Danny In The Valley

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Adam Fisher, author of Valley of Genius: the Uncensored History of Silicon Valley as told by the Hackers, Founders and Freaks who Made it Boom, to answer five questions. 1. Who is Nolan Bushnell and why is he one of the most important figures in Silicon Valley? (7:40), 2. How did LSD and the hippie counterculture lead us to where we are today? (13:00), 3. Who are the forgotten “other guys” who have founded the biggest companies? (17:25), 4. How big a role has the stealing of ideas played in the valley's history? (29:00) 5. Are the efforts to create “another Silicon Valley” by cities round the world futile? (35:30). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Geoff Woo and Dr Brianna Stubbs of HVMN, developer of a synthetic ketone drink to “optimise humans,” to talk about Woo's his early days tinkering “nootropics” (3:30), experimenting on himself (7:10), tapping the biobacker community (10:00), getting investment from Silicon Valley A-listers (11:30), the Pentagon’s super-solder programme “Metabolic Dominance” (14:30), ketones and ketogenic diets (15:55), turning ketone ester into a product (22:15), how fasting led to the creation of the company (24:20), how Brianna Stubbs’ became the youngest person to row the English Channel (28:20), trying the first ketone “space milkshake” (30:30), the early days when ketones costs thousands of pounds per drink (33:10), meeting Woo (34:50), who is using it today (38:45), raising $7m from sports and tech investors (40:30), and my totally unscientific ketone test (42:30). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy f

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Michael Acton Smith, co-founder of Calm, the hit meditation app, to talk about starting out with the idea five years ago (4:40), the rise and fall of his previous company Mind Candy (8:30), moving to San Francisco (13:20), trying to build a “moat” around around the app (14:45), how meditating is like jogging (16:45), why Calm uses the smartphone as the delivery mechanism (19:45), the death of boredom (21:15), creating a profitable business (23:30), why sleep is a growth industry (26:35), the science of meditation (28:10), trying to sell rocks as a child (33:10), setting up an Internet retailer in 1998 (35:40), why he thinks Calm is going to be a billion-dollar business (38:45), his plans to buy an island (41:35), and why the world’s top two meditation apps have been created by Brits (43:45). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jason Calacanis, prominent angel investor, for the second part of their interview, in which he answers the final two of five big tech questions, which are 4. What is the next foundational technology or development? (2:10) And 5. Where are we in the cryptocurrency boom-and-bust cycle, and will it yield the next big tech giant? (23.45). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jason Calacanis, prominent angel investor, to answer five big questions. In part 1 of a two-part podcast, he answers: 1. Can Facebook be defeated, and should it be? (2:10) 2. Is a world awash in “fake news” the new normal? (19:45), 3. The worst pitch he’s ever heard, he best pitch he’s ever heard, and did he invest? (38:10). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Othman Laraki, founder of Color Genomics, to talk about taking genomics to masses by reducing the cost by an order of magnitude (4:45), the importance of genetic counselling (6:45), the ‘value for money’ equation (12:35), how data is treated (14:55), starting the company after leaving Twitter (20:35), the slow evolution of genomics’ role in consumer health (23:00), how these tests may be abused by insurers (25:50), raising $150m (28:45), the coming healthcare revolution (31:15), and choosing treatable diseases (34:20). PLUS: Ellen Matloff, a genetic counselor and founder of My Gene Counsel, to talk about whether ignorance is bliss (36:40), the danger of misdiagnosis (38:25), why consumer genetics is here to stay (41:20), and why your genetic data may already be in a company’s hands (43:00). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ Danny Fortson brings on Chris Sheldrick, founder of what3words, to talk about the problem with addresses (4:25), why we need a new system (5:10), the challenge of convincing people to leave old way behind (7:15), who is using what3words today (8:55), competing with GPS (11:10), the “killer app” he is looking for (12:45), how wheeled suitcases are like addresses (14:05), starting out as a musician (17:10), how a sleep-walking accident changed his life (19:00), how he settled on three words (20:20), pitching the idea to investors (22:15), how he plans to not be another good idea that dies on the vine (24:20), raising $50m and creating a business model (26:35), taking on “Big Address” (28:45), starting the company with a dictionary (32:25), and choosing languages (34:25). