029: Taking the Leap from Architecture into Tech

Episode 029: Taking the Leap from Architecture into TechHow do you make a successful career transition from architecture to tech?It all started with a simple request to go get coffee. Soon co-founders Leona Hudelson and Blake Hudelson were scheduling multiple coffee conversations around the same questions. From this realization, the idea of Architechie emerged. In 2016, Leona and Blake launched Architechie, an online community of thousands of people across the world who work at the intersection of technology and the built environment. Architechie has quickly become a global braintrust of creatives and builders who have been brought together by their shared excitement about the built world and the opportunity to improve it using technology.Leona and Blake join us to share their story of launching this active community, and lessons learned from their multifaceted careers from architecture into technology, entrepreneurship, and the world of investing and startups.Guests:Leona Hudelson currently leads a team of Product and Design leaders at the Netflix Studio Innovation team - an innovation team responsible for Netflix's multi-billion dollar investments into the expansive content offerings. Leona is also a serial entrepreneur and angel investor in both startup and creative communities. Blake Hudelson is an entrepreneur, design leader, and educator based in San Francisco. After studying architecture, Blake spent three years working as an architect at SOM and Studios Architecture before transitioning to becoming a User Experience Designer. Blake then went on to work at the design consultancies Matter and Method, where he designed products for some of the world’s leading technology companies. He later worked at Google’s Advanced Technology and Project Group, a skunkworks technology incubator at Google, where he helped design the world’s first smart garment platform called Jacquard.Blake currently works at Atomic, a venture capital fund and startup incubator where he works launching new products and companies. He is an Adjunct Professor at California College of Arts where he teaches in the Graduate Design program.Show Links:Join Architechie

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The evolution of architectural practice has been relatively slow towards change, yet modern shifts in business and design management have prompted today’s leading architects to rethink how they work. On Practice Disrupted, Evelyn Lee, an architect, design strategist, and Senior Experience Designer at Slack, and architecture business strategy consultant, Je’Nen Chastain, set out to illuminate the future of the profession to help architects remain relevant and valuable in a changing world. They will explore how technology, cultural shifts, and emerging best practices are prompting firm owners to assess their business models and make adjustments in their studios. Each episode features an industry leader, and together our hosts will explore the new frontier of architectural practice.