YVONNE SOH

Co-Founder & CEO, Noodle Factory (AI Bot platform)

(In her 40's)

 

 

Her story (in her words)

I love to create awesome user experiences using technology and innovation. I'm an avid dog lover, martial arts practitioner, dreamer and lifelong learner. I live to eat, and to enjoy the experiences of life. Currently obsessed with conversational AI, I believe that technology can help to enhance our lives and connect people.

 

I'm a self-taught technologist. Co-founded Jam Factory several years ago, focusing on blended learning experiences for companies, where we encountered first-hand the difficulty of setting up chatbots. We asked ourselves - why must it be so difficult? Is technology not meant to make things better? And hence, Noodle Factory was born. An instant chatbot platform - our NLP algorithms automate content curation for personalised user engagement via conversational AI.

 

I started my career in IT as a consultant at NCS, then spent many years at Dell in technical sales and product management, and then at F5 Networks in Product Marketing, before co-founding Jam Factory and Noodle Factory. And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Another few things that tie very much to my identity is my love of fitness and dogs. I started Brazilian Jiujitsu when I turned 40 and competed in some international competitions (where I felt very very very nervous). Last year, I also started pole dancing and yoga. And I've 2 dogs who rule my life and whom I do competitive dog agility with.

 

Greatest achievement

Building an AI startup from scratch based on a dream (big fan of the TV series "Silicon Valley") and a problem I wanted to solve. The learning curve was very steep since this is not an area I was previously familiar with, and also to be responsible for keeping employees employed is quite scary, but also rewarding. By no means is our startup successful (yet), but we are (slowly) growing and I'm so proud of the diverse team I've built and to see them being passionate about growing the business together. 

 

Biggest challenge thus far

I have always been shy, and generally do not like to be the centre of attention. But my work now requires me to talk. A lot. And to speak and present in public. And to network. I still need a lot of work on networking but I do feel proud that I'm able to deliver presentations in public, although I must confess I do a lot of preparation beforehand, practicing in the shower and in the car.

​

​