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<description>&lt;p&gt;This week, Tom Shapland shares his journey from agriculture tech to founding Canonical, a tool that helps voice AI developers understand and improve conversations by mapping call stages.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tom has deep experience in the voice world—we loved this conversation and we’re sure you will too!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Links&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;https://canonical.chathttps://x.com/Tom_Shaplandhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-shapland-b4494212/&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapters&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;0:00 - Intro&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;1:05 - Welcome and first AI moment&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;3:03 - Computer vision for thirsty plants&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;5:50 - Explaining AI to farmers&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;7:52 - Hardware is hard&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;8:31 - Non-VC shaped business struggles&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;16:51 - Starting a new company&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;19:41 - From metrics to conversation stages&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;22:42 - Voice AI evolution&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;26:40 - Balancing determinism and freedom&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;29:53 - Who uses Canonical and when&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;32:39 - Don't make your agent spell anything&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;35:52 - Zero to 80% is easy, production is hard&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;39:28 - Future of voice AI adoption&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;42:21 - Book recommendations and closing&lt;/p&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit &lt;a href="https://www.smartspeakers.fm?utm_medium=podcast&amp;#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1"&gt;www.smartspeakers.fm&lt;/a&gt;</description>

Smart Speakers Podcast

Dave Zohrob & Harish Agarwal

The craft behind voice AI magic with Tom Shapland

MAR 17, 202545 MIN
Smart Speakers Podcast

The craft behind voice AI magic with Tom Shapland

MAR 17, 202545 MIN

Description

<p>This week, Tom Shapland shares his journey from agriculture tech to founding Canonical, a tool that helps voice AI developers understand and improve conversations by mapping call stages.</p><p>Tom has deep experience in the voice world—we loved this conversation and we’re sure you will too!</p><p><strong>Links</strong></p><p>https://canonical.chathttps://x.com/Tom_Shaplandhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-shapland-b4494212/</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapters</strong></p><p>0:00 - Intro</p><p>1:05 - Welcome and first AI moment</p><p>3:03 - Computer vision for thirsty plants</p><p>5:50 - Explaining AI to farmers</p><p>7:52 - Hardware is hard</p><p>8:31 - Non-VC shaped business struggles</p><p>16:51 - Starting a new company</p><p>19:41 - From metrics to conversation stages</p><p>22:42 - Voice AI evolution</p><p>26:40 - Balancing determinism and freedom</p><p>29:53 - Who uses Canonical and when</p><p>32:39 - Don't make your agent spell anything</p><p>35:52 - Zero to 80% is easy, production is hard</p><p>39:28 - Future of voice AI adoption</p><p>42:21 - Book recommendations and closing</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.smartspeakers.fm?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">www.smartspeakers.fm</a>