Minds Behind Maps

Jonathan Lacoste is an Investor at Space.VC, a Venture Capital firm he started in 2021 after having founded & sold Jebbit (a company focused on aggregating & analyzing user data online for businesses for advertising).

We talk about how his experience at Jebbit translates to the Earth Observation industry, why he moved from founding to investing and the learning-in-public approach he's taking. 

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Episode Sponsors:

• Radiant Earth Foundation: Apply for the 2022 Radiant MLHub Impact Award for agriculture-related applications for Africa - with a $5,000 cash prize.
• Element84
  • Dan Pilone’s appearance on the podcast

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About Jonathan:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Space.VC

Shownotes:

• Tomorrow.io
• “Why I’m starting a space fund”: Jonathan’s blog post on his decision to start Space.VC
• Pixxel
• Previous episode with Jeff Crusey, another Venture Capitalist in the space industry
• Settlers of Catan
• Books & Podcast recommendations:
  • All In Podcast
  • Acquired Podcast
  • Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success by Shane Snow
  • When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Choices Today by Harvey Cox

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 02:45 - Episode starts, Jonathan presents himself
• 05:25 - Jonathan’s first experience: 10 years of Jebbit
• 08:50 - Finding a problem in the industry
• 12:10- Coming to a problem with a Beginner’s Mind
• 14:45 - Keeping a Beginner’s Mindset
• 16:50 - Choosing what to do after Jebbit
• 22:10 - Transferable & valuable skills
• 25:20- The space industry is 1st time founders
• 28:20 - Attracting more founders from outside the space industry
• 31:50 - Making space un-sexy
• 38:15 - How companies market themselves (and to whom)
• 40:55 - Creating a VC fund instead of starting a new company
• 44:00 - Continuing to learn
• 46:25 - Building in public
• 51:50 - Keeping up with new companies & Networking
• 56:25 - Deciding who to invest in
• 59:45 - Why Jonathan decided to invest in Pixxel
• 1:03:45 - Software vs Hardware companies
• 1:08:00 - Disagreeing with respect
• 1:13:35 - Jonathan’s take on the wave of companies going public
• 1:19:35 - Dealing with impostor syndrome
• 1:24:56 - Being wrong
• 1:29:30 - Settlers of Catan
• 1:32:00 - Books & Podcast recommendations

Feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

Jeff Crusey is the Investment Director of Seraphim Space, an investing firm specialised in the space industry. They have invested in mulitple Earth Observation companies including Spire, Iceye, HawkEye 360 and Pixxel.

This episode in many ways serves as an introduction to investing - specifically Venture Capital (VC in short) - applied to the world of Earth Observation: How funds are raised, how VCs decided who to invest in and how they do it.

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Episode Sponsors:

• Radiant Earth Foundation: Apply for the 2022 Radiant MLHub Impact Award for agriculture-related applications for Africa - with a $5,000 cash prize.
• Element84
  • Dan Pilone’s appearance on the podcast

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About Jeff:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Seraphim Space

Shownotes:

• Ursa Space
• Jeff’s tweet having invested in 20+ space companies
• “Most Microsoft Flight Simulator players flew home in first journey”
• Books & Podcast recommendations
  • Sam Harris podcast: Making Sense
  • Lex Fridman podcast
  • Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Time-stamps:

00:00 - Introduction

04:30 - Conversation starts - Jeff presents himself

06:56 - Jeff’s early days

08:48 - Climate Tech in 2008

12:16 - How Jeff got into investing

15:12 - Skills that make a good investor

18:05 - Venture Capital investing at a high level

23:31 - Finding companies to invest in

27:58 - Weighing risk before investing

28:49 - Investing in the Space industry

31:18 - Early projects Jeff invested in in 2012

32:39 - Investing in Earth Observation

36:39 - Data companies & Analytics companies: different models

39:05 - A centralized “Search Engine” of geospatial data

41:53 - Is Google Earth Engine this centralized search engine?

47:12 - Is Earth Observation a giant House of Cards?

49:16 - Metaverse: one of potential huge commercial application

54:04 - Who would build & own a metaverse

55:37 - Monitoring vs Mapping

58:20 - Weather doesn’t make it in most people’s “Earth Observation” list

1:03:15 - Projects that aren’t suited for Venture Capital

1:05:10 - Analytics applications from an investment point of view

1:07:33 - Where does the venture money come from?

1:10:50 - Investing in long term projects

1:13:53 - The exit process

1:14:05 - Exists in Earth Observation: Valuations & Bubbles

1:19:42 - The impact of Starship

1:21:55 - Book & Podcast recommendations

Feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

A year ago, I started this podcast, not knowing where it would go. 18 interviews later, I'm more excited than ever to keep doing more of these, and get even better at it.

