Leveraging Opportunities Amidst Crisis

Anna Nordell Westling is the CMO and co-founder of Sana Labs, a platform that in the coming years will provide personalized learning to millions of users with AI. Anna is an entrepreneurial strategic brand builder with over 15 years of experience in developing and implementing marketing strategies. She is also an advisor of the AI Sustainability Center and sits in the steering committee of Nordic AI and is a board member of UIC the top five global B2B Incubators in Sweden. Anna is also the top 10 finalists of the Women in AI awards Europe 2020.

Reimagining learning through personalization

Sana Labs is reimagining how humanity learns by applying the most recent breakthroughs within machine learning. Having raised $18 million in series A funding amidst the pandemic, Sana Labs is on a mission to scale across the board and make personalized learning available to all.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world — Nelson Mandela. The power of education and its impact is immense. It helps us progress as individuals and tap into our full potential. However, the problem that exists today is that many of us do not have access to education and in addition to that it is given to the masses with no personalization. Every individual has a unique way of grasping information and retaining it. All of us learn differently and at very different paces. Some of the knowledge we gain is often short-lived due to the lack of personalization in the learning techniques. Sana Labs provides technology that finds every single learner’s unique and optimal path through any given course, Sana ensures that every single learner learns quicker and retains the knowledge for a longer duration. In addition to this 50% of the global workforce needs to be upskilled and reskilled which is one of the largest challenges that corporations are facing today. Therefore, in order to address this problem new tools have to be utilized that solves the issue in a simple, effective and efficient manner.

Creation of Sana Labs

With over 15 years of experience in marketing, Anna was always intrigued by innovation and how technology provided a competitive edge to organizations. During her time with Saatchi and Saatchi, she organized innovation safaris with the leadership team. These trips were designed to highlight innovations that took place in different industries. Anna loved the discussions that would arise from this trip on how the use of technology opened up such large avenues. In addition to this, books by Nick Bostrom challenged her to think about the possibilities and capabilities of machine learning. About half a year later, Anna met Joel Hellermark, CEO and co-founder of Sana Labs. He had a very clear idea on how to combine the latest breakthroughs in machine learning with immense data sets to personalize learning at large; allowing them to change the traditional model of one fits all to make something revolutionary. This was the starting point of Sana Labs.

“Every job, every degree and every assignment is truly an opportunity to learn and to add on to your experience. Eventually you will find that opportunity that truly resonates with your drives and beliefs and gets you excited.”

Stockholm — The unicorn factory

Stockholm is often referred to as the unicorn factory with 5 unicorns and 10 more upcoming unicorns. Spotify is the highest valued startup in Europe. One of the reasons why it is referred to as the unicorn factory is because almost 20% of the entire working population work in the technical field with programming being a very common job. With the rise in tech companies, a lot of founders and ex-founders help the new founders in all possible ways they can with their experience in having walked the road. This creates a very strong eco-system. Sweden has also ensured that it invested and developed social, human, educational and corporate infrastructure to support startups. In addition to this, they have also had a progressive growth in gender equality with a lot of women networks growing and thriving in the community. The culture is very welcoming, people help each other with their challenges and support them in the small ways they can. Anna constantly stresses out the importance of building networks even if they are small as they are very good opportunities to help one another.

DNA of the Stockholm founder

“When I wake up every morning I look at the possibilities and not the downsides of things. Everyday is a new adventure.” says Anna

• Seek out opportunities — Identify opportunities, seize them and follow them. Do not let it pass you by. Have a positive outlook on life. Opportunities are always awaiting you somewhere around the corner. You’ve just got to identify them and seize them. Focus on the half filled glass of water rather than the half empty part of it.
• Resilience — All of us have dreams that we wish to turn into reality. However, when the path gets tough, we tend to give up. Stand tall and strong and fight back for your dreams. Do not give up. Anna says “When you set out to do something, ensure that you see it through till the end”
• Exposure — Be open to new situations and meet new people. “Our careers are to a large extent shaped by people who we listen to and meet”. This not only helps you grow as an individual but also challenges you. Prioritize networking and embracing new people and situations.

About

Thousand Voices — Amplifying voices through stories

Thousand Voices, hosted by Thousand Eyes On Me, is a podcast platform to amplify all voices, especially those that are not heard.

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Women in AI Awards aims to inspire women to take part in AI-related career paths, providing a platform to talents who have launched startups whose products are based on these technologies.

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Author: Divya Maria Sunil is the Podcast Director for Thousand Voices.