Danny In The Valley

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Oliver Cameron, founder of Voyage and VP of product at Cruise, to talk about the arrival of self-driving cars (3:40), dropping out of uni to develop apps (14:40), getting a spot at Y Combinator (17:20), the difference between America and Britain (18:20), becoming an executive at Udacity (20:25), his disastrous first fundraising pitch (23:55), launching his self-driving car startup Voyage (28:10), selling it to Cruise (30:40), what does “self-driving” mean (33:30), launching commercial services in San Francisco (38:30), his worst day (42:20), and his best (43:20).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Heath Jansen, founder of Think Better Group, to talk about his start running an aluminium smelter (3:30), coming to London (7:00), his ‘Jerry Maguire’ moment (8:25), creating a coffee company (12:40), why he quit the City(19:40), how his former colleagues reacted (21:25), building the Unilever for millennials (25:35), nappies (26:50), the millennial consumer (33:30), and whether sending premium products to rich people make a difference (40:30).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Uma Valeti, founder of Upside Foods, to talk about creating “cultivated meat” doing a taste test (4:00), the process (6:00), why he is working on this (10:20), his “aha” moments (12:15), signing a release to eat chicken (19:55), cutting out fetal bovine serum (23:10), the scaling challenge (26:00), and the importance of transparency (29:40).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The SundayTimes’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on David Cowan to talk about Bessemer Venture Partners' anti-portfolio (4:00), missing Google (6:05), why tech is accelerating (7:25), why he bet on space (10:00), why colonizing space is “inevitable” (12:45), the rise of micro satellites (15:30), backing Rocket Lab (21:30), the privatisation of weather (25:00), backing off-the-wall ideas (27:30), the future of Silicon Valley (34:45), his mock-umentary Bubbleproof (38:00), and the FOMO epidemic (41:40).Want a FREE TRIAL of The Times and The Sunday Times? Click here to sign up: thetimes.co.uk/dannyinthevalley  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Jeff Lawson, founder of Twilio, to talk about what the company does (3:15), starting out in 2008 (9:15), running an extreme sports retailer (11:40), tapping into the magic of software (16:00), why the Internet is just getting started (19:45), the Darwinian fight for survival (24:00), how Covid accelerated the digital shift (28:10), growing up in Detroit (31:40), creating a note-taking startup in university (35:45), riding the first dotcom wave (39:40), why he has stuck in San Francisco (42:10), the responsibility of companies (45:20), his very first business (51:25), his worst day of work (53:40), and the act of kindness he remembers (56:30).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Holden Karnofsky, founder of GiveWell, to talk about philanthropy (3:30), teaming up with Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz and hits-based giving (6:40), the most important century (12:50), how artificial intelligence could be about to change everything (15:55), deep learning (21:00), becoming a spacefaring civilization (24:45), living in a really weird time (27:30), treating AI like climate change (30:00), effective altruism (37:00), and the need for long-term thinking (42:30).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Will Marshall, founder of Planet, to talk about going public (4:20), sneaking smartphones onto a rocket (5:40), starting Planet (9:30), photographing earth every day (14:40), what its data is used for (16:00), selling to the military (20:10), leveraging computer vision and machine learning (22:45), building a telescope at age 15 (25:00), the opportunity presented by climate change (28:15), launch costs (32:10), replacing satellites when they burn up in the atmosphere (38:40), creating an ethics committee (40:15), taking responsibility for technology’s power (42:50), and getting rich (47:30). Start you FREE trial of The Times and The Sunday Times by going to: www.thetimes.co.uk/dannyinthevalley  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Gene Berdichevsky, founder of Sila, to talk about the sudden global decision to electrify transport (4:30), his history at Tesla (7:50), creating a new battery technology (12:00), black magic dust (16:00), launching Sila a decade ago (23:30), the shift within the financial community (28:50), the million-mile battery (32:50), emigrating from the former Soviet Union (38:30), solar-powered cars (42:15), and the shift toward climate tech in Silicon Valley (46:00).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on George Church, co-founder of Colossal, to talk about genetically bringing back the wooly mammoth (3:40), what has made this possible (7:00), co-founding 38 companies (9:40), science fiction made real (11:20), reversing aging (14:50), the typical pushback to the mammoth idea (19:40), the climate change angle (22:10), raising money (25:40), and growing elephants in a lab (27:40).!Flash sale for The Times and The Sunday Times! Click here to get the offer: www.thetimes.co.uk/dannyinthevalley  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Nat Manning, founder of Kettle, to talk about how climate change is upending insurance (5:00), the role of reinsurers as “the second parachute” (10:40), updating risk models with machine learning (14:45), building a better mousetrap (20:30), how meditation lent clarity (28:0), getting into disaster relief (31:30), the long tail of suffering (33:00), starting Kettle (37:40), getting rejected by Y Combinator (42:20), raising money (44:35), the clash between regulators and the industry (47:00), and the opportunity (51:20).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on High Fidelity’s Philip Rosedale to talk about virtual worlds before the Internet (4:00), founding Second Life (8:00), capturing the zeitgeist (11:00), Second Life today (16:05), the current metaverse hype (20:10), the challenge of living a virtual life (23:10), the folly of the “hybrid” workplace (29:20), the dangers of virtual life (31:30), the importance of business model (35:00), the hardware challenges (39:30), and of augmented reality (44:00), tech’s misunderstanding of human behaviour (47:10), the dystopic idea that yielded the metaverse (51:00), and Burning Man in the time of Covid (59:40).For a FREE trial subscription to The Times, go to: thetimes.co.uk/dannyinthevalley  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Adi Tatarko, founder of unicorn Houzz, to talk about the home improvement boom pandemic (2:45), the pandemic (5:15), ending up in California from Israel (9:30), a renovation project gone wrong (15:00), getting the first cheque for Houzz (20:50), raising $600 million more as a husband and wife team (27:40), on whether she plans to go public (30:00), how Houzz makes money (30:45), and drawing inspiration from her Holocaust-surivor grandmother (34:15).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Magi Richani to talk about cheese (4:15), how her lactose intolerance led her to start a company (7:30), the inefficiency of the cow (10:40), moving from Lebanon to Texas (15:50), becoming an engineer (20:45), starting out in the oil industry (24:15), rescuing animals (27:20), quitting Shell (30:00), coming from an entrepreneurial family (31:30), agricultural subsidies (37:00), getting her first investor (38:45), deciding on soybeans (43:10), slashing the environmental footprint of cheese production (46:00), using existing infrastructure (49:20), measuring up against the real thing (51:20), choosing the name (57:15), and launching a brand (58:30).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dave Friedberg, founder of The Production Board, to talk about the western US’s ‘mega-drought’ (5:15), attracting cash to climate tech (8:30), the economic consequences of climate change (13:15), creating the Climate Corporation (16:15), getting investment from Larry Page (22:10), and Koch Industries (25:25), the future of food (28:00), “printing” drinks (34:05), water (39:15), climate migration (43:45), and how technology has saved the day before (45:45).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Justin McLeod, founder of Hinge, to talk about dating in the pandemic (2:41), launching an app (4:33), his early years as a “hot mess” (5:51), cleaning up his act (6:50), loneliness (9:45), overhauling the app (12:15), the irony of maximizing for “time in app” (15:03), injecting friction into the process (18:10), introducing a “vaccine status” badge (23:28), Facebook dating (27:00), the future of dating (30:03), the 36 questions to find love (32:14), his worst day of work (38:14), reconnecting with his wife (39:49), video first dates (41:49), and selling to IAC (43:20).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pearson’s Andy Bird: “Education is going to be disrupted like music”The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Andy Bird, chief executive of Pearson, to talk about transforming the education giant (5:40), creating textbook “playlists” (8:30), growing up in Manchester (14:45), getting into the entertainment industry (16:10), being recruited by Bob Iger (21:30), remaking Disney's foreign operations (23:05), cutting ties with Netflix (27:40), failing at Disney’s first streaming attempt (29:10), retiring (34:25), un-retiring and join Pearson {38:00), the backlash over his ‘golden hello’ (41:00), the breakdown of the higher education business model (43:40), the future of Pearson (49:40), overhauling a 177-year-old company (52:40), and learning from failure (57:40). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Amid Facebook's record-setting financial performance and its pivot toward become a "metaverse" company, we air a revealing interview from last year (March 2020) with Stephen Levy, author of Facebook: The Inside Story, Levy talks about the moment he decided to write the book (4:15), the first time he met Zuck (8:55), the “book of change” (10:30), why Zuckerberg didn’t need an “adult in the room” (14:00), his deification in Silicon Valley (17:15), how Trump used Facebook (19:15), dark profiles (22:00), why Facebook is still moving fast (25:15), Facebook’s antitrust fight (28:45), on whether encryption changes things (31:15), Facebook as a utility (34:15), Zuckerberg’s shrinking inner circle (36:00), the hardest thing about writing the book (39:45), how Zuckerberg has changed (44:15), the Facebook phone (48:30), Cambridge Analytica (49:30), and whether Facebook is too big to control (53:45). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out in

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Antonio Garcia Martinez, to talk about his winding career in tech and media (3:25), living in the woods (7:25), his Facebook memoir (11:00), criticizing tech but also defending it (15:55), landing a gig at Apple and then getting fired (20:10), the Silicon Valley culture wars (23:25), launching a newsletter (30:25), the breakdown of the media business model (37:45), the tectonic plates shifting in the ad world (42:20), the privacy push (45:20), Apple and Google tightening their grip on the web (49:05), whether we should care (55:00), and living in Reno (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 Tim Janssen of Sofar to talk about the paucity of ocean data (3:30), creating an ocean sensing network (6:15), the engineering challenge (8:30), modeling (10:30), why he left academia (15:15), raising money (19:20), coming here from the Netherlands (21:10), his customers (22:30), what’s happening in the oceans (33:25), and dropping the first sensor in the water (37:30). Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We repost a podcast from Tales of Silicon Valley, the narrative podcast that Danny did two years ago. In the week that Sir Richard Branson touched space, and just days before Jeff Bezos prepares to do so as well, we go back to this investigatio into how billionaires are racing to become the first to settle on the moon. We talk to astronauts, and the billionaires themselves, about their plans to turn humans into a multi-planetary species. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/dannyinthevalley.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.