Amazon Web Services (AWS) showcased a game-changing leap in AI capabilities during its re:Invent 2025 conference in Las Vegas. The latest enhancements to its AgentCore platform are set to make life easier for businesses venturing into the world of AI-driven solutions. As a serial entrepreneur and founder passionate about practical technologies, I couldn’t resist diving into this announcement from the perspective of how these updates can impact European entrepreneurs, particularly women founders navigating their startups.
What’s New in AWS AgentCore?
AgentCore, part of AWS's Bedrock platform, received several upgrades, transforming the way businesses manage AI agents. These updates specifically address concerns around safety, control, and scaling, essential features for startups steering through uncharted AI waters. Let’s unpack the highlights:
1. AgentCore Policy: Keeping AI Agents in Check
This feature introduces boundary-setting for AI agents in natural language. Simply put, businesses can define rules and permissions to limit how agents operate. Whether refunding an amount, accessing sensitive customer data, or any client-facing operation, these policies act like a safety net ensuring workflows stay compliant. For bootstrapped founders like myself, who juggle rapid scaling with limited resources, this eliminates unnecessary risks.
For example, a retail business managing high customer turnover could set limits: refunds under €50 are automated, while higher amounts require approval. This bridges automation and accountability, a vital aspect for businesses handling sensitive customer interactions across industries.
2. AgentCore Evaluations: Real-Time Monitoring
With 13 pre-built systems, this feature analyzes an agent’s actions, measuring for safety, accuracy, and reliability. Such straightforward monitoring shaves off the time typically spent debugging AI workflows. In my own ventures, tools that simplify oversight have been lifesavers. This function equips teams to immediately address problems, keeping the business rolling without hiccups.
3. AgentCore Memory: Goodbye Repeating Yourself
Persistent memory allows agents to “remember” preferences, data, or past interactions over time. As entrepreneurs building customer-centric tools, personalization remains a major win. Imagine a travel agent chatbot storing preferences for budget airlines or family-friendly hotels, users could resume planning without repetitive instructions. It’s efficient and adds that special touch customers notice.
Lessons for Female Entrepreneurs
As someone mentoring women founders in tech, I can’t stress enough the potential here. AI often feels intimidating; the sharp edges of compliance risks, steep learning curves, and resource constraints are daunting. AWS’s updates simplify building safe AI-driven systems, leaving more room to focus on what matters, business growth and user satisfaction.
Here are some steps and lessons any entrepreneur, particularly women launching startups, can take from these advancements:
Step 1: Start Small
Begin by introducing AI in one manageable part of your business, like customer service. Something as basic as setting small refund policies or automating routine queries will help you understand how AI fits in your workflow.
Step 2: Don’t Skip Governance
Tools like AgentCore Policy ensure your AI stays aligned with your business ethics and goals. By setting boundaries now, you’re ensuring smoother scaling tomorrow, this also keeps customers loyal and protected.
Step 3: Harness Memory for Customers
It’s not just about storing information; it’s about using it creatively. A recurring issue I see with startups is failing to leverage customer data effectively. If your users need to repeat their needs every time they interact with your service, you’re missing out on retention opportunities.
Step 4: Stay Curious and Challenge AI’s Performance
Evaluation frameworks don’t just monitor; they teach you what’s working and why. Combining AWS’s tools with a hands-on entrepreneurial mindset opens up ways to fine-tune processes constantly.
Common Mistakes to Watch Out For
Here’s where I’ve seen others trip, not taking these lessons into account could dilute the impact of the AWS tools:
- Skipping Boundaries: It’s tempting to let your AI do everything at once. Don’t. Let policy safeguards guide its scope.
- Forgetting Scalability: AI that works for ten customers might break at a thousand. Build with growth in mind.
- Not Personalizing Memory Features: If you treat every customer interaction the same, you lose the chance to differentiate.
- Over-relying on Automation: Humans still matter. Build in checks and human oversight in processes needing judgment calls.
