Danny In The Valley

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Purva Gupta, founder of Lily.ai, to talk about algorithms of emotion (5:40), creating psychographic profiles of shoppers (7:45), drawing on 15,000 data points to predict what people want (10:45), bring brands out of the dark ages (12:45), starting her company (14:45), testing her idea (17:45), having no technical background (20:15), having six different visas (23:00), using numbers to replicate emotions (24:15), her plan to access new data sources (26:15), why social media data is not that attractive (30:55), building an immunity to rejection (32:35), almost giving up (35:15), founder dating (37:25), and breaking up (41:25), her moment of inspiration (43:30), and why she won’t work for some companies (47:30). 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 Iain McIntyre and Tim Fiori of Humm to talk about creating brain prosthetics, starting out in Australia (3:20), turning a room-sized machine into a band-aid (7:10), improving working memory (8:45), and what that means (11:25), the miniaturisation process (13:40), my own brain test (14:35), tuning the brain’s orchestra (17:55), the business plan (21:20), targeting old people (23:20), marketing it as a wellness product (24:40), bifurcating the human race (27:35), why someone else isn’t doing this (31:20), compounding interest in your brain (35:05), why others have failed (36:40), and a better brain subscription (38:30).  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 Ben Thompson, the tech commentator behind Stratechery, to talk about the antitrust issues stalking Big Tech (2:50), why Google is most vulnerable (4:40), convenience versus abuse (9:35), why Facebook’s antitrust case is much less clear (10:40), why Instagram was so clearly a step too far (15:20), the consumer harm problem (17:50), Amazon as a niche player (19:00), why the App Store is a clear cut case of monopoly (21:20), Apple’s self-appointed role as the guardian of privacy (24:35), why Silicon Valley is branching into new industries (27:10), is regulation too late or even important (29:00), why Big Tech is big (32:20), and the future of the gig economy (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 bring on Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, to talk about suing the government (3:00), working at Microsoft for a quarter of a century (5:00), how battling the government changed the company’s approach (7:00), whether Silicon Valley will do the same (9:40), calling for a cultural revolution (11:40), being careful about who they sell their tech to (14:30), the rising demands of tech employees (19:00), why this time is different with artificial intelligence (21:200), the new age of anxiety (29:10), the culture of tech (31:35), how Silicon Valley is like the Galapagos (34:10), how it is changing (36:00), the primacy of data centres (37:30), how tech companies are like banks (40:55), and data privacy as a human right (44:30). 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 Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, to talk about growing up in Utah (0:45), setting up his first business at age 10 (3:00), managing the games department (4:20), coming to Silicon Valley (7:10), working at Ampex (8:30), playing Space War (9:30), starting a gaming company with $500 (12:30), creating Pong (16:20), running on a shoestring (19:15), selling to Warner (23:30), the Atari culture (24:40), hiring Steve Jobs (27:00), making more than all of Hollywood combined (32:00), turning down an offer to be the first investor in Apple (34:40), his worst day of work (38:15), why the tech industry took root in Silicon Valley (39:00), why he’s excited about tech in 2019 (41:00), his other ventures (45:20), what Steve Jobs got right (48:25). 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 Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, to talk about company culture (2:15), the Amazon example (7:), what’s wrong with new Uber (9:45), Uber’s old culture (12:15), Silicon Valley’s moment (15:55), how culture can be a company-killer (20:00), on whether capitalism is changing (25:15), why there aren’t more outsiders in venture capital (31:15), seeing what you don’t have (37:1), how lack of diversity creates product problems (39:55), and seeing culture early (43:05). 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 artificial intelligence expert Stuart Russell to talk about AI’s King Midas problem (3:00), dismissiveness about general AI (8:00), and why we are not close to developing it (13:10), the future of work (16:20), happiness engineering (21:00), humanity’s last invention (25:30), slaughter-bots (31:05), whether he is an optimist (37:40), how we can control something more powerful than us (39:30), conscious machines (45:30), the social media experiment (48:30), writing minimally-invasive algorithms (53:40), the brain-computer interface (55:30), and how we can save ourselves (59:50) 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 Daniel Wiegand, founder of Lilium, to talk about how he got hooked on the idea of air taxis (3:00), being a first-time founder (4:20), reimagining the hair dryer (6:20), building the first prototype (8:30), why science is his friend (11:10), starting with pilots (13:05), why silence is golden (15:20), how Lilium plans to launch its own air taxi service (17:50), being as cheap as ride-hailing (21:00), why cities are interested (23:20), learning on the job (24:05), what China wants (27:00), what the world looks like in 2039 (29:35), why he doesn’t just want to be a manufacturer (31:40), looking at Africa (35:50), why batteries are critical (36:35), his worst day of work (38:10), and why the air taxi boom is happening now (40:20). 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 Merlanie Matheu, founder of Prellis Biologics, to talk about 3D-printing organs (2:15), cellular scaffolding (3:35), implanting lab-grown tumours in rats (5:15), why this is a big deal (6:35), solving the kidney (7:55), the magic of 3D printing (12:00), how she got into tissue engineering (13:45), filing a patent before knowing she could pull off the technology (18:10), the sector’s hype cycle (19:45), the future of organ printing (22:35), printing blood vessels first (25:20), why it was hard to raise money (29:35), getting regulatory approval (31:00), her worst day of work (35:00), creating the world’s first laser-based bio-printer (37:10), and where she gets the cells (40:05).  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 is back with a new season of interviews with the most intriguing personalities in tech. 