Introducing The Voicebot Podcast Episode 1 with SoundHound’s Katie McMahon
Today we are announcing Episode #1 of The Voicebot Podcast titled, The Upstart, SoundHound. It is a one-hour interview with SoundHound Vice President and GM Katie McMahon. There is near constant coverage of the latest news related to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. There is frequent mention of Siri and Cortana on these pages and others. But what about the independents? What about the voice assistant platforms not already tied to the strict rules and business models of tech titans focused on shopping, search, phones, social media and office productivity? SoundHound is an independent option.
Katie and I have a wide-ranging discussion about the company’s legacy in music identification (N.B. Katie started at rival Shazam before coming over to SoundHound) to the extension of the platform to understand natural language and then building out a platform that can respond to information and task requests. We hope you enjoy the first of our weekly interviews.
Where to Listen
You can listen to the episode above or through your favorite podcast player (provided you tell us what that is and we submit for hosting). Here are the links for iTunes, acast, Stitcher and Google Play.
Show Notes
Host Bio: Bret Kinsella is Founder and Editor of Voicebot.ai
Guest Bio: Katie McMahon is General Manager at SoundHound Inc., where she is responsible for the company’s consumer business. She also provides leadership across strategy, sales, strategic partnerships, and marketing. Prior to joining SoundHound Inc., Katie was Vice President of Business Development at Shazam, where she played an instrumental role in scaling the company and building Shazam’s mobile strategy and brand.
Prior to Shazam, Katie was the founder and CEO of Westport Communications Inc., a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) based in Tokyo. Previously, Katie worked with the executive management team at Japan Communication Inc. on special projects including IPO preparations and investor relations. Katie graduated with high distinction from the University of Virginia, with a bachelor’s degree in Political & Social Thought.
Host Notes: This interview took place in the spring and so some items may not have the hindsight benefit of the events of Q2 2017. Regardless, you get a fresh look from an independent view on the voice assistant market, prescient understanding of how things will (and did in some cases already) develop and how consumers will use voice technology in the future.
John Done Will Execute Tasks on Your Behalf, Like Waiting on Hold
Voicebot Interview: Onsei is Bringing Voice Applications to Germany
