Hopin is one of the fastest-growing startups in history. Founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat joins Azeem Azhar to talk about how he grew the virtual events company from six employees in February 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, to more than eight hundred, and a valuation of almost $8 billion, a year and a half later. Johnny explains how he seized the opportunity presented by the pandemic, what it was like learning to lead at one of the fastest-growing startups in history, and why he dre...
Nov 03, 2021•25 min•Ep. 5
The transition to a greener economy is absolutely essential for the future of life as we know it. Governments and companies have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, but it’s not clear how they plan to get there – or how much it will cost. Today’s guest, though, has some idea. Michele Della Vigna runs the Carbonomics research program at Goldman Sachs, which looks at the economics behind a transition to net-zero emissions. On the eve of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26...
Oct 27, 2021•44 min•Ep. 4
Ford has been making cars for 118 years — nearly all of them with internal combustion engines. It now faces the biggest challenge in its history. As the electric vehicle (EV) revolution accelerates and people rethink their relationships with cars, both automotive incumbents and upstarts are planning for a radically different world. Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer Hau Thai-Tang is ideally placed to discuss what that shift looks like. He and Azeem Azhar explore how EV uptake w...
Oct 20, 2021•48 min•Ep. 3
The climate crisis is the defining issue of our age, and to fight it effectively, we’ll have to redesign our world. That requires money and technological innovation – but it also demands knowledge of local communities, and policymaking. Dawn Lippert works at the intersection of all of those issues. She’s the founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator, a non-profit incubator that helps climate-focused startups deploy their technologies. In September 2021, Elemental spun out a $60m venture-capital f...
Oct 13, 2021•36 min•Ep. 2
Google, Facebook, Apple, and Uber are just some of the enormous companies that derive part of their value from network effects: The more users they have, the more value they provide. Network effects aren’t new. The basic principles that underpinned faxes and phone lines also underpin social media. But rapid technological change has made network effects more prevalent and more powerful than ever before. Serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor James Currier is one of the world’s foremost expe...
Oct 06, 2021•50 min•Ep. 1
Kim Stanley Robinson , the legendary science-fiction novelist, has a private utopian hope: “to dodge a mass extinction event.” He joins Azeem Azhar to explore his recent novel, The Ministry For the Future , and what it would take for institutions, individuals, and emerging technologies to save millions of lives. They also discuss: When civil disobedience and direct climate action may become a moral necessity. Why central banks and a radical shift of economic incentives are vital to drive decarbo...
Jul 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 38
Facebook serves 34 percent of the world’s population and decides who to block and what to censor. How should governments regulate this startling power? Nick Clegg , the UK’s former deputy prime minister and now vice president of Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how governments might reassert control in the exponential age. They also discuss: The major regulatory legislation coming down the pike in the U.S., the EU, and India. Why allowing data portabili...
Jun 30, 2021•45 min•Ep. 37
Visa processes more than 500 million transactions every day. How is the world’s largest digital payment platform adapting to new technologies and fresh competition? Charlotte Hogg , executive vice president and CEO of its European operations, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the evolving ecosystem of digital payments. They also discuss: Why Visa should be seen as a platform-based technology company like Google, despite being an established financial institution. Why the Visa’s “open network” model d...
Jun 23, 2021•37 min•Ep. 36
From predictive policing to automated credit scoring, algorithms applied on a massive scale, gone unchecked, represent a serious threat to our society. Dr. Rumman Chowdhury , director of Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency and Accountability at Twitter, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how businesses can practice responsible AI to minimize unintended bias and the risk of harm. They also discuss: How you can assess and diagnose bias in unexplainable “black box” algorithms. Why responsible AI demand...
Jun 16, 2021•49 min•Ep. 35
AI hackers are coming, and it’