Cold calling is tough, rejection and no response is tough, but it's all about staying motivated to the bigger picture.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them? 

I think the biggest challenge has been the mental load you face every day as a Founder. Each day is a mental stamina game. I’m constantly having to keep myself in a positive headspace to keep going forward. It is difficult not to feel the imposter syndrome and feel like everyone is looking at you and watching whether you succeed or fail, but ultimately I have a really strong support system and they have been so wonderful in encouraging me and keeping me motivated. I’m a big believer in overcoming challenges through your own grit. A lot of what I have to overcome with these negative thoughts of “what if I fail”- I just have to take a breather, do something fun like read, or draw, or hang out with a friend, and then I’m reenergized to tackle the problem. You have to take yourself out of the thought spiral, redirect to something more positive or productive, and then tackle the problem once you have some mental space from it.

How do you stay focused? 

When you’re in the early stages of building a company and brand, it can feel overwhelming, and it can also feel like there is no feedback loop to tell you whether or not what you’re doing is actually effective. The key for me is consistency and planning. Each Sunday, I write out all of the actions I need to take, and then I time block them on my calendar for the upcoming week. Time blocking my calendar keeps me focused on what’s next. Discipline keeps me headed forward and completing the input actions that I know will lead to outputs over time.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition? 

Erud AI is highly focused on the human space of the AI world. Whereas most of our competitors are building software platforms for AI Training, we are solely focused on curating human data. This allows us to be more strategically aligned with our customers who are innovating and building technology. Our entire purpose is to build very high quality workforces and train them so well that they can be an extension of our customers’ projects. We build the highest quality human data because we are in the human business and don’t have the distraction of trying to build the next best mouse trap in the AI training platform realm. We are also highly focused on ethical sourcing, data diversity, and social responsibility. When we accept a customer project, we are becoming a thought partner with that customer. We’re helping them ensure that they are building models that will serve all humanity.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? 

We’re a fully B2B business, so the best marketing strategies for us have been word of mouth and introductions. We’ve also had a lot of success with targeted cold outreach. We’re not doing crazy automations or using AI for cold outreach. We’re doing a ton of research to find the decision makers and correct stakeholders, and then researching why that person might need to use our services. It is time consuming, but we are motivated by creating the perfect solutions for our customers and part of being able to do that is really high touch customer experience including their first impression of us at initial outreach.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Find a really great circle of people who will cheer for you when you’re winning and pick you up off the ground when you’re losing. Founding a company is difficult and very scary. Success or failure of the company is quite literally squarely on your shoulders. It is easy to feel like giving up and throwing up the white flag, so you need to find people to surround yourself with who understand why you started in the first place and what you’re capable of doing. You’ll need them to remind you of that along the way.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why? 

My favorite app is NYT Games. I play Wordle every single day. It is such a fun little brain break for me, and I genuinely really look forward to having that tiny consistency each day. I’m on a 392 day streak of playing and winning. I’ll be really sad when my streak ends.
My favorite blog (or newsletter really) is Innerconnects by Nathan Lambert. It is such a well researched news source, and it gives me a ton of information about AI and tech space trends in just a couple minutes’ read.

My favorite business focused book is Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Radical candor creates trust is one of Erud AI’s foundational values. I really believe that the best way to build a high functioning team is through transparency paired with a genuine respect and care for everyone around you.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why? 

My number one tried and true favorite business tool is my planner. It is a physical pen-to-paper planner. I just find something really helpful in getting my thoughts on paper, organizing, and then planning my day. I spend time each day organizing myself and this helps me ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. This obsession with planning and organization has served me well throughout my career, but especially in these early days where I have a ton on my plate, it makes sure that my customers get the level of service they are looking for.

Who is your business role model? Why? 

My business role model is Melissa Nick. She was the VP of North American Customer Fulfillment during my time at Amazon and is currently the Chief Supply Chain Officer at ShipBob. I really admire her style. Amazon is a behemoth and at the VP level at Amazon you’re managing hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of buildings. Melissa had such a command of the many metrics available to her. She really understands not only the outputs and what they were saying at the macro level, but she also understands the nuanced inputs and how to coach performance based on the full story of data available. At Amazon, she was unapologetic in her determination for people to strive for greatness, but she is also such a servant leader. When you’re in a room with her, you can see her genuine empathy for employees at every level of the organization. She’s inspiring because she is so confident that being excellent is the only option, but she isn’t cocky and doesn’t come across as a dictator. It is a really hard balance to strike. 

How do you balance work and life? 

I find that work life “balance” doesn’t really exist in an equal split. There are times in life where you need to sprint with your career, and there are times in life where you need to focus on and prioritize your social and personal life. I find a lot of joy in creating jobs for people and helping them achieve their career goals. Right now, I’m really focused on Erud’s growth. I’m building right now so that I can achieve a brighter future for my family. I’m still social - I prioritize fitting in seeing my friends who build me up, even if it’s just a quick dinner. But right now, I’m not concerned with working long hours or “grinding” because I know it will create a future I’m excited about.

What’s your favorite way to decompress? 

My favorite ways to decompress are relaxing with my partner, snuggling my pets, and playing Pickleball. I play Pickleball almost every day. I also really love to read thriller books - let me know if you have any great recommendations.

What do you have planned for the next six months? 

I’m so excited about the next 6 months. We’re working on some really cool things. AI is the way of the future and we believe in our responsibility to steward it well. Because of that, we are developing an AI Trainer Certification Program that will allow anyone to upskill themselves. Our program is an accessible approach to help you understand how LLMs are trained, industry standard training techniques, and how you can get involved. Our goal is that this program will make people more marketable in today’s job market, allowing anyone access to AI Training jobs. These jobs are in high supply. We need skilled AI Trainers, and Erud AI is proud to make this skillset more accessible.

How can our readers connect with you?

You can connect with us by visiting our website, following us on LinkedIn, or connecting with me directly on LinkedIn. You can also send a note to contact@erud.ai.