This episode is also on Youtube if you'd like to see the video too

Reach out and let me know who you'd like to see on the podcast!

- On the website

- On Twitter

Timestamps:

00:00 - Episode also on YouTube

00:18 - Introduction

00:41 - Quick look back on 1 year

02:14 - Future of Minds Behind Maps

03:18 - The Goal of this podcast

04:22 - Who would you like on the podcast?

05:53 - Thanks

07:08 - Working with Sponsors

09:16 - Conclusion

Thanks for listening!

Jakub Dziwisz is the founder & CEO of Orbify, a company that is attempting to simplify the process of building Earth Observation solutions for any application. 

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Episode Sponsors:

• Radiant Earth Foundation: Apply for the 2022 Radiant MLHub Impact Award for agriculture-related applications for Africa - with a $5,000 cash prize.
• Element84
  • Dan Pilone’s appearance on the podcast

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About Jakub:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Orbify

Shownotes:

• Orbify
• Book & Media recomendation:
  • You’re already listening to the first one ;-)
  • Mapscaping
  • The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport
  • The Case for Space by Robert Zubrin
  • 9 Lies about Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World by Marcus Buckingham, Ashley Goodall
  • Twenty Minute VC

Time stamps:

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 02:48 - Episode begins, Jakub presents himself
• 09:40 - Jakub’s first few jobs: Travel Agencies
• 19:10 - Travel Agencies used to look a lot like the Earth Observation industry today
• 21:48 - Jakub’s entry in Earth Observation
• 25:28 - A Shopify analogy to self-service
• 31:30 - Orbify
• 35:40 - Specializing versus Diversifying
• 43:31 - Rethinking User Interfaces
• 45:50 - A SaaS-like business model
• 51:52 - Some of Orbify’s current clients
• 54:50 - Jakub’s point of view coming from outside Earth Observation
• 59:00 - Keeping a fresh eye
• 1:01:27 - How much programming does Jakub still do?
• 1:05:26 - Book & Podcast recommendation

Feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

Jacopo Margutti is a Data Scientist at 510, the Data branch of the Netherlands Red Cross which uses remote sensing, ground measured data and insights from social media to understand & react to humanitarian crisis. During this conversation, we touch on the the work the Red Cross does around impact forecasting of typhoons, how they have helped covid vaccine distribution, but also how to work on a tight budget to provide the maximum amount of help. Jacopo talks about the desire to move towards digital aid - sending money digitally - over physical goods and what the undesired consequences of humanitarian aid might be. 

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Sponsor of this episode: Element84

• Ep16: Conversation with Dan Pilone, CEO & co-founder of Element84
• Element84 website

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Jacopo Margutti

• LinkedIn

Time-stamps:

• 03:07 - Conversation begins, Jacopo presents himself
• 05:30 - Being in the Netherlands Red Cross Offices
• 07:55 - 510: The Data Team of the Netherlands Red Cross
• 09:50 - Example of applications: Natural Disaster Impact Forecasting
• 13:09 - Timeline of work on a Typhoon event
• 17:00 - The 4 Disaster Phases
• 19:15 - Working with satellite imagery providers
• 23:19 - Understanding what people need, not only where
• 24:45 - Insights from the ground compared to remote sensing
• 31:30 - Effective Altruism: Trying to do the most “good”
• 32:45 - Leveraging Social Media data
• 38:35 - Measuring the impact of the Red Cross interventions
• 40:05 - Challenges of working with data in help of far away locations
• 43:08 - Longer Term Impact Work: Delivering Digital Aid
• 50:20 - Financial aspect of Humanitarian Aid
• 53:30 - Deciding what to work on, who to help and who not to
• 58:15 - The Importance and Need of Volunteers
• 1:01:20 - Impact of Covid on the Red Cross
• 1:04:19 - Jacopo’s journey, from Particle Physics to the Red Cross
• 1:12:12 - Rounding off, Books & Podcasts Recommendations

Shownotes:

• 510: Data Branch of the Netherlands Red Cross
• Books & Podcast Recommendations:
  • Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo
  • Hidden Brain by NPR
• Volunteer to 510:
  • Through their website
  • Reach out directly to Jacopo

Please feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

Dan Pilone is the CEO and co-founder of Element84, a software engineering company focused on building geospatial solutions at scale. We touch on Dan's experience working on geospatial software engineer problems and how those have changed over the past decade. We discuss the work Element84 has done to contribute to AWS's Open Data program, as well the journey of co-founding a company with Dan's wife Tracey, and how they're thinking of growth through a people-focused mindset.

