Danny In The Valley

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media and prominent tech commentator, to talk about algorithmic rent (0:00), the Facebook case (5:15), how tech companies quietly changed the terms of engagement (7:40), getting investment from Pierre Omidyar (12:40), how his work got started on algorithmic rent (13:20), monitoring Big Tech’s behaviour change (16:15), Facebook’s rents (23:35), the importance of framing a problem (26:00), how to protect our 'tenants’ rights' (29:40), building a case (36:00), getting inspiration from Microsoft (37:40), and the toxicity of the Big Tech debate (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 Brad Garlinghouse, to talk about remaking the global financial system (2:45), when it could happen (5:30), the cross-border payment challenge (7:10), replumbing the system (12:00), going through the first dotcom bubble (14:20), suing Youtube (16:20), getting impersonated (21:40), China’s control of bitcoin (22:20), the future of finance (24:20), considering moving to London (29:00), operating with a hand behind his back (30:45), and how chaos helps (33:30). 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 Renee DiResta of the Stanford INternet Observatory to talk about how Twitter handled 2020 (3:30), mainstream media getting a pass (40), Facebook groups (9:45), Sharpiegate (8:30), the election day war room (11:45), conspiracy “tickets” (15:00), how conspiracies spread (16:45), Trump’s centrality to the voter fraud posts (21:40), how these theories play out in the real world (26:40), the low cost to spreading misinformation (28:45), how 2020 compares to 2016 (33:30), Covid vaccines as the next target (36:20), whats changed between the first tech hearing and the most recent (39:00), and what Tiktok learned (41:30).Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/dannyinthevalley 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 Nate Storey, co-founder of indoor farming unicorn Plenty, to talk about tearing down and rebuilding farms (3:40), the problem he’s trying to solve (6:40), breeding food for transport (8:50), building a farm in Compton (10:45), leveraging Hollywood (13:40), how he got into agriculture (17:10), leaving his first startup (22:10), what an indoor farm looks like (24:00), the industry boom (31:10), luring infrastructure investors (33:45), falling costs (37:30), how traditional farmers have responded (40:45), and putting orchards inside (44:00). 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 Ruben Harris, co-founder of Career Karma, to talk about starting out as a cellist (3:10), why music convinced him to get into business (6:50), buying a one-way ticket (8:55), his first tech job (11:00), working in political technology (17:30), how starting a podcast led to his startup (18:50), quitting his job (20:30), creating Career Karma (22:00), on whether coding boot camps work (23:50), income-sharing agreements (26:15), how work is changing (28:20), being black in Silicon Valley (30:15), his worst day (34:30), and addressing the laptop shortage (36:20). 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 Phil Libin, founder of Mmhmm, to talk about fasting (3:35), starting the company (5:00), what it does (9:15), the end of the social media ice age (13:20), a trillion dollar shift (17:00), why he’s not worried about rivals copying him (24:30), who uses it (27:00), how he came up with the name (30:45), what goes wrong at startups (34:20), what skydiving taught him (39:35), the new hybrid world (43:30), and why he plans to leave San Francisco (46:30). 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 Michiah Prull, founder of Avalanche Insights, to talk about setting up a company after the 2016 election (3:00), starting as a community organiser (5:00), the problem with messaging (6:30), using AI to understand emotions (8:35), finding the right people (11:00), how an algorithm intuits human motivations (13:15), crafting a message (15:45), why the left is bad at it (19:45), fighting polarisation (22:30), levelling the misinformation/information playing field (26:00), whether he will go corporate (27:30), what went wrong in 2016 (31:30), the future of elections (33:00), the outlook for November 3 (35:45), and the evolution of the public’s view of climate change (37:35). 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 John Matze, founder of Parler, to talk about starting a social network (4:10), its first viral moment (7:05), reacting to the banning of people online (8:10), echo chambers (11:10), Parler’s hyper-partisan power users (13:25), the site’s rules (15:50), why he doesn’t regulate hate speech (19:50), how the app helps people find others (24:10), why he welcomes the rush of Q Anon users (28:50), why he doesn’t think Parler is pushing people apart (33:25), his investors (36:50), trying to build Parler into a business (39:00), why misinformation is fair game (42:15), and how Katie Hopkins’ arrival attracted users (45:20). 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 Jordan Fisher, founder of Standard Cognition, to talk about creating a video game (5:00), being rejected from venture capitalists (7:20), helping the financial regulator catch fraudsters (9:30), jumping into cashierless checkouts 12:10), the future of retail (16:30), launching in three stores (21:00), not using check-in gates (23:30), the very analogue backend of cashierless checkout (28:00), raising $86m - thanks to Amazon (32:15), what this means for retail (36:30), the effect of “Bodega-gate” (39:10), getting people used to not paying for stuff (41:10), the facial recognition issue (43:00), selling the system as a DIY kit (46:20), and the moments he thought it wouldn’t work (48:30).thetimes.co.uk/dannyinthevalley 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 Shomik Dutta, founder of Higher Ground Labs, to talk about funding democracy tech (3:30), what happened after 2016 (5:30), losing the technology edge every four years (9:10), transforming the Democrats’ technology stack (11:15), creating a master voter database (15:15), Reid Hoffmann’s role (18:30), how to avoid funding the next Cambridge Analytica (22:00), making political investments that are good business (27:15), why social media is the battleground (29:45), his lack of confidence in Facebook (32:20), greasing the wheels of mail-in voting (35:50), the importance of cyber security (37:00), and the run-up to November 3 (38:15). 