Sam Talks Technology

Sam Talks Technology

By Sam SethiBusinessEntrepreneurshipNewsTech News
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Sam Talks Technology episodes

  • Katz Kiely Talks about how frontline.live helps the NHS with PPE and why they have open sourced the platform.
    SPEAKER SUMMARY
    Katz Kiely’s is the CEO and founder of Beep, a behavioural empowerment platform. She’s also responsible to kickstarting and bootstrapping a marvellous initiative called Frontline.Live.
    Frontline.Live is the first national open data rapid response platform - designed to get health care workers the PPE they need when they need it. It collects, aggregates and visualises live data so suppliers can respond to their needs quickly.
    How to help with Frontline.Live
    1. - For health care workers
    Tweet a selfie with the three hashtags: #frontlinemap #workpostcode #PPEneed and they’ll be put on the map.
    2. - For suppliers
    Suppliers of PPE sign up by completing the PPE suppliers’ form at frontline.live.
    27 min
  • Franz-Josef Schrepf talks about the rapid growth of Hopin and the acquisition of StreamYard

    We talk about Hopin:
    - becoming a double unicorn worth $2.1bn in less than 18 months
    - hiring 800 people at 40 new people per week
    - the StreamYard acquisition and integration
    - the potential threat of Clubhouse if any?

    On 3rd February Johnny Boufarhat and Geige Vandentop will host a Hopin event for free to discuss the acquisition and their plans for Hopin 2021.

    Join here: https://hopin.com/events/hopin-2021-kickoff

    29 min
  • Monika Wiela talks about how Give Back Box uses old Amazon boxes to help charities around the world.
    Give Back Box® was founded in 2012 by Monika Wiela, who at the time was running an online shoe store. The idea was inspired by a homeless man she encountered in Chicago, who was holding up a sign saying he needed a pair of shoes. Wiela returned later that day with shoes for him, but he was gone. She spent that night thinking about what she could do with all the empty boxes in her warehouse and also help people like that man, and a new social enterprise was born.
    As Wiela researched further, she learned that, an estimated 11 million tons of clothing, footwear, towels, bedding, drapery, and other textiles end up in U.S. landfills every year. In addition, online shopping is now the preferred method for much of the buying public. Corrugated boxes are the dominant packaging method for e-commerce. With this knowledge, Wiela’s mission crystallized. If online retailers would use Give Back Box, shipping boxes and other items could be used a second time prior to being recycled. The impact would be remarkable.
    Give Back Box® has also teamed up with some of the biggest retailers in the U.S., including Overstock, Amazon, Loft, REI, Levi’s, Asics, Ann Taylor, LEGO, Nordstrom, Viva Terra, Ecru, Bonobos, Scrubs & Beyond, eBags, Lou & Grey and many others.
    The Give Back Box platform is open for any retailer who joins as a partner. Give Back Box has truly created a new method of waste diversion for retailers because, in addition to creating a secondary use for the shipping box and guaranteeing that it will be recycled, it helps clear closets, create jobs and offer more companies and their customers an opportunity to recycle.
    14 min
  • Minter Dial talks about his new book "You Lead: How Being Yourself Makes You a Better Leader
    There is a need for a new kind of leadership; one that bleeds personality and rings true to employees and customers alike who crave authenticity. You Lead argues that business leaders deliver superior results, communities of engagement both inside and outside of the company and true values-driven success when they are themselves and come across as genuine.
    Bestselling author, Minter Dial, shows readers how embracing your whole self at work encourages people to also be themselves, seek true fulfilment at work and merge the personal and professional to become true examples of what you stand for. You Lead is a call to arms to leaders to stop pretending to be who they are not, and play on their uniqueness and strengths, to allow people to do the same and develop a culture of authenticity and purpose.
    With practical advice, real-life stories and a simple framework, this book shows you how you can:
    - Be yourself, lead by example and merge the professional and personal
    - Stand for something and allow people to develop true purpose at work
    - Allow a community to flourish through the right kind of governance model
    - Radiate your purpose through employees and customers alike for long-term performance
    29 min
  • Bhushan Sethi talks about the future of work in a post-covid hybrid workplace with a K-shape recovery.

    Sam and Bhushan talked about the future of work and how PwC along with their clients have managed through the covid crisis and more importantly what they plan to do in 2021.