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 Kupor, managing partner of Andreessen Horowitz, to talk about why this boom is different from 2000 (1:50), if it is easier today to start a company (6:10), and why it is harder to get big (7:50), the rise of the “mullet” (9:20), why he wrote a book (12:00), why Y Combinator is important (13:20), the investor profiles it keeps (15:40), being “frenemies” with Y Combinator (17:05), the weirdness of venture capital competition (18:25), what goes wrong (20:00), dealing with ego (22:50), what happens when companies fail (24:05), whether Facebook should be broken up (26:50), the changes coming to antitrust laws (30:30), the opportunity to build a decentralised giant (32:00), managing conflict (34:05), and the importance of the “warm intro” (35:50). 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 Tristan Harris, founder of the Centre for Humane Technology, on becoming a tech critic (2:00), leaving Google (6:20), how 2016 woke up the world (8:00), being at the Persuasive Technology Lab in Stanford (9:00), the “Time Well Spent” movement (12:00), why it’s hard to remake the “attention economy” (14:25), the conspiracy correlation matrix (18:05), the danger of Facebook Groups (19:15), the slow awakening amongst rank and file techies (22:45), why he is confident things can change (27:25), Apple as the Federal Reserve of the Attention Economy (28:15), living in a downgraded world (31:25), and the plan (34:10). 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 James Field, founder of LabGenius, to talk about taking humans out of drug discovery (2:15), working in a biscuit factory (4:20), how artificial intelligence can revolutionise research (6:25), the inevitability of “designing humans” (8:10), the moral quandaries that generates (10:25), the dramatic improvements in AI (13:35), breaking free of human cognition (15:35), what happens to the human race when we live longer and healthier (16:00), and discovering and testing drugs autonomously (17:55). 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 Gene Berdichekvsy, founder of Sila Nanotechnologies, to talk about being the seventh employee at Tesla (2:35), making the Roadster’s lithium battery (6:30), developing the first new battery technology in 30 years (7:15), the dawn of the electric car age (10:55), what Sila is doing (12:35), starting in smart watches (16:20), being born in Russia (20:05), air taxis (22:25), the rise of autonomous cars (23:15) the second order effects of electric cars (30:30), making a million-mile battery (28:35), why ‘peak lithium’ is nonsense (32:55), on keeping investors on side (36:30), the most expensive real estate in the world (40:05), being handed his first $5m (44:15), the end of the engine (45:55), and when he almost destroyed Tesla (48:30). 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 Jeremy Stoppelman, founder of Yelp, to talk about the early days of "user-generated content” (3:50), when ‘Yelp’ became a verb (7:10), when Google took notice (9:00), becoming a resource for the search giant (11:35), when Google tried to buy Yelp (12:40), testifying in Congress (13:40), Google’s dirty deeds (16:00), Google’s unseen power (18:50), whether Trump is good for Yelp (23:20), the coming crackdown (25:50), if it is possible to survive (28:50), being targeted by an activist investor (33:00), the evolution of the internet (36:10), being the David to Google’s Goliath (39:20), getting targeted by critics (45:45), and the Silicon Valley bubble (48:30). 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 Angela Strange, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, to answer five questions on the future of finance: 1. What do Internet keywords tell us about the power of finance (3:00). 2. How will insurance be transformed in ten years’ time? (5:45) 3. Why is it expensive to be poor? (15:50) 4. Is Silicon Valley starting companies to capitalise on the impending recession (24:20) 5. Is there more opportunity in the developing world, where it is largely free of legacy businesses? (26:30) 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 Neil Mahapatra, founder of Kingsley Capital and Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies, to talk about his early days in investment banking (3:30), getting a job with Lord Rothschild (5:50), setting up his own investment firm (7:30), how his mother’s lung cancer changed everything (8:15), why the stoners won’t make it (12:45), carving out a beachhead (15:15), building credibility for weed (18:40), the plant’s legal status in Britain (22:30), its potential as a cancer treatment (23:00), what a cannabinoid is (25:50), getting Snoop Dogg as an investor (28:15), developing drugs (29:50), and a consumer brand (32:30), Mr Nice (33:45), Oprah’s cannabis venture (36:15), sourcing the plant (38:50), and waiting for the laws to catch up (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 brings on Kai Fu Lee, former head of Google China and founder of Sinovation Ventures, to talk about the dawning of the age of artificial intelligence (3:35), why this is the tip of the iceberg (5:50), why up to 40% of jobs will be replaced (7:30), how China’s approach differs (9:40), how AI is like nuclear technology (10:05), whether it should be a human right (17:15), tech colonialism (19:25), the dystopian elements (23:45), AI bias (26:10), the existential threat it poses (30:40), and remaking education for a new era (32:40). 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 Dan Buettner to talk about how to live a longer, healthier life (6:00), keeping it simple (8:55), what happens when a spouse dies (11:15), what are “blue zones” (11:30), the secret to longevity (14:30), why happiness doesn’t include a car (16:15), why genes don’t matter that much (18:40), why happiness is important (20:30), the sleep industry (23:10), where we have gone wrong (24:40), designing cities (27:40), how he set records cycling around the world (33:00), testing his “blue zones” theories (35:40), death by over-nutrition (38:05), the ‘food as medicine’ movement (39:30), and leaving the last piece of mutton (41:55). 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 Christian Angermayer, entrepreneur and investor, to talk about magic mushrooms (4:00), why he is investing now (6:55), the lack of new drugs for mental illness (9:50), why it’s worse in the West (12:00), his first “trip” (17:10), the psilocybin company he has backed with Peter Thiel (21:55), creating a new body of clinical research (25:45), growing up in a village in Germany (27:00), starting a biotech at age 21 (28:50), selling it (30:25), investing in Hollywood (31:30), living in London (35:30), being a micro-dosing sceptic (38:30), and why backing films requires a different approach (39:35). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.