In this Bonus episode, we hear from our featured guest: Lee Edwards, Partner with Silicon Valley venture capital firm Root Ventures talk about where his firm is investing in this Software Economy.

In Episode 4, we build on discussions in previous episodes about massive sociable change caused by disruptive innovation, and Industry 4 technology enablers like AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Autonomous Vehicles, and VR.  Featured Guest: Lee Edwards, Partner with Silicon Valley venture capital firm Root Ventures joined us for an extended discussion on “ Hard Technology”.

Nakiso and Mike do a deep dive on China. Chinese “entrepreneurs” are no longer copying leading US platforms, and instead are building dominant juggernauts that one day, if US companies are not paying attention, will become the leaders. Baidu (Google knock-off), Alibaba (Amazon knock-off), early Xiaomi (Apple iPhone knock-off), pay close attention. China has emerged into an innovation powerhouse over the past decade. Under President Xi, China has made clear their intention to become a technological powerhouse superior to the US. Many government policies have supported this.

Mike & Nakiso discuss the unprecedented disruptive power of industry 4 technologies like AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, VR / AR and others, and their already significant effect on a multitude of industries from Financial Services, Insurance, Mobility and Transportation, Health Care, Food and Urban Farming to Gaming, Music, Movies and Professional Sports. In addition, we discuss how AI & ML are totally changing the game for sales, marketing and customer service and support professionals.

In Episode 1, Nakiso and Mike set the context for their new podcast series on Disruptive Innovation. In today’s increasingly fast-paced digital economy, both the life-span of organizations and the average tenure of C-Suite executives has collapsed. Why? Simply because the majority of leadership teams are ill-prepared to keep their core businesses competitive while simultaneously redefining and reinventing their business models and offerings to remain relevant. There are a number of fundamental reasons, which are covered. Distinctions between invention, innovation and disruptive, societal changing innovations are drawn. The discussion centers on best practices in future-proofing your organization, regardless of industry, size of organization, sector or country of origin, by diving into specific “role models” from the US, China and Australia. In addition, cultural norms, behaviors and practices to be avoided that are obstacles to innovation are also reviewed.

Companies mentioned:

Intuit

Atlassian

Xiaomi

Haier