73: Expedia for Groceries: AI Technology Solving Real-World Problems

About this episode

Anastassia Lauterbach interviews Andy Elwood about how AI can help save money at grocery stores through innovative price comparison technology.

Summary : Can AI technology actually save you money at the grocery store? Anastassia talks with Andy Ellwood, CEO of Stretch, about how artificial intelligence is being democratized into a consumer app tackling food waste and grocery inflation. Discover how one founder is making AI concepts tangible, accessible, and profitable for everyday shoppers. The conversation spans Andy's entrepreneurial origin story, the surprisingly complex data engineering problem behind grocery price comparison, the emerging role of agentic AI in consumer commerce, the cybersecurity challenges of working with Fortune 100 retailers, and the macro forces — from geopolitics to fertiliser supply chains — that make Stretch's mission more urgent by the day. Andy Ellwood is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, and community builder deeply rooted in the American startup ecosystem. He started his first business at age 12. Over his career, he has worked on teams whose companies were acquired by Facebook and Google (Waze), and has founded multiple companies of his own. Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach is an AI thought leader, educator, author, and podcast host based in Basel, Switzerland. She is the author of the Romy &amp…

People in this episode

Host: Anastassia Lauterbach

Guest: Andy Elwood

Topics covered

• AI in grocery shopping
• price comparison
• entrepreneurship
• consumer commerce
• data engineering
• cybersecurity
• food waste

Keywords

• AI
• grocery shopping
• price comparison
• Stretch
• food waste
• entrepreneurship
• consumer technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stretch, Facebook, Google, Waze

More episodes of AI Snacks With Romy & Roby: Democratizing AI Technologies

• 78: AI Costs & the Future of Tech Finance with Carmen Li · June 8, 2026 · 36 min
• 77: Can Humans Compete With Machines? Part 2, with Dr. Vivienne Ming, the 'Mad Scientist' · June 1, 2026 · 46 min
• 76: Can Humans Compete With Machines? Part 1, with Dr. Vivienne Ming, the 'Mad Scientist' · May 25, 2026 · 36 min
• 75: Understanding AGI :The Future of Democratizing AI Technology with Craig Kaplan, Part 2 · May 19, 2026 · 1h 8m
• 74: Rethinking the Geometry of AI: Inside the Mind of an Independent Researcher Building a New Theory of Artificial Neurons with Matthew M Murphy · May 11, 2026 · 35 min
• 72: Human-AI Relationships | Exploring Consciousness in 'After Yang' · April 28, 2026 · 43 min