Danny In The Valley

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Meredith Whitaker, founder of AI Now and organiser of the Google walk-out, to talk about how she arrived at the search giant 13 years ago (3:40), delving into tech’s effects on society (4:30), becoming a critic (6:15), and then a labour organiser (8:40), the debate on Silicon Valley working with the Pentagon (11:30), AI bias (14:50), sentencing algorithms (17:00), the Google walk-out (19:45), retaliation (22:30), the dangers of government co-opting Big Tech in the coronavirus response (25:25), how AI can reinforce societal divides (32:30), and the plight of “essential” workers (34:15). 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 Damion Shelton, founder of Agility Robotics, to talk about what he did before robots (3:00), making a humanoid robot (5:20), legs v wheels (10:30), the Covid effect (12:45) the public acceptance challenge (15:30), going to market as quickly as possible (17:40), how the smartphone changed the game (23:10), delivering parcels (26:40), where he draws the line with military uses (30:05), how long before it will be this robot is in the wild (34:30), how the machines will be like volunteer firefighters (38:05), and his worst day of work (41:00). 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 Serge Saxonov, founder of 10x Genomics, to talk about the end of normalcy (3:00), his high-end espresso machine for biology (4:20), delivering on the promise of genomics (6:20), how 10x is contributing to the coronavirus vaccine race (8:00), why a vaccine is theoretically achievable (10:15), the global shift to Covid research (13:15), leaving the Soviet Union and landing in New York (15:30), starting 23andMe (19:20), starting 10x (22:00), why it was hard to raise money (23:25), luring Softbank as an investor (25:55), 10x's footprint (26:50), the importance of resolution (28:10), and his worst day of work (32:00) 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 Keller Rinaudo, founder of Zipline, to talk about using drones to deliver medical supplies (3:25), dropping blood from the sky (6:10), the fast-forwarded plan for America (7:10), why drone delivery has been so slow to roll out (10:00), how the coronavirus pandemic will sweep away obstacles (11:50), the future of pandemic treatments (14:40), how drone delivery works (17:35), the way Africa is responding to coronavirus (20:00), the rise of the robots (22:00), what Zipline's planes can do (24:15), and why the future is now (25:00). 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 Paul Romer, Nobel Prize-winning economist, to talk about making our way out of the coronavirus crisis (2:15), the two key investments (5:35), mass testing (9:25), the future of work (14:00), how long can we do lockdown (16:30), whether private industry can rise to the occasion (18:30), how the world will bifurcate (23:10), what life looks like in two months (25:30), the debt bomb (27:45), the metrics to watch (30:15), and the dangers of a failed state (33:30). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech corespondent brings on Seth Bannon, co-founder venture capital firm Fifty Years, to talk about fighting the coronavirus (3:25), the coming destruction of Silicon Valley’s startup ecosystem (5:00), the funding crunch for venture capital (7:00), backing Covid-19 companies (13:20), the problem with home-testing (16:10), why this will be worse than the tech bubble implosion for startups (19:20), and if universal basic income’s moment has come (21:20). 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 Dr John Ioannadis to talk about why the coronavirus response could be an “evidence fiasco" (0:00), the China model (3:20), the importance of testing (5:00), the case of the Diamond Princess (6:35), and of Italy (9:45), Imperial College's estimates (13:25), the problem with models (16:45), a lack of historical precedent (18:20), the monumental failure of not having tests (21:35), scaling up testing (24:25), and herd immunity (27:25). PLUS, Claes Gustafsson, co founder of ATUM Bio, to talk about the company’s work making copies of coronavirus (33:00), how this compares to other outbreaks (34:25), the rush for a cure (38:15), and being partially shut down by the government (41:00). 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 Stephen Levy, author of Facebook: The Inside Story, to talk about the moment he decided to write the book (3:30), the first time he met Zuck (8:10), the “book of change” (9:45), why Zuckerberg didn’t need an “adult in the room” (13:15), his deification in Silicon Valley (16:30), how Trump used Facebook (18:30), dark profiles (21:20), why Facebook is still moving fast (24:30), Facebook’s antitrust fight (28:00), on whether encryption changes things (30:30), Facebook as a utility (33:30), Zuckerberg’s shrinking inner circle (35:20), the hardest thing about writing the book (39:00), how Zuckerberg has changed (43:30), the Facebook phone (47:45), Cambridge Analytica (48:45), and whether Facebook is too big to control (53:00). 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 travels to an almond orchard in central California to talk to Matias Viel, founder of Beeflow, to talk about bees (4:00), creating an insect superfood (7:30), the great bee migration (11:45), measuring bee strength (16:00), why the agro-industrial model doesn’t work (17:25), the almond milk boom (22:10), the rise of consumer pressure (23:55), and the molecules Beeflow extracts from plants (28:20). Then, Morgan Woolf comes on to talk about almond farming (31:10), creating a certificate akin to the “Dolphin-safe tuna” labelling (37:40), and the water fight in the almond industry (44:45). 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 Matthew Jackson, Stanford professor and author of The Human Network, about why you live matters (2:20), the universal basic income illusion (5:50), how social media puts networks on steroids (7:00), his work with Silicon Valley giants (10:50), how politics has changed (14:40), the hollowing out of the middle class (17:00), why war doesn't happen as much any more (20:50), the double-edged sword of globalization (24:45), how do we craft the best network (27:00), why having friends is important (30:30), the friendship paradox (34:20), avoiding sameness (37:20), quotas (40:30), what parents can do (42:40) and whether tech means that this time is different (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 David Barrett, founder of Expensify, to talk about competing for talent with unicorns (2:00), the odd reason for the company’s founding (5:15), creating a fictional expense-reporting startup (6:20), the deification of serial founders (10:30), why he promotes from within (14:15), the expenses industry (16:20),why he takes the whole company overseas every year (18:30), why he doesn’t like venture capitalists (25:40), buying out his investors (28:30), the stages of development (30:45), using a subscription model (32:00), why it took 12 years to get where they are (36:30), whether he wants to go public (38:15), the homelessness problem (41:30), the great rewards/points scam (43:45), his worst day of work (49:30), and the time when his employees got dengue fever (54:30). 