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Damian Bradfield, co-founder of file-sharing company Wetransfer, to talk about setting up near Muscle Beach (3:30), being the alternative to Dropbox (4:30), how Wetransfer makes money (6:30), how the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal has helped (9:15), why Facebook shouldn’t become a ghost town (12:25), starting the company in Amsterdam (13:50), creating the ‘sex lottery’ ad campaign (14:45), missing the golden age of advertising (15:50), building the Volkswagen Beetle beetle of data sharing (18:10), giving away space to artists (20:10), prospering in a world where data is harder to mine (21:30), turning a profit (22:55), why he did not raise venture capital for years (24:25), before finally bringing in $25m in 2016 (26:40), coming to America (28:30), his worst day at work (31:40), working in Russia (33:05), the future (33:50), and how “mission” helps retain people (35:55). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Stefan Krause, founder of $1bn electric car startup Evelozcity, to talk about why cars look like they do (5:40), why electric vehicles will be dramatically different (6:30), a car for megacities (10:00), raising $1bn (13:05), the importance of batteries (14:30), pricing the car at $35,000 (18:00), ending up in California (22:45), developing their first car in 5 months (24:45), the death of ‘range anxiety’ (28:55), not being the next Studebaker (29:45), going from giant companies to a startup (32:30), how he built a casino (34:00), handling Deutsche Bank during the financial crisis (35:15), whether Detroit think’s electric cars are coming (39:10), and growing up in Pablo Escobar's Colombia (42:50). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Boris Sofman, founder of Anki, a maker of AI-powered toys, to talk about why he chose toys (2:45), convincing investors to back him (5:25), starting out making a real life Mario Kart (7:20), using a prototype to pitch (9:50), creating a Pixar-style robot (13:05), putting software at the heart of its toy (17:00), engineering emotion (18:05), the importance of eye contact (21:15), if toys can get ‘too good’ (23:50), the difference from old-school companies (25:25), the future of ‘the family robot’ (27:15), why Anki won’t be a toy company for long (31:40), growing up in Russia and Texas (34:30), studying robots at Carnegie Mellon (35:30), and the explosion of the robotics industry (37:30). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dan Woods, cyber security expert at Shape Security, to answer five big question about hacking and online crime. 1. How likely is it that your online details are for sale online right now? (3:10) 2. What are the weirdest scams he has found? (6:40) 3. Are state actors or criminal gangs the biggest threat? (11:35), 4. Why is being a cyber criminal so easy (20:35) and 5. What should you do to protect yourself (24:40). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’s tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Ethan Brown, founder of Beyond Meat, on why he got into “clean meat” (4:15), treating the problem like climate change (6:00), the four building blocks of meat (8:15), the problems he is trying to solve (9:15), growing up around a farm (13:00), his first career in green energy (15:00), starting in 2009 with "chicken wood chips" from Taiwan (17:30), why smell matters (18:45), the centrality of meat in life (21:30), recreating the cow through plants (23:45), attracting Kleiner Perkins, Bill Gates and other investors (25:15), going into battle over the word “meat” (29:15), how scientific progress has made “clean meat” possible (33:00), coming to Europe (35:15), why it costs more (36:55), whether we are at “peak cow” (40:10), his worst day of work (42:15), why he invited “Big Meat” into the company (44:00), and the taste test (45:25). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Sir Richard Branson to talk about how he chooses ideas (4:40), investing in Memphis Meats (7:00), bringing billionaires together on Necker Island to invest in startups (8:30), setting up a $2bn fund with TPG (11:45), starting Virgin at 15 (13:00), what works (15:30), why he has backed Hyperloop (18:25), what problem it is solving (20:10), how short haul flights will be hurt by Hyperloop (23:15), why India will start with passengers by 2022 (25:40), the bar at Necker (26:20), why he has spent $1bn on space tourism (27:35), launching the first satellite rocket in September (30:30), and the first commercial space flight this year (31:50), lunar tourism (33:30), the resurgence of vinyl (37:15), whether #metoo has changed how he markets and does business (38:40), why he’s not interested in eternal life (39:50), kite surfing (41:20), and why he hasn't retired (42:45). