Amazon Alum Returns to Entrepreneurship with STEM Program
Seun Phillips, the founder of Stemnetics, took on a six-figure job at Amazon in between stints as an entrepreneur. He had previously founded Project Syncere and later launched Stemnetics in Michigan. However, after having his first child, he stepped away from full-time entrepreneurship to take up a role as vice president of education and engagement at the Michigan Science Center.
Phillips used this opportunity to bootstrap his company, hiring teachers and using science center earnings to keep Stemnetics running. When his family moved to California in 2022, he started searching for new roles and landed a job at Amazon Robotics as a senior partnerships manager for their $1 billion Industrial Innovation Fund.
During his time at Amazon, Phillips learned valuable lessons about working backward from the customer's needs and prioritizing mental health through 'Wellness Days'. However, after a year, he left to focus on Stemnetics full-time. He demonstrated the program to a school principal in California, which eventually led to the expansion of his business.