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 Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Shorter, to talk about why we work 40 hours per week (2:30), why he wrote the book (4:50), why working less is gaining traction (8:00), why working too much is like smoking (9:00), the difficulty instituting shorter work weeks (11:00), how it can be done (18:00), fighting against the gig economy (22:15), why big companies would ever want to do this (26:45), whether this is different between generations (29:35), the power of mothers (31:55), why rest is key (5:20), the culture of overwork (38:10), partnering with automation (42:30), and getting unstuck from the 40-hour week (45:30). 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 George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, to talk about the new space race (3:00), doing more with less (4:15), rethinking space travel (6:45), moon hotels (8:15), democratising space (10:00), being an astronaut (12:15), why space travel is important (13:15), bringing the price down (17:30), avoiding disaster (18:30), governing who gets the lunar spoils (22:00), where space exploration sits in the history of humanity (25:00), and moving to the moon (27:20).  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 Kulveer Taggar, founder of Zeus Living, to talk about the Greek god of corporate housing (3:00), growing up in London (5:15), getting into Y Combinator (7:30), teaming up with Stripe founder Patrick Collison (10:40), becoming a millionaire at 24 (12:15), becoming a comedian (14:25), coming back to San Francisco to do Y Combinator again (18:00), why media coverage is not all it’s cracked up to be (23:40), pivoting to property management (26:40), how it works (31:00), why this is different from his other companies (33:15), the importance of location (36:25), his plan for life (39:50), living as a service (42:20), and his worst day (45:50). 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 Seth Bannon, founder of venture capital firm Fifty Years, to talk about targeting the truly big problems (1:00), why it took 18 months to raise $5m (2:40), targeting lab-grown meat (6:30), getting the met lobby on their side (8:30), backing birth control (12:00), taking left-field approaches to climate (13:50), taking advantage of the Silicon Valley cultural crisis (17:15), the need for big winners (21:00), the slow death of the Fridman doctrine (26:00), how he started out as a young idealist (28:30), (33:30), when he faked it but didn’t make it (38:20), confessing his sins (41:05), and his worst day of work (42:15).  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 Dennis O’Malley, head of cannabis startup Caliva, to go from the buttoned-up corporate world to the weed industry (2:45), the ‘green rush’ (5:10), running a federally illegal business (7:50), the friction involved with buying weed products (13:00), their target market (14:40), raising $75m (16:30), charting a path toward legitimacy (20:00), partnering with Jay Z (22:30), trying to replace alcohol and pharma (29:10), not being able to advertise (34:15), the vaping crisis (38:35), whether it will ever go mainstream (40:30), the coming green crash (46:15), whether he needs black market expertise (48:15), his worst day of work (50:40), and whether filter bubbles help (55:20). 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 Vivienne Ming, founder of Socos Labs, to talk about ethics in artificial intelligence (2:25), passing on a job at Amazon (7:55), why its hiring algorithm failed (11:0), the death of professional human judgment (13:30), how work will have to change (23:15), the bifurcation of society (26:00), what Socos Labs is (31:30), why universal basic income is not the answer (39:00), the importance of learning to learn (45:25), creating a tech wise council (50:30), AI as an expert witness (59:45), how transitioning genders has coloured her views (1:03:40). 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 Al Alcorn, video game pioneer and co-founder of Atari, to talk about when he first met co-founder Nolan Bushnell (2:30), breaking into a world dominated by pinball machines (6:30), making Pong (9:00), taking it to a bar (12:00), starting a manufacturing company (14:30), hiring hippies to work in a former roller rink (18:30), when copycats emerged (22:00), almost going bust (25:50), creating the first mass-market home console (28:45), striking a deal with Sears (30:30), building a company of young people (36:30), the hot tub announcement (40:10), why they sold to Warner (44:30), the culture clash (47:30), obsoleting their own products (52:00), hiring Steve Jobs (55:10), funding his trip to India (58:00), turning down Jobs’ offer to invest in Apple (1:00:00), and how Silicon Valley culture has changed (1:03:15) 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 Tom Harries, founder of Tulip, to talk about disrupting the cremation industry (0:30), starting with an obituary app (2:20), selling it and selling Tulip (3:45), what’s wrong with funerals (6:00), the fragmented death market (9:00), sending ashes through the post (11:45), cremating 10,000 people in two years (14:00), scaling from 5 to 95 people (17:40), hiring a professional chief executive then quickly selling (21:00), losing control of his baby (25:00), spreading the word online (28:30), the lows of starting a business (30:50), making mistakes (32:30), being a non-technical founder (34:20), why bring in a CEO went wrong (35:50), and raising $10 million (41:00). 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 Mary Lou Jepsen, founder of Openwater, to talk about how her near-death experience (3:05), and how it inspired her to start Openwater (5:50), developing a way to see inside our bodies (9:00) how it works (12:30), telepathy (19:45), the brain as the last bastion of privacy (24:20), the future of depression (26:40), the death of language (31:10), the brain as the final frontier (333:55), why she is so open about the issues this technology conjures (38:30), the problem with MRI’s (43:10), and why decoding the brain is inevitable (51:50). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.