Sam Talks Technology

Sam Sethi and Cary Marsh have been friends for over a decade. We first met when Cary was CEO of Mydeo and online video hosting company. In this podcast we talked about Cary's two successful kickstarter projects - Bootclaw and My Flipping World. Cary explains why she prefers to raise funds via crowdfunding instead of through more traditional Angel or VC routes having had such a harrowing time raising funds for Mydeo.

Cary also talks us through how she had the idea and more importantly how she went about getting the product to market.

Cary's degree in engineering from Nottingham University was 20 years ago, however there are still so few women engineers. We discussed why that is and what can be done to encourage more women.

In the future Cary would like to launch more tangible products through Punchfront Innovation via kickstarter.

Jeevan was visiting my good friend Manoj Ranaweera, who runs Techelerate Ventures in Manchester.  

We spoke about Jeevan's entrepreneurial journey and his entrepreneurial grandfather. Jeevan talked about the first companies he started.  He started a cab driving company while at University with friends in America. He moved back to Sri Lanka and with his brother tried to start and e-commerce company but that failed due to the Sri Lankan infrastructure and market not being mature.  

Like all good entrepreneurs he pivoted to a successful idea of running Orion City, Sri Lanka’s first operational IT Park to build the infrastructure needed to help other startups.  He soon opened Hatch, Sri Lanka's largest co-working/incubator/accelerator space. 

Today he also runs Veracity AI an specialist outsourced company that helps other companies build their own AI solution.  

He has come over to Manchester to partner with Techcelerate Ventures who work with Founding and Management Teams of Technology Product Companies to accelerate their growth and eventually reach an EXIT, including helping them with product development, customer acquisition, strategy, positioning, fundraising and M&A backed by know-how, data, tools and insights.  

Tony has been a friend for over two decades.  In this podcast we talked about the problem with immutable data and blockchain and the benefits of the Chinese Social Score and why this is all our futures.  Tony also explained why he thinks 'data is not the new oil to mine.  And finally we talked about companies having to deal with so much data that there is a board level need to manage the data, the value and also take responsibility for protecting it from leaks.  

Dan and I first met in 2013 when he launched Grabble and I was running Bagzee, my own real-time price tracking fashion startup.   

In this podcast we talked about why he has started a new smart multi-vitamin, how he formed such an impressive team including Dr Tara Swart, Chief Science Officer and Alain De Botton, Philosopher, Writer, Entrepreneur.   

Heights is a DNVB (Digital Native Vertical Brand) that sells directly to the consumer.  At present the site is still in beta which means only invited customers can buy the smart multi-vitamin.  Thankfully listeners to this podcast can access the online store and buy their subscription by using the code "Marlow"

We also talked about why Grabble which raised nearly £2m didn't succeed.  

Finally we talked about the future for Heights and how Dan hopes to evolve Heights to offer multiple different vitamin products to address different age groups.  Eventually Dan hopes that Heights will be able to offer total personalised vitamins specific to each individual.  

Chis and I go back nearly two decades.  We first met when Chris kindly invited me to a charity dinner for Comic Relief.  

In this podcast we talked about his new book "Less Perfect, More Happy. - how to overcome perfectionism". 

Perfectionism now has a name for this mental health issue. It's called Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) a personality disorder that's characterised by extreme perfectionism, order, and neatness. People with OCPD will also feel a severe need to impose their own standards on their outside environment.  

Sufferers like Chris were unaware that he had OCPD but had this need for perfectionism which caused him great angst throughout his childhood, all the way into adulthood were it took a toll on his marriage and relationship with his children.  

"The feeling of not being ‘good enough’ dictated almost my entire life." - Chris Ward

This book is about raising the awareness of perfectionism and highlighting the disorder OCPD.  Chris tells the story of his struggle with perfectionism throughout his life in chapters starting aged 4 all the way through to 57. 

At the end of the book Chirs details out his 12 step guide on "How to overcome perfectionism How to enjoy a less perfect, more happy world".  He has also created an online website https://friendfulness.com/

Sam talked with Walid about why companies are using private/enterprise blockchains and how these projects are moving from proof of concepts through to commercial rollouts.

We also talked about the future of blockchains along with some of the challenges holding back the wider adoption of blockchains.

Daniel and I have known each other for over a decade. We first met when he was the 
Web & Internet Evangelist for Vodafone.

We talked about Sir Tim's recent BBC Reith interview and Tim's new Contract for the Web.

Today the web is being fragmented by countries like Russia, China and Iran to name but a few countries limiting their citizens access to stop free speech. Fake News is rife everywhere and our privacy is rapidly eroding as our permission on our data is centrally controlled.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee's vision for the 'permissionless' one web space 30 years ago is in danger of crumbling under the weight of the behemoth centralised control of the GAFA's (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) and BAT's (Bidu, Alibaba and TenCent) who want to control all of our personal data for their profit.

Daniel and I talked about these challenges but also the new Web 3.0 technologies like Blockchain, AI and DNS-SEC that is making the web decentralised, ethical, open, free and secure.

Ali and I talked about what EQT Ventures look for when investing in companies.  They like to make big bets on companies and back them with significant funding.  They look for companies with teams that are led by entrepreneurs that build and code the product themselves.  i.e Bet Big or Go Home

Unlike many overly cautious European VC's who focus on short-term revenues, EQT prefer to bet big and dominate a market, a strategy based on Peter Thiel's model in his book from zero to one. European VC's are finally cottoning onto this model as US VC's enter the European market to compete for the talented startups. 

EQT also have a hidden secret called the MotherBrain.  An AI piece of software written in house that helps them discover and evaluate new companies across a broad spectrum of industries.  

We also talked about his former company Huddle which is what brought him from the UK out to San Francisco. 

Sam Sethi talked with Ralph Cochrane about the future of video creation and consumption.

Ralph and I first met some 13 years ago when he was at BT.

However, that was a lifetime ago and since then Ralph has become an award-winning video creator and documentary producer who flies all around the world, living as a digital nomad, filming and/or live streaming video content for his corporate clients.

I'm part of the "digital nomad" craze so I'll be heading back to Dubai and Oman at the weekend for filming and then editing with some diving thrown in.

In the past year, he has filmed in Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, USA, Rwanda, Russia, China, The Middle East and across Europe.

Ralph started experimenting with mobile video back in 2007, just before the iPhone was launched and his first post-big BT job was to launch a mobile phone festival with Sundance Film Festival at Mobile World Congress.

Ralph is currently working on his first documentary about a kitchen fitter who teaches himself to play drums and ends up headlining Glastonbury. Working title: Impossible Drummer.

Ralph has also recently started a "snack-sized video news" channel called Videosnax on Facebook.