Why European Entrepreneurs Should Explore This
AI adoption across Europe is slower compared to the US. Concerns around privacy (hello, GDPR), ethics, and practical applicability often deter smaller businesses. But with AgentCore now offering granular control, scalable evaluation, and tools like memory storage to enhance user experience, startups here have fewer reasons to hesitate.
For women-led startups specifically, implementing governance and personalization features in AI can also double as a selling point. Customers and investors care about ethical design, it’s an edge you can use.
Where to Next?
Startups that want to experiment with the new updates can head over to the AWS Bedrock homepage for more details. If you're curious about the conference announcements that unveiled these advances, TechCrunch's coverage provides a neat summary from their on-site team.
Meanwhile, thinking of paying too much for AI-heavy systems? Don’t ignore options tailored for lean, bootstrap-friendly operations. Explore AWS’s pricing tiers to ensure cost vs. benefit stays under control.
These developments signal a promising start for practical AI tools that meet entrepreneurs where they are, focused on efficiency and safety. AWS AgentCore isn’t just a technical step forward; it could be your early nudge into a tech-savvy, smarter, and customer-focused future.
FAQ
1. What is AWS AgentCore, and why was it announced at re:Invent 2025?
AWS AgentCore, part of the Amazon Bedrock platform, is a suite of tools enabling businesses to build, manage, and monitor AI agents. The announcement at re:Invent 2025 introduced significant updates like Policy controls, Evaluations, and Agent Memory to make agentic AI safer and scalable for businesses. Explore AWS Bedrock AgentCore
2. What does the new AgentCore Policy feature do?
AgentCore Policy enables businesses to set natural language boundaries for their AI agents, ensuring adherence to rules and permissions for activities such as refunds or sensitive data access. Check out TechCrunch's coverage of AWS AgentCore Policy
3. How does the AgentCore Evaluations feature help businesses?
AgentCore Evaluations provides 13 pre-built tools to monitor AI agent performance for accuracy, safety, and compliance. It offers real-time insights that reduce debugging and bolster operational reliability. Learn more in TechCrunch's report on AgentCore Evaluations
4. What is AgentCore Memory, and how does it improve AI agents?
AgentCore Memory gives AI agents persistent memory, enabling them to remember customer preferences or past actions across sessions, enhancing personalization and efficiency. Discover the Memory feature from TechCrunch's AWS coverage
5. Why are these updates particularly useful for startups?
Startups benefit from these updates as they ensure compliance through governance tools (Policy), save resources via monitoring (Evaluations), and enhance customer retention with personalization (Memory), simplifying safe AI adoption.
6. How can businesses begin using these AWS AgentCore advancements?
Businesses can explore AWS AgentCore's capabilities by visiting the AWS Bedrock homepage, which hosts resources, interactive demos, and pricing tiers. Explore AWS Bedrock
7. Are these enhancements geared toward enterprise-size companies, or are they accessible to small businesses?
Although enterprise-friendly, AgentCore tools like Policy and Memory are designed to be scalable, making them accessible to small and medium-sized businesses looking for AI-driven automation with safe governance.
8. Why is AWS emphasizing governance in its AgentCore updates?
With rising concerns about compliance and AI safety, AWS aims to address privacy, control, and liability issues with features like Policy, making agent deployment safer, especially in regions like Europe with stricter data laws (e.g., GDPR).
9. How does AgentCore compare to other platforms like Microsoft’s Azure AI Agents or Google Vertex AI?
AWS differentiates itself with integrated tools like natural language-based Policy controls, pre-built Evaluations, and persistent Memory that offer granular control and enhance operational safety. Learn more in TechCrunch's breakdown of market competition
10. What long-term trends are shaping the adoption of AI agents like those in AgentCore?
Agentic AI is trending due to its potential to combine reasoning and real-world action. AWS’s focus on compliance, safety, and scalability positions AgentCore as a leading option for responsible AI adoption. Read more on AWS’s AI trends at TechCrunch
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