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jaron Lanier, virtual reality pioneer, computer scientist, and author, to talk about being a “traitor” to Silicon Valley (3:40), the “bummer machine” (7:10), being purposefully alarmist (7:50), why nastiness is the crude oil of social media (9:10), why technology's role in social movements is misleading (12:20), why we should be like cats (16:25), why the incentives need to be remade (18:45), how the industry could be overhauled (21:05), on whether the tech industry is having an identity crisis (23:30), the death of context (28:10), the survival of the human race (32:20), aiding the education of artificial intelligence (34:05), and AI marketing nonsense (41:20). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Christina Bognet, founder for PlateJoy, to talk about changing how people eat (3:10), combating diabetes virtually (5:35), weighing in online (11:05), going to MIT (13:40), gaining and losing 50 lbs (14:55), getting inspiration from Stripe’s Patrick Collison (18:15), nabbing investment from her first pitch (19:15), getting into Y Combinator (20:15), the importance of education (22:30), why she doesn’t use the “D” word (27:00), the rise of preventative medicine (28:00), food photographers (33:00), why fasting may not be a terrible idea (34:05), and making this available to the poor (39:45) Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson takes a deep dive into the esports world, starting in Los Angeles, home of the new Overwatch League, (4:00). We examine how gaming could become a spectator sport (6:00), what it takes to be a pro (12:25), why life is tough as a pro (15:00), the importance of streaming (17:50), selling the dream (21:55), esports youth leagues (26:15), why careers are brutally short (27:30), and the need to bring more women into the fold (29.30). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Suhkinder Singh Cassidy, founder of theBoardlist, to talk about the lack of women in tech (3:00), why that’s a problem (4:05), how scandal has created urgency (6:40), working at Amazon pre-bubble (9:45), losing 95% of her fortune (11:30), launching a fintech startup in 2003 (13:10), helping start Google Maps (13:45), starting a rival to Home Shopping Network (15:05), and then theBoardlist (16:30), the lack of demand for female board members (18:20), the problem with the obsession with growth (19:55), why senior women are unicorns (21:35), the venture capital boys club (22:40), her experience with sexism (24:20), the reaction to #metoo (28:50), what works in startups (31:40), why ‘product market fit’ is the key (34:20), why she spends so much time on hiring (34:15), and why living a balanced life is not possible (35:00). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent brings on Scott Galloway, NYU professor and author of The Four, to answer five big tech questions in 2018. 1. Is the (ad-based) Internet broken? (2:00), 2. Should Facebook be broken up? (3:40), How has Amazon managed to avoid the backlash? (6:00), 4. Why have advertisers not flexed their muscles (9:40), and 5. Is this any different from the robber barons or other eras where a handful of companies dominated industries? (13:45). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Scott Phoenix, founder of artificial intelligence startup Vicarious, to talk about the dawn of the robot age (4:30), the “last invention” (6:05), replicating the human brain (8:55), putting robots in the wild (10:00), how he got into AI (11:15), why he’s not 500 years too early (12:20), why Elon Musk is wrong (13:15), having Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos as investors (16:55), not wanting to be an investment banker (18:05), launching a Y combinator startup (19:00), AI’s evolution (20:10), solving Captcha’s (22:05), understanding how the brain works (25:40), why general AI could change everything (28:10), the danger of bias (29:50), in-home robots (33:45), and what society looks like when AI takes over (36:10). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Bill Gates to talk about being the world’s biggest philanthropist (3:00) eradicating malaria (1:40), saving Africa’s children (6:10), wiping polio off the planet (7:40), applying big data to public health (9:30), why he cares (11:10), whether the new generation of billionaires care (14:20), launching the Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett (16:10), the economic dividend from saving kids (18:05), Africa’s exploding population (19:30), creating new multinational organisations (23:15), the malaria crisis (24:25) the need for a technology leap (25:40), how this compares to Microsoft (27:35), partnering with Warren Buffett (30:10), whether he has tried to tackle mass-shootings (31:25), the inevitability that AI will replace human work (32:45), whether we need a robot tax (35:20), the Facebook problem (36:55), the danger of cryptocurrencies (38:20). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy an