Danny In The Valley

This week Danny speaks with Benedict Evans, a technologist. In this episode they cover a range of things including web 3.0, cryptocurrency regulating tech and the future of tech as a whole.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on James Peyer, co-founder of Cambrian Biopharma, to talk about the unique structure of his startup (6:30), the goal (8:45), alighting on longevity as a 15-year-old (12:45), why the field has matured (15:40), what he chooses to focus on (19:50), getting drugs to market (24:55), raising money (32:00), why he chose the name (38:30), why dying of old age not necessarily an evolutionary inevitability (41:00), and the vaccine model (45:00),   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Elizabeth Carr, America’s first baby conceived by in-vitro fertilization and patient advocate at Genomic Prediction, to talk about the new era of pre-natal screening (5:45), the dawn of in-vitro fertilization (8:40), the technology’s acceptance (12:10), what Genomic Prediction does (13:40), scoring embryos (16:30), the slippery slope (19:20), selecting for smarts (24:15), the cost (25:00), and the future of conception (28:30). PLUS Dan Benjamin, bio economist at UCLA, comes on to talk about why he and others raised the alarm about polygenic scoring (30:20), drawing the line between prevention and enhancement (34:15), limits of the tech (37:15), what else we can select for (40:00), and unexpected consequences (42:00).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We take a break this week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Back next week with a new episode!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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.