In today’s episode of the Team Business podcast, co-hosts Mike Fusco and Ray Ramirez interview Paolo Pirjanian, the Founder and CEO at Embodied, Inc. Paolo talks about his passion and love for technology and how he developed a robot called Moxie that helps children promote their social, emotional and cognitive skills.
Episode Highlights:
- Mike introduces Paolo Pirjanian. (9:12)
- Paolo mentions that he studied in Denmark, got his master’s degree, then got a Ph.D. in computer vision and robotics. (10:06)
- Paolo shares that he moved to the US 20 years ago, to achieve his dream job, which was working for NASA JPL. (10:16)
- Paolo mentions that in 2012, they got acquired by iRobot, which is a company that created a robotic vacuum cleaner. (11:48)
- Paolo thinks that he’s always been driven by his curiosity for the unknown. (12:30)
- Paolo shares that they have a culture document in their company which has become the foundation for everyone in the company. (18:04)
- Paolo mentions that the trust between the team members is significant. (19:49)
- Paolo shares that Moxie is an animated companion robot that can interact with you, using eye contact when you sit in front of it. (20:34)
- Paolo shares that Moxie’s core purpose is to help children promote their social, emotional, and cognitive skills. (21:40)
- Paolo mentions that Moxie’s other feature is their companion app for the parents that runs on a smartphone, which enables the parents to keep track of how their child is doing, on various metrics that they’re measuring. (27:47)
- Paolo mentions that they’re still currently doing the beta testing with families. (29:29)
- Paolo shares that they have been developing Moxie for the last five years, and having the ability to share what they have built is exciting. (39:06)
Key Quotes:
- “I think that core talent required by anyone wanting to build a company is team building. It starts and ends with a team, the success of a company, I believe. So, over the years I have developed a lot of my skills around understanding how to build a motivated team and expand the team to grow, to thrive together, to pursue missions that seem impossible.” – Paolo Pirjanian
- “What brings success in life is having those soft skills. So, we are trying to help children with promoting those social, emotional cognitive skills that are essential for having a successful personal life, as well as successful career life.” – Paolo Pirjanian
- “I love technology. That’s the muscle I’ve trained myself on over the years. But also, it combines with the fact that we can have an impact on many children. And beyond that other parts, our society can benefit from the technology we have developed as well.” – Paolo Pirjanian
- “If you have a passion for something, it’s not about money, it’s about the passion and the impact you want to have. You only live once, right? You want to be able to wake up in the morning and think to yourself, I’m doing everything I wanted to do. I’m doing everything I can do, rather than riding the wave.” – Paolo Pirjanian
Resources Mentioned:
- Fusco & Orsini Insurance Services
- Mike Fusco LinkedIn
- Ray Ramirez LinkedIn
- Paolo Pirjanian LinkedIn
- Embodied, Inc.
- Moxie
