Academia.edu's Richard Price: "The end of the paywall"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Richard Price, founder of Academia.edu, yo talk about how academic publishing works today (4:00), doing to publishing what Napster did to music (6:15) starting out with banana cakes (7:20), raising his first round of money (11:45), going from 50 sign-ups-a-day to 72m users (12:30), getting to 20m research papers uploaded (14:15), taking on a centuries-old business model (15:45), the importance of prestige (19:55), quality control (21:05), the last bastion in publishing untouched by the Internet (25:30), and bankrolling free access with a core of subscribers (28:15). PLUS: Jeffery Mackie-Mason, head librarian at the University of California, comes on to talk about his showdown with Elsevier over the publisher’s “extortionary” prices (32:10), how subscription rates have soared (35:05), unleashing scientific progress (37:15), playing hardball (39:00), how publishing giants have defended their turf (40:45), reaching a tipping point (42:45), the publishers beginning to break ranks (46:10), and the key to the traditional players’ power (47:15). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
8 Feb 201951min
Uber's Mark Moore: "Don't call them flying cars"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Mark Moore, head of engineering at Uber Elevate, to talk about flying cars (2:05), starting out at NASA (2:35), why air taxis are inevitable (4:05), why were are in a “Wright Brothers era” of air taxis (6:50), planning to launch in five years (8:05), the gridlock problem (10:35), going pilotless (12:15), taking air taxis to the mass market (15:25), seeding a manufacturing boom (17:20), the pilot shortage (18:20), why our skies are about to get very crowded (20:45), how much it will cost (23:25), and why air taxis could convince us to give up our cars (25:25). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
1 Feb 201928min
Five questions with... Benedict Evans
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz to answer five big tech questions. 1. The smartphone era is over, now what? (1:50), 2. What is the state of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and should we be worried? (5:50), 3: What does good regulation of tech look like? (20:10), 4. What does the Consumer Electronics Show tell us about the next frontier in tech? (29:35), 5. Have driverless cars sputtered? (36:45) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
25 Jan 201945min
Credit Karma's Nichole Mustard: "Self-driving finance"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Nichole Mustard, co-founder of fintech unicorn Credit Karma, to talk about credit scores as a means to an end (2:20), the evolution of the credit score (4:45) how she ended up starting Credit Karma in 2007 (10:40), studying zoology at uni (12:35), buying a one-way ticket to California (13:35), working at Pizza Hut (14:50), leaving pizza for financial planning (16:30), starting Credit Karma on the cusp of the financial crisis (18:20), and the opportunity created by the Great Recession (24:25), building trust but also collecting bounties (26:50), the virtualisation of finance (29:50), how personal finance will become more like self-driving clike (32:50), the road to a stock-market float (37:05), and her worst day of work (41:15), Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
18 Jan 201945min
DoNotPay's Josh Browder: "Your very own robot lawyer”
The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Josh Browder, the 22-year-old founder of robot lawyer Donotpay, to talk about the end of the legal profession as we know it (2:25), getting 10,000 Uber refunds (4:35), how parking tickets led to him starting a company (6:10), and getting $15m in parking tickets overturned (8:55), expanding his bot's capabilities (11:50), his deep disdain for lawyers (13:15), his family’s rebel history (14:15), eliminating the need for lawyers (17:25), the inevitability of automation (20:35), the weaknesses of artificial intelligence (22:10), targeting vested interests (25:00), his new privacy bot in Europe (26:50), creating a business around a free core service (27:45), the most endangered white-collar jobs (30:55), the ethics of AI (31:55), the tech backlash (34:00), and the possibility of generalised AI (36:55), Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
11 Jan 201939min
Y Combinator's Michael Seibel: "Stupidity or genius"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Michael Seibel, chief executive of Y Combinator, the storied Silicon Valley startup bootcamp, to talk about why chaotic markets are good for startups (3:50), how he ended up at YC (6:20), the importance of clarity (7:50), why it’s both easier and harder than ever to launch a company (9:10), the power of the big guys (11:35), the need for regulation (13:45), what has changed since he arrived to Silicon Valley in 2006 (18:05), why bigger is better for YC’s model (20:30), peak accelerator (24:05), getting pitched his own idea (26:10), tackling the diversity challenge (27:30), tech’s number one problem (30:10), how startups are like the NBA (34:30), stupidity vs genius (37:00), how Facebook and Google are cautionary tales (39:30), competing against Big Tech’s money (42:45), artificial intelligence (46:40), and whether scooters are overhyped (49:20) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
21 Dec 201852min
Pioneer's Daniel Gross: “Everything big starts small”
The Sunday Times’s tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Daniel Gross, founder of Pioneer, to talk about growing up as an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem (2:40), applying to Y Combinator (3:40), escaping Army duty (5:40), having his first startup crash right before Demo Day (7:10), building a new product in 48 hours (8:55), selling to Apple (10:20), finding the next generation of geniuses (11:15), creating a “digital Ivy League” (13:10), using a leaderboard (14:55), how he gets the word out (16:25), the gamification of finding genius (20:00), why money is not the most important factor (23:10), how to win the Pioneer game (23:55), the importance of accountability (27:30), why he brings people to Silicon Valley (29:00), addressing the tech industry’s “sameness” problem (31:50), using video game mechanics to aid productivity (38:40), fighting the dumbing down of tech (42:40), and the intimidating “bigness” of big ideas (45:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
14 Dec 201849min
Chargepoint's Pat Romano: "Hiding in plain sight"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Pat Romano, chief executive of Chargepoint, the world’s largest electric car charging company, to talk about the rise of the electric car (3:00), its genesis of the company 10 years ago (5:30), the importance of Elon Musk (11:20), California’s electric car policy as a model for the world (13:00), getting over charging's engineering hurdles (15:50), the end of the internal combustion engine (19:40), the cost of an (electric) fill-up (24:15), the problem with different plugs (28:55), the danger of an oil price drop (30:20), how self-driving technology will revolutionise transport (33:45), how to please the petrolheads (35:35), a dangerous and messy transition (37:40), how Chargepoint makes money (41:15), and the “fleetification” of cars (43:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
7 Dec 201845min
