Inventor's Corner: Live Pitch & Feedback Session

Amy Wees is the CEO of Amazing at Home E-Commerce Consulting,
a world-renowned company that has helped thousands of brands launch private label products on Amazon and beyond! Amazing at Home provides education and consulting to help brands develop unique products, validate them in the marketplace, source at profitable margins, and launch with amazing brand messaging, copywriting, and search engine optimization.

Amazingathome.com courses and consulting were ranked third in the world in the 2020 Amazon Seller Poll, and Amy shares her skills teaching entrepreneurs around the world through virtual coaching sessions and in-person events.

Her Story: I invented a product from scratch and brought it to the market along with an entire line of products for my brand. I’ve been flipping products as a hobby on eBay and Amazon for over 15 years. Through my experience generating revenue for thousands of brands, I've mastered market research, business planning, copywriting, and advertising. My goal is to discover your passion, build your confidence and help you build a brand that will knock your customers' socks off!

Alamo Inventors Inc., (501c3), Founder
Director of Artificial Intelligence SIG

Richard Rodriguez currently serves as the Director of Partnership Development for the National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC) at the University of Texas (UT) at San Antonio. As director, he liaisons with NSCC ecosystem partners to develop sponsored research projects, workforce opportunities and educational initiaitives supporting student success. Richard is certified in ITIL-4 Foundation for IT Service Management (ITSM). He earned his Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering Technology from Texas A&M University, College Station and will graduate in Spring 2022 with a Master's of Science in Data Analytics at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Mr. Rodriguez's currently serves as Co-Chair of the Innovation and Economic Development Committee for the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Cybersecurity Council. He is the founder and immediate past-president of Alamo Inventors Inc. (501c3) and director of its Artificial Intelligence Special Interest Group. Since 2008, Richard is a member of the Association for University Technology Managers (501c3) and a member of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (501c3).

As an independent technologist, his research intent involves multi-modal artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) in Human to Machine Interface (HMI), combining computer vision systems and Natural Language Processing (NLP). 

Prior to his appointment at the NSCC, Mr. Rodriguez was the Director of Information Management and Technology at the UTSA College of Education and Human Development charged with directing the Information Technology, Communications, and Instructional Technology groups. He was responsible for the infrastructure design and build of Digital Transformation Learning Labs to accommodate pedagogical research, distance learning, short-video production, educational AR/VR apps, and wireless network data analysis. 

Rodriguez is a former Technology Analyst / Licensing Assistant at South Texas Technology Management (STTM), a UT System level technology commercialization office, part of the UT Health Science Center. His charge included meeting with faculty researchers and documenting novel technologies through invention disclosure contributing to claims on  patent applications and in licensing deals. STTM supported UT San Antonio, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, UT Brownsville and UT Pan American.

George grew up on a farm and consequentially, had to be creative, innovative and motivated in order to survive. He has extensive experience developing non-destructive inspection equipment, techniques and procedures for reliable detection of defects in critical aircraft structure during his 30 year plus engineering Air Force career.

He is an experienced open innovation product development mechanical engineer and owner of Burkhardt Designs LLC based in San Antonio, TX. On new product concepts, he conducts detailed patent and product searches, marketability studies and if viable, then researches, designs, fabricates and tests prototypes in his machine shop to ensure functionality and performance. If design requirements are met, applications for Intellectual Property protection are then normally submitted and followed by seeking licensing opportunities from open innovation companies.

To date, five products have been licensed to different licensees across various product categories, four of which have issued utility patents with the remaining product patent pending.