Danny In The Valley
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After more than a decade in London, Danny Fortson returns to Silicon Valley to meet the techies trying to change the world - and make loads of money while doing it.
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343 Episodes
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The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Sid Jha of Arbol to talk about the importance of insurance (3:45), using data to change how it works (8:20), how climate has scrambled the industry (10:30), regulation (14:20), creating a new asset class (16:40), weather (24:10), growing up in India (29:20), going to Wall Street (30:40), launching Arbol (33:00), the space revolution (35:40), using blockchain (37:30), and why life is more expensive in an era of climate change (42:45) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times correspondent brings on Noor Siddiquui, founder of Orchid, to talk about screening embryos (5:00), starting the company (9:30), hiring people as a first time founder (13:00), targeting ageing at the very beginning (15:00), how it works (18:20), why she thinks this is the future of conception (22:00), the need for regulation (31:00), the potential to exacerbate societal problems (38:00), why longevity enthusiasts invested (40:30), and the potential conservative backlash (49:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Eugenia Kyuda, founder of Replika, to talk about AI friends (4:00), growing up in Russia (6:45), her dad’s experience at Chernobyl (9:00), applying to Y Combinator (12:30), her first idea that didn’t work (16:30), losing her best friend (17:30), launching Replika (20:00), building a bot with pre-written answers (23:40), the key to good conversation (24:30), the bot before the ChatGPT moment (27:15), the changing AI landscape (29:20), how it works (31:50), securing people's secrets (33:50), and disrupting death (39:10). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times; tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dmitry Shevelenko of Perplexity.ai, to talk about finding the company though the Uber mafia (5:00), taking on Google (6:30), the founders' start as AI researchers (8:45), why he joined (11:35), what he did before this (17:00), closing his startup (20:15), hypergrowth lessons (24:40), the business model (28:00), the Gemini disaster (32:35), and doing it differently (36:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Ana Pavlovic Hans to talk about using rocks to cut carbon (3:00), coming up with the best “recipe” (8:00), the measurement breakthrough (11:00), bringing the cost down (20:00), making rock weathering “sexy’ (25:45), being raised in mining country in America and Australia (27:00), the partnership with Stripe (37:40), raising $12 million (41:30), and critter stories from Australia (42:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, to talk about writing a book on blockchain and crypto (4:00), why it’s still early (9:30), NFT’s (14:30), the computer versus the casino (18:30), boom and bust (23:00), his vision for a blockchain-based web (27:15), the rise of a new social media model (32:30), overcoming inertia (39:20), bitcoin v everything else (42:10), central bank digital currencies (44:00), and the ethereum economy (48:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times; tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Diego Saez GIl, founder of Pachama, to talk about carbon reduction (4:00), hist first startups (6:10), Pachama’s start (12:00), building tools to catalyse climate projects (16:00), how it works (19:10), net zero pledges (22:00), when his house burned down (24:50), the carbon market (27:40), raising $90 million (32:00), and his worst day (36:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on David Barrett, founder of Expensify, to talk about creating a “remote-first” company (3:15), the lounge (6:45), the return-to-office movement (14:15), going public and then getting its shares smashed (17:15), why venture capital is a scam (23:30), why he likes public market investors (30:25), keeping people happy when shares lose 95% of their value (33:35), and the artificial intelligence boom (35:25). PLUS: The link to our previous episode with Delian Asparouhov, founder of Varda, whose space-factory startup just had its first craft land safely back to earth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Raj Kapoor, co-founder of Climactic, to talk about growing up in Pennsylvania (3:10), his early days in Silicon Valley (8:00), making himself president of the Internet (club) (10:30), his first startup (16:30), Cleantech 1.0 (22:00), joining Lyft (25:00), self-driving cars (28:30), raising a first fund at Climactic (32:15), using software to cut emissions (37:00), and remaking the electric grid (45:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Fergus Hay, founder of The Hacking Games, to talk about why he started the company (5:00), the difference between the real and online worlds (9:30), why everyone gets caught (15:15), his plan for a documentary and television series (21:00), the Hollywood angle (25:45), making hacking sexy (30:30), the cybersecurity industry’s stance on hackers (35:05), how much of cybercrime is invisible (40:45), and reaching young people (44:10). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dmitri Mehlhorn to talk about Investing in Us (4:45), what it invests in (7:30), funneling cash into election groups (13:20), why America’s election will be decided by the finest of margins (16:50), how artificial intelligence fits with democracy (21:15), the dangers (26:05), Silicon Valley’s attitude to politics (32:50), what works when it comes to changing people’s minds (37:30), why age might not be Joe Biden’s biggest problem (41:40), and a terrifying thought experiment (45:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, to talk about how he started tutoring family members (4:30), doing startups in the dotcom boom (5:50), starting to do videos in 2006 (10:15), building a business from his closet (14:15), linking up with openAI (16:30), building an AI tutor (19:40), dealing with hallucinations (22:30), moving from text to voice and video (25:55), the Covid effect (30:30), an education co-pilot (33:45), the relationship with schools (38:00), and his new book (42:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Martin Adams of Metaphysic to talk about using artificial intelligence in entertainment (3:20), the Tom Cruise moment (5:50), how the technology is accelerating (9:20), what it means for Hollywood (13:10), scaling humans (17:35), how much data is needed (22:40), copyrighting people (25:20), the election (30:10), his early days running raves in London (34:35), growing up in Essex (37:40), going to Harvard law (38:45), and the first AI feature film (40:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jim Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media, the leading online advocacy group, to talk about 2024 as a pivotal year for democracy (4:20), whether Facebook is ready (8:30), Tiktok (10:10), AI-powered misinformation (12:30), why he’s more worried than ever for democracy (17:10), why he thinks regulation will come, but not from Washington (21:30), X under Musk (27:40), the low-hanging fruit (32:00), and the best and worst case for 2024 (33:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on David Stein, chief executive of Babson Diagnostics, to talk about the importance of blood testing (4:49), why Babson is not Theranos (6:47), trying to compete with that idea (9:26), why they succeeded where Theranos failed (14:34), using a tiny amount of blood (18:23), fighting against the Theranos effect (24:37), being owned by a company they aim to disrupt (26:28), liquid biopsies (28:02), the new age of biological data (32:23), regulatory approval (37:09), and avoiding the spotlight (39:03). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times' tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Christian Angermayer, founder of Apeiron Investments, to talk about psychedelics in Oregon (4:15), the spiritual experience of a “trip” (11:30), progressing toward the first FDA approval (15:30), how this will be introduced into the market (21:10), why having a qualified guide/therapist is critical (25:30), gaining societal acceptance (30:20), why he funded the longevity XPrize (34:20), the new approach to ageing (41:00), why we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in life span (42:30), the Ozempic effect (49:00, thriving in a toxic society (56:20), and how AI dovetails with psychedelics and longevity (1:01:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Keith Rabois of Founders Fund to talk about leaving San Francisco for Miami (4:00), why San Francisco is a “black hole” (7:00), why remote work is broken (11:00), staying on the AI sidelines (16:30), running Openstore (18:40), the Paypal story (26:50), hiring well (30:00), shrinking their fund (33:50), and why big venture capital funds won’t make money (38:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A special episode for your from our daily podcast from The Times: Last week, Sam Altman the CEO of OpenAI - the makers of ChatGPT - was sacked by his board. After a dramatic few days, he is back at the company along with a new board. But is it really business as usual at OpenAI? Guest: Danny Fortson, West Coast Correspondent, The Sunday Times. Host: Manveen Rana. Listen to the Stories of Our Times podcast - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/podcasts/stories-of-our-times Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Naveen Rao, founder of MosaicML, to talk about the efficiency of the human brain (3:30), slashing the cost to train AI models (8:00), how this is like the evolution of the car (11:40), selling to Databricks (14:30), how the AI market will evolve (17:00), the fallacy of AI doomerism (21:00), growing up in eastern Kentucky (22:30), plunging into the dotcom boom (24:50), why he studied neuroscience (27:10), selling his previous startup to Intel (32:00), solving intelligence (34:40), and what he tells his kids about the future (40:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dan Siroker, founder of Rewind AI, to talk about why he started the company (4:40), recording everything you do, see and read (7:10), living life on a “hot mic" (10:20), the pendant (12:45), bringing Black Mirror to life (17:00), AI as cognitive butler (23:45), growing up surrounded by tech in Palo Alto (28:00), working on the Obama campaign (29:00), making mistakes at other companies (34:00), his view of Sam Altman (37:35), how he uses Rewind (43:00), and dealing with the hallucination problem (44:30). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Man, what an asshole! No wonder this episode is so short!