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Find previous episodes and other show notes at mindsbehindmaps.com

If you'd like to help support the podcast, please consider leaving a review directly on the website, or on Apple Podcast. This helps showcase the value of the podcast when reaching out to new potential guests. 

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About Dan:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Element84 website

Time-stamps:

• 03:16 - Conversation starts, Dan present himself
• 07:03 - Presenting Element84
• 09:33 - Element84’s early days - Moving towards geospatial over time
• 12:16 - Problems change over time
• 16:15 - Scale changes too
• 20:48 - Contributing to Amazon’s Open Data Registry
• 26:16 - Making Sentinel data more accessible
• 34:30 - Getting nerdy: What do Dask & Xarray mean for the future of geospatial data processing
• 40:16 - Moving towards more layers of abstraction
• 41:52 - Business model behind different open data contributions
• 45:11 - A game theory approach to Open Source
• 50:28 - The Openness of Geospatial compared to other fields
• 56:16 - Co-founding a company as a couple
• 1:04:21 - Preventing people “careering out” of the company
• 1:11:19 - People-focus growth
• 1:16:58 - Element84’s hiring process
• 1:21:14 - Changing culture as the company grows
• 1:27:54 - How Dan’s role has changed over the years
• 1:30:47 - The relevance (or not) of keeping a foot in the code as a CEO
• 1:33:29 - Opportunity cost from Dan’s point of view
• 1:36:34 - Book & podcast recommendations

Show notes:

• Earth Search
• Book & podcast recommendation:
  • Great game of business Unlocking the Power and Profitability of Open-Book Management by  Jack Stack, Bo Burlingham
  • Dear White Friend: The Realities of Race, the Power of Relationships and Our Path to Equity by Melvin J. Gravely II
  • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
  • Manager Tools podcast
• Tugboat Group
  • Interview with Dan & his wife Tracey on co-founding Element84 together

Please feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

April Speight leads the Spatial Computing Cloud Advocacy team at Microsoft. This team focuses on helping developers understand technology & raise awareness, mostly with the Mixed Reality team, most famous for the HoloLens.

We talk about April's work at Microsoft, but also about her journey from the the fashion industry, to entering the field of Tech in general. We touch on fashion and branding, and what the Tech world can take away from them. Finally, this is also a conversation about Augmented & Virtual Reality, on the privacy aspects of these technology and how they go hand in hand with technical literacy & education. 

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Find previous episodes and other show notes at mindsbehindmaps.com

If you'd like to help support the podcast, please consider leaving a review directly on the website, or on Apple Podcast. This helps showcase the value of the podcast when reaching out to new potential guests. 

---

About April:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Time stamps:

• 02:37 - Conversation begins, April presents herself
• 6:25 - Aprils’ journey from Fashion to Tech
• 18:22 - Entering the Tech industry with no Tech experience
• 27:25 - Dealing with impostor syndrome
• 30:48 - April’s current role: Spatial Computing Cloud Advocacy Lead at Microsoft
• 33:27 - Defining Mixed Reality
• 35:02 - The impact of covid on the public’s perception of Augmented & Virtual Reality
• 39:02 - Building virtual worlds
• 44:53 - Should we implement limitations on virtual environments?
• 47:02 - Privacy implications in virtual spaces
• 54:47 - How should users & developers think about privacy?
• 1:01:23 - Digital Literacy
• 1:04:52 - What Tech can learn from the fashion industry
• 1:10:12 - The Importance of Branding
• 1:13:35 - Creating content for developers
• 1:18:04 - Media & Book recommendation

Shownotes:

• Microsoft HoloLens
• Media Recommendations:
  • Business of Fashion
    • Unpacking Fashion’s Latest Waves of NFT Sales
  • The Little Prince
  • LingoPie

Please feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

Dr Beth Tellman is the Chief Science Officer at Cloud2Street, a company focused on flood monitoring using mostly satellite imagery. They recently published their “Global Flood Database” - featured in Nature  - containing 15 years of data on 913 floods with human settlement maps across 169 countries.

In this episode we talk about Beth’s journey to starting Cloud2Street, what being a scientists means to her, as well as what the impact of the Global Flood Database has been. We talk on what one needs to do to actually have an impact; the role data science modelling but also insurance both have and how they work hand in hand. We touch on the open-science approach Cloud2Street is taking, all the while being a privately held for-profit company.

