Uncertain Value

Richard Koscher is an Artist and Creative Director. Originally from Austria, Richard has been residing in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1999. He has served as the Art Director for the George Lucas Educational Foundation and has contributed his expertise to technology companies such as NextRoll, Neo4J, Mesosphere and Matillion. In addition to his work in the tech industry, Richard actively produces his own art. He recently published a book titled “Reveal: The Empowerment of Appropriation Art”, where he explains the process of recreating masterpieces and demystifies artistic techniques.

Richard has been a guest on Uncertain Value before. He promised to come back to talk about Austrian painters with me. But we don’t want to talk about household names like Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, or Maria Lassnig. These artists are amazing and rightfully well-known internationally. In this episode we talk about great but lesser known Austrian artists. We talk about the works of

Richard shares the story of how he discovered a Max Oppenheimer etching in a small antique shop in Northern California.

Audrey Do grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended UC Santa Cruz, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Astrophysics. For the past three years, she has worked as a Data Analyst and, more recently, as a Product Manager at Split Software, which was acquired by Harness. In our conversation, we discuss how, as a child, learning about a comet that might destroy Earth inspired her to study astrophysics. Audrey explains how her knowledge of the cosmos helps her stay calm and put things into perspective when situations get intense. She also shares her experiences as a Data Analyst, explaining how she helped stakeholders ask better questions and achieve better results. We explore Audrey's recent transition to Product Management and what motivated the change. Finally, Audrey shares how she helped preserve and secure funding to keep the traditional Vietnamese zither alive in California.

Johannes Deubener grew up in Germany and is now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he leads AI partnerships at Deutsche Telekom. Johannes brings a wealth of experience in business development, product, and innovation, having worked in various strategic roles at Deutsche Telekom for over five years. Before his current position, he co-founded and managed 'As Good As Pros Sports,' a sports marketplace focused on on-demand training and team sports. In our conversation, we discuss the differences and similarities between German and Silicon Valley startup cultures. Johannes shares his experiences as a startup founder in Germany, how COVID disrupted their growth multiple times, how they persevered, and how they ultimately closed the business. He also offers insights into what he would do differently if starting the company again. Additionally, we talk about his role in GenAI at Deutsche Telekom and DT's plans to launch an AI-native phone.

Richard Koscher is an Artist and Creative Director. Originally from Austria, Richard has been residing in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1999. He has served as the Art Director for the George Lucas Educational Foundation and has contributed his expertise to technology companies such as NextRoll, Neo4J, Mesosphere and Matillion since 2007. In addition to his work in the tech industry, Richard actively produces his own art. He recently published a book titled “Reveal: The Empowerment of Appropriation Art”, where he explains the process of recreating masterpieces and demystifies artistic techniques.

Avash grew up in South Africa and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and an Executive MBA from the Henley Business School. Avash currently is the Vice President of Corporate Finance at Meta Mind. He has an extensive background in Mergers & Acquisitions, working many years for CitiBank and Deutsche Telekom. Besides working in M&A, Avash helps as a Startup Mentor at the Plug & Play Tech Center in San Francisco, helping young companies get funding.

Charles was born in China and moved to the United States after finishing high school there. He attended Wabash College in Indiana, where he studied Psychology and German. After completing his undergraduate studies, he moved to Pennsylvania to become a PhD student in Cognitive Neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his doctoral degree in 2020. Since then, he has worked as a Data Scientist at various companies, including Spark Neuro and Split Software.

Karo was born in Austria, where she also grew up. She earned a master's degree in Architecture from the Technical University in Graz and an Associate of Arts degree from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. Karo began her career as a Color, Material, and Finish (CMF) Designer at Tesla in California. Afterward, she spent 6 years as a CMF Designer in the UK, contributing to cars made by Jaguar Land Rover as well as Aston Martin Lagonda. Karo currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area working as a CMF Designer for Zoox.

Mario Zechner, an independent software developer, coach, and angel investor based in Graz, Austria. His technical expertise spans applied machine learning, data science, compiler engineering, and computer graphics. He has authored several books and numerous scientific papers. He was also a key member of a successful startup named RoboVM. The birth of his son marked a pivotal moment in his life, inspiring him to contribute to the community and use his skills to address societal issues.

Heather was born in Scotland and spent much of her childhood moving across Europe. She currently resides in Manchester, where she lends her expertise to Split Software as an Experimentation Advisor. With a decade of experience in the field of experimentation, Heather has made significant contributions to prominent organizations such as the BBC, Optimizely, and SKY, as well as to renowned football clubs including Manchester United and Chelsea.

Hennie Farrow is a Designer and Design Leader. Hennie was born in Iran, grew up in Los Angeles and has been living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area since the early 90ies. Hennie has a degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University. She worked as an Instructor at the Academy of Art University for over a decade. After that she held various Design Leadership positions in Silicon Valley: Hennie was a Design Lead at Adobe, Head of Design & UX at Zignal Labs, VP of Design & UX at Emtrain and Director of UX at ServiceNow.

Hennie and I discuss the relationship of Design and other stakeholders like Engineers or Product Managers. Hennie gives recommendations on how to make Designers lover working with you. Hennie talks about her creative process and her current passion project (livekeenly.com).