EP39: From Design to AI: Building a Human-Centred Tech Future with Alyna Butt

From Communication Design to Founding a Tech Agency

Alyna's path into technology wasn't a straight line. After graduating in communication design and working in editorial roles across media houses, banks, and corporate firms, she felt a persistent pull toward building something of her own — drawn specifically to technology's capacity to genuinely improve how people live and work. In late 2019, with no investors and no backup plan, she took the leap: founding her own agency with just three people and her personal savings, grounded in her existing background in human-centred design and design thinking.

Turning the Pandemic Into a Catalyst

Just months after founding her business, the COVID-19 pandemic hit — a moment Alyna initially feared could end everything. Instead, it became a genuine turning point. Recognising that design alone was no longer sufficient for the businesses she wanted to serve, she pivoted the company into a full technology and software development house, driving digital transformation and automation for clients. Today, Vuno Technologies employs over 40 people — developers, designers, AI engineers, and data scientists — working with clients globally.

Bridging Creativity and Engineering at Leadership Level

One of Alyna's biggest early challenges was navigating leadership without a traditional technical background — learning how engineering teams think, how products are actually built, and how technical processes scale. Rather than viewing this as a disadvantage, she describes it as a genuinely exciting learning curve that shaped her evolution as both a leader and a thinker, allowing her to bridge creative and technical perspectives in a way a purely technical or purely creative founder might not.

Building Culture as a Deliberate Choice, Not an Afterthought

Alyna identifies culture-building as one of her most significant and deliberate achievements. Rather than defaulting to conventional corporate hierarchy, she intentionally built an environment centred on ownership, collaboration, and continuous learning — something she describes as her proudest achievement, citing the genuine enthusiasm her team brings to the office as proof the culture has taken root.

Staying Relevant in an Industry That "Doesn't Wait for Anyone"

Reflecting on the relentless pace of change in technology — from blockchain's dominance to today's AI focus — Alyna emphasises that staying relevant requires constant learning, willingness to pivot, and sometimes rebuilding core ideas entirely. Rather than viewing these repeated shifts as obstacles, she frames each one as a catalyst that's made both her and her company more resilient.

Sector-Agnostic AI Development

Vuno Technologies works across healthcare, finance, education, consulting, and HR, with a strong focus on AI-driven product development over the past two years. While Alyna is unable to disclose specific projects, this sector-agnostic approach reflects a broader pattern of applying core AI and product development expertise flexibly across very different industry contexts.

A Legacy Built on Consistency, Not Grand Moments

Asked about her long-term vision and legacy, Alyna resists framing it around any single, dramatic achievement. Instead, she describes real impact as something that starts small — an individual decision to act more thoughtfully or consciously — and compounds over time through consistent, intentional leadership: creating genuine opportunities for others to grow, and building something ethical and meaningful, day by day.

Advice for Aspiring Founders: Just Start

Alyna's core advice for women considering launching their own AI or tech ventures is refreshingly direct: don't wait for the perfect idea, timing, or product. Drawing on her own experience consulting with founders, she identifies the trap of endless refinement — chasing flawlessness — as one of the most common reasons promising ventures never get off the ground. She's open about having pivoted and changed direction multiple times herself, framing failure and course-correction as a normal, even necessary, part of the founder journey — the real risk lies in never trying at all.

Building AI Literacy Without Becoming a Data Scientist

On upskilling, Alyna makes an important distinction: genuine AI literacy doesn't require becoming a data scientist or algorithm engineer. Her guidance for women looking to build AI skills is to engage with existing programmes and hackathons, and focus on knowing enough to meaningfully implement AI in practical, real-world contexts — a far more accessible starting point than deep technical specialisation.

The Value of Community: UKAI and Women in AI

Alyna speaks warmly about her experience joining the UKAI Women in AI Working Group, describing initial nervousness giving way to genuine inspiration from the diversity of backgrounds and experience among fellow members. More broadly, she highlights the breadth of UKAI's work — from national AI regulation and policy to practical, industry-specific application — as a constant source of learning, and specifically praises the accessibility of events held across the UK, not just in London, through both hybrid and online formats.