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Find previous episodes and other show notes at mindsbehindmaps.com

If you'd like to help me out, please consider leaving a review directly on the website, or on Apple Podcast.

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About Beth:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Cloud2Street

Time stamps

• 3:27 - Conversation begins, Beth presents herself
• 7:55 - Why be a scientist?
• 10:57 - Cloud2Street
• 12:19 - Building a company as a scientist
• 16:37 - Global Flood Database
• 20:41 - Impact doesn’t only come from better algorithms
• 24:12 - Impact of publishing the Global Flood Database
• 28:37 - Creating the Database
• 33:30 - Why insurance is important
• 39:58 - Making sure Data & Maps are actually useful
• 45:21 - How accurate does it need to be to solve the problem?
• 50:07 - Finding the right metric
• 54:42 - Cloud2Street’s Business Model
• 1:03:48 - Open Science in a private company
• 1:13:33 - Using / Finding the best data for the job
• 1:20:39 - Communicating limitations
• 1:24:02 - Book recommendations

Shownotes:

• Global Flood Database
• ARC: African Risk Capacity
• IEEE Podcast episode with Beth: Down to Earth S2:EP2
• Media recommendations:
  • Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
  • Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott
  • Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas
  • This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein

Please feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

Keith Masback was CEO of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation for over a decade and is now an Angel Investor and Advisor to multiple start-ups, mostly related to Earth Observation & Remote Sensing. Keith started in the US Army, working as an Infantry Officer, and went on to join the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

We talk about Keith's perspective both in the military and in the civilian world of Earth Observation, or as he points out, Geospatial Intelligence. We also touch on what Angel Investing & Advising is and why he does it, as well as talk about the role of leader he's taken on multiple times. 

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Find previous episodes and other shownotes at mindsbehindmaps.com

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About Keith Masback:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Time stamps:

• 02:05 - Episode starts, Keith introduces himself
• 10:00 - Keith’s introduction to geospatial in the military
• 14:00 - Learning from the people you lead
• 20:00 - Operationalizing imagery intelligence
• 26:10 - Building trust to change mentalities and processes
• 35:40 - Moving into advising start ups
• 39:10 - What does an advisor do?
• 46:05 - Deciding who & what to invest in
• 51:00 - Keeping an open mind to opportunities
• 54:05 - "Geospatial Intelligence"
• 59:25 - The value proposition brought by Planet
• 1:01:50 - Keeping up with the news
• 1:05:15 - Keith’s videos on explaining satellite images with WIRED
• 1:10:30 - Media Recommendations
• 1:14:50 - One last question: Are we lacking "getting mud on our boots” today?

Shownotes:

• United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation
• Hermeus
• Blogpost: The totally made-up word that’s changing the world
• Wired videos:
  • Spy Satellite Expert Explains How to Analyze Satellite Imagery
  • Spy Satellite Expert Breaks Down Surveillance Scenes From Movies & TV
• International Spy Museum
• Media recommendation:
  • Gettysburg
  • Killer Angels
  • A Bridge Too Far

Please feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website

Tyler Erickson is a Developer Advocate at Google, more specifically working on Google Earth Engine - a platform providing access to many different Earth Observation datasets merged together - allowing users to focus more time on building their solutions.

We talk about the importance of curiosity across fields to foster innovation, go behind the scenes of Google Earth Engine, and explore OpenET, an application Tyler has worked on that leverages Earth Engine.

About Tyler:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Shownotes:

• Range by David Epstein
• American Geophysical Union
• Rebecca Moore
• Google Earth Engine
• NASA Processing Levels
• OpenET
• Book & Media recommendations:
  • Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne
  • bikepacking.com
  • Jupyter Book
  • FastPages
  • The Evolution of Trust by Nicky Case

Time stamps:

• 03:10 - Conversation starts, Tyler introduces himself
• 8:45 - Generalists or Specialists
• 13:30 - Fostering innovations & ideas across fields
• 18:45 - Incentivizing sharing in research
• 21:45 - Reproduce & Replicate
• 30:00 - Tyler’s work: Developer Advocate at Google Earth Engine
• 34:20 - A Short History of Google Earth Engine
• 40:40 - Why did people use it?
• 45:00 - Behind the scenes: Python & JavaScript
• 52:20 - Opinionated Data Processing
• 59:50 - Working with a community
• 1:03:30 - Commercial partnerships
• 1:18:00 - OpenET
• 1:27:10 - Building a solution that solves specific problems
• 1:33:45 -Benefits & Drawbacks of Story Telling
• 1:42:00 - Book & Media Recommendations

Please feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Reach out by email: [email protected]