Times Tech

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Geoff Woo and Dr Brianna Stubbs of HVMN, developer of a synthetic ketone drink to “optimise humans,” to talk about Woo's his early days tinkering “nootropics” (3:30), experimenting on himself (7:10), tapping the biobacker community (10:00), getting investment from Silicon Valley A-listers (11:30), the Pentagon’s super-solder programme “Metabolic Dominance” (14:30), ketones and ketogenic diets (15:55), turning ketone ester into a product (22:15), how fasting led to the creation of the company (24:20), how Brianna Stubbs’ became the youngest person to row the English Channel (28:20), trying the first ketone “space milkshake” (30:30), the early days when ketones costs thousands of pounds per drink (33:10), meeting Woo (34:50), who is using it today (38:45), raising $7m from sports and tech investors (40:30), and my totally unscientific ketone test (42:30).

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The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Michael Acton Smith, co-founder of Calm, the hit meditation app, to talk about starting out with the idea five years ago (4:40), the rise and fall of his previous company Mind Candy (8:30), moving to San Francisco (13:20), trying to build a “moat” around around the app (14:45), how meditating is like jogging (16:45), why Calm uses the smartphone as the delivery mechanism (19:45), the death of boredom (21:15), creating a profitable business (23:30), why sleep is a growth industry (26:35), the science of meditation (28:10), trying to sell rocks as a child (33:10), setting up an Internet retailer in 1998 (35:40), why he thinks Calm is going to be a billion-dollar business (38:45), his plans to buy an island (41:35), and why the world’s top two meditation apps have been created by Brits (43:45).

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The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jason Calacanis, prominent angel investor, for the second part of their interview, in which he answers the final two of five big tech questions, which are 4. What is the next foundational technology or development? (2:10) And 5. Where are we in the cryptocurrency boom-and-bust cycle, and will it yield the next big tech giant? (23.45).

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The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jason Calacanis, prominent angel investor, to answer five big questions. In part 1 of a two-part podcast, he answers: 1. Can Facebook be defeated, and should it be? (2:10) 2. Is a world awash in “fake news” the new normal? (19:45), 3. The worst pitch he’s ever heard, he best pitch he’s ever heard, and did he invest? (38:10).

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The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Othman Laraki, founder of Color Genomics, to talk about taking genomics to masses by reducing the cost by an order of magnitude (4:45), the importance of genetic counselling (6:45), the ‘value for money’ equation (12:35), how data is treated (14:55), starting the company after leaving Twitter (20:35), the slow evolution of genomics’ role in consumer health (23:00), how these tests may be abused by insurers (25:50), raising $150m (28:45), the coming healthcare revolution (31:15), and choosing treatable diseases (34:20). PLUS: Ellen Matloff, a genetic counselor and founder of My Gene Counsel, to talk about whether ignorance is bliss (36:40), the danger of misdiagnosis (38:25), why consumer genetics is here to stay (41:20), and why your genetic data may already be in a company’s hands (43:00).

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The Sunday Times’ Danny Fortson brings on Chris Sheldrick, founder of what3words, to talk about the problem with addresses (4:25), why we need a new system (5:10), the challenge of convincing people to leave old way behind (7:15), who is using what3words today (8:55), competing with GPS (11:10), the “killer app” he is looking for (12:45), how wheeled suitcases are like addresses (14:05), starting out as a musician (17:10), how a sleep-walking accident changed his life (19:00), how he settled on three words (20:20), pitching the idea to investors (22:15), how he plans to not be another good idea that dies on the vine (24:20), raising $50m and creating a business model (26:35), taking on “Big Address” (28:45), starting the company with a dictionary (32:25), and choosing languages (34:25).

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The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Damian Bradfield, co-founder of file-sharing company Wetransfer, to talk about setting up near Muscle Beach (3:30), being the alternative to Dropbox (4:30), how Wetransfer makes money (6:30), how the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal has helped (9:15), why Facebook shouldn’t become a ghost town (12:25), starting the company in Amsterdam (13:50), creating the ‘sex lottery’ ad campaign (14:45), missing the golden age of advertising (15:50), building the Volkswagen Beetle beetle of data sharing (18:10), giving away space to artists (20:10), prospering in a world where data is harder to mine (21:30), turning a profit (22:55), why he did not raise venture capital for years (24:25), before finally bringing in $25m in 2016 (26:40), coming to America (28:30), his worst day at work (31:40), working in Russia (33:05), the future (33:50), and how “mission” helps retain people (35:55).

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The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Stefan Krause, founder of $1bn electric car startup Evelozcity, to talk about why cars look like they do (5:40), why electric vehicles will be dramatically different (6:30), a car for megacities (10:00), raising $1bn (13:05), the importance of batteries (14:30), pricing the car at $35,000 (18:00), ending up in California (22:45), developing their first car in 5 months (24:45), the death of ‘range anxiety’ (28:55), not being the next Studebaker (29:45), going from giant companies to a startup (32:30), how he built a casino (34:00), handling Deutsche Bank during the financial crisis (35:15), whether Detroit think’s electric cars are coming (39:10), and growing up in Pablo Escobar's Colombia (42:50).

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The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Boris Sofman, founder of Anki, a maker of AI-powered toys, to talk about why he chose toys (2:45), convincing investors to back him (5:25), starting out making a real life Mario Kart (7:20), using a prototype to pitch (9:50), creating a Pixar-style robot (13:05), putting software at the heart of its toy (17:00), engineering emotion (18:05), the importance of eye contact (21:15), if toys can get ‘too good’ (23:50), the difference from old-school companies (25:25), the future of ‘the family robot’ (27:15), why Anki won’t be a toy company for long (31:40), growing up in Russia and Texas (34:30), studying robots at Carnegie Mellon (35:30), and the explosion of the robotics industry (37:30).

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The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dan Woods, cyber security expert at Shape Security, to answer five big question about hacking and online crime. 1. How likely is it that your online details are for sale online right now? (3:10) 2. What are the weirdest scams he has found? (6:40) 3. Are state actors or criminal gangs the biggest threat? (11:35), 4. Why is being a cyber criminal so easy (20:35) and 5. What should you do to protect yourself (24:40).

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