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 Paul Romer, the Nobel prize-winning economist, to talk about the choice between killing people and killing the economy (3:00), the policy failures of the Covid response (7:30), what happens when we reopen (11:35), the state of the economy (16:15), why going back to “normal” is doomed to fail (22:00), why undermining institutions is a problem (26:10), why now is not a good time for entrepreneurs (30:35), undermining the foundations of the economy (32:45), an alternative tech tax (36:45), and where the action is (38:00). 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 Josh Browder to talk about building a robot lawyer DoNotPay (3:40), raising money (7:10), overturning parking tickets (10:10), targeting problems that affect at least 50 million people (12:05) his bot builder (13:00), his Silicon Valley evolution (14:55), becoming an investor himself (16:40), becoming a Thiel fellow (18:00), staying in the Bay Area (20:50), the free trial scam (23:10), the porn industry’s dirty tricks (24:50), getting more cynical (27:15), the importance of having a business model (30:00), and suing robo-callers (31:10). 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 Robert Bollinger to talk about hiss previous career selling shampoo (4:25), moving to Detroit (7:05), why he wanted to founded an electric car company (8:35), the Tesla effect (11:00), why pick-up trucks are important (14:35), how parts have become cheaper (20:00), funding the company himself (21:50), how the world has changed (25:00), the turning point (27:00), why subsidies are vital (28:00), why the legacy brands will be ok (31:45), why his ignorance was a good thing (34:10), the importance of hiring well (35:55) and his worst day of work (39:20). 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 Dan Schulman, chief executive of Paypal, to talk about how the smartphone has changed everything (3:10), the evolution of Paypal (6:00), spending 24 hours as a homeless person (9:05), the wave of corporate 'wokeness' (13:40), how employee expectations have changed (17:20), how Covid has upended its (23:50), beating Sir Richard Branson at tennis (26:35), and why he does mixed martial arts (27:30). 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 Arisha Hatch, head of campaigns at Color of Change, to talk about organising the Facebook ad boycott (5:00), why she chose to focus on the tech industry (8:55), trying to force change (11:40), whether it feels futile (15:00), what comes next in the civil rights campaign v Big Tech (17:20), the political exception on Facebook (21:00), the coming regulatory crackdown (22:30), tech’s tipping point (24:40), Silicon Valley’s grand delusion (27:15), pressuring Airbnb, Twitter and Google (32:00), ensuring a new civil rights executive is brought in at Facebook (33:40), and the dissonance between Silicon Valley’s marketing and the reality (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 Ryan Pamplin, founder of Blendjet, to talk about living the Silicon Valley dream (2:45), suffering a traumatic brain injury (6:00), post-concussive syndrome (9:30), living in purgatory (12:45), changing his priorities (15:15), not wanting to sell out again (17:30), augmented reality’s potential (19:50), switching to blenders (24:55), getting his product on Silicon Valley, the TV series (29:45), competing with McDonald’s (31:45), creating a direct-to-consumer brand online (34:45), fighting fakes (36:45), the power of Facebook (39:00), marketing to Gen Z (43:00), the shadow of Juicero (44:50), influencer marketing (47:30), manufacturing in China (51:20), his health (52:30), brain computer interfaces (55:00), and the dark side of tech (58:30). 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 Paddy Cosgrave, founder of Web Summit, to talk about the big virtual conference experiment (3:00), random online meetings (6:00), why 24 hours a day is too much (8:10), when the check-in tech failed (10:15), whether virtual conferences are viable (12:35), his plans for Web Summit (15:30), spinning up micro-conferences (18:15), why he insisted on making software (20:00), on how the pandemic may be an opportunity (22:10), the sheer size of the business conference industry (26:30), the surprises (30:20), the business case of online conferences (32:35), and Siyabulela Mandela’s message on social justice (34:15). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A special extra episode for you from the daily podcast from The Times;President Trump has ordered firms to stop doing business with social media giant TikTok over security concerns. Microsoft was the front-runner to buy the company, but now Twitter has emerged as a possible suitor. What has made the app so popular and so controversial? If you like this episode please rate and subscribe. Simply search for Stories of our times on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast or wherever you listen to your podcasts.Guests: Danny Fortson Sunday Times west coast correspondent.Host: Manveen Rana. 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 Ryan Petersen, founder of Flexport, to talk about being a canary in the coalmine (3:00), where the economy is recovering (5:00), what happens when planes stop flying (6:30), how he got involved in PPE shipping (9:20), working with the NHS (13:00), starting out in his twenties importing Chinese motorcycles (14:30), learning that it is hard to make money (17:15), starting Flexport (19:15), having entrepreneurial parents (21:45), the Trump factor (24:30), how he makes money (26:05), his worst day of work (27:30), remote work (29:10), raising $1bn (31:50), and getting backed by Softbank (37:10). 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 Gabriel Weinberg, founder of DuckDuckGo, to talk about the early days of starting the search engine (3:30), the erosion of Google’s results (7:40), how big DuckDuckGo is now (9:35), raising venture capital (12:30), how we as users get bid on (15:40), why he proposed a “Do Not Track” law (18:30), what the crackdown could look like (21:10), on whether people actually care about privacy (25:00), why Apple’s new operating system could be a game-changer (28:40), why Silicon Valley argues data is important (33:30), on whether breakups are the answer (34:50), and his jousting with Google (37:10). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.