    We talked about how Bhushan sees 2021 as a more hybrid workplace with employees returning back to the office cautiously but only a few days a week. We also talked about how schools and universities will also adopt more online technologies for distance learning and offer hybrid schooling.

    Finally we ended up talking about our shared experiences of growing up in 1980’s Britain which was racist, sexist and homophobic but how much that has changed through BLM albeit Brexit and Trump have emboldened those racists once again.

    30 min
  • Faisal Galaria talks about the rebirth of Blippar and the future of augmented reality.

    Sam and Faisal talked about his recent tenure as CEO of Blippar. Why now is the right time for an Augmented Reality (AR) rebirth and what are his expansion plans globally for Blippar.

    We also talked about his amazing career from the early days in Ofcom and his role in the Premier League football rights. Working with Niklas Zennström and a young Daniel Elk at Skype on their proprietary Peer to Peer platform called Jolted, before he joined Daniel at Spotify as International .

    Faisal also gave a surprise answer to my suggestion that Spotify and Netflix need to merge to compete with Apple and Amazon.

    UPDATE

    Shortly after this interview Blippar’s AR platform was used to deliver the world’s first product launch event entirely in AR for OnePlus; the latest smartphone from premium technology brand OnePlus.

    53 min
  • Mukul Devichand talks about why the BBC is launching their own smart voice assistant called ‘Beeb’.

    Sam talked with Mukul about how this very early beta project fits into the wider BBC strategy across multiple services to act as a trusted public service voice assistant to the vast array of content on TV, Radio and Sounds (podcasts), be it local, national or international.

    Mukul also talks about why Beeb today is a northern male and like Dr Who is genderless and could regenerate into a female voice in the future.

    We also talked about why Beeb is not going to compete with Alexa or Google but how the BBC plan to partner with a wide variety of companies to extend the role and reach of Beeb.

    47 min
  • Martin Steers talks about the Community Radio Awards and the New UK Community Radio Network.

    Sam Sethi had the pleasure to interview Martin Steers the station manager at NLive Radio and Chair of Community Radio Awards.

    We talked about how NLive is continuing to run their station through COVID and what software Martin is using to enable remote broadcasting.

    We talked. about the upcoming Community Radio Awards and what has changed and whether there will be an awards ceremony later this year.

    We also talked about the newly formed UK Community Radio Network that Martin has formed with a number of station managers across the UK to lobby government on our collective behalf.

    We ended up talking about some of the hot topics in radio. Bauer making 260 presenters redundant this September and what that means for local radio. Will DAB+ ever come to community radio and finally are podcasting and streaming services a challenge to radio audiences?

    1 hr 16 min
  • Nigel Eccles talks about the growth of Flick & the on-going litigation of FanDuel

    Sam talks with Nigel Eccles about his new company Flick. A companion app for sports fans who want to watch a game while chatting online with likeminded fans and friends.

    Nigel talks about how Flick has raised £4m and was growing nicely until Covid-19 put a stop to all live sports. He believes Flick will return to growth once live sports like football return. In fact with stadium bans it could see ever greater demand for Flick as fans try to recreate the stadium atmosphere while at home.

    Prior to Flick, Nigel, his wife and three engineers started Hubdub that soon pivoted into FanDuel. Nigel recalls how a WebMission to Silicon Valley in 2008 helped Fanduel grow. Some of the other companies that joined them included edocr, huddle, skimlinks, mydeo, WAYN and TrustedPlaces.

    Nigel talks about how FanDuel went on to raise $450m+ and experienced hyper-growth in customer acquisition. Sadly the story did not end up with Nigel and his wife growing a Unicorn, selling it and riding off into the sunset. Nigel talks at length about how the Private Equity company engineered to remove him, the executive team and all the staff who held ordinary shares from benefiting from their growth and success. In fact they ended up with zero while the board that consisted of the PE Equity partners engineered it to make themselves millions.

    The story does not end there. Nigel and 90 of his original staff have filed a class action suit against the PE company. We await the outcome.

    28 min

About Sam Talks Technology

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Each week's show starts with a tech news roundup, followed by a chat with Sam's guest about their career, their current startup and is interspersed with the guest's favourite musical tracks. Please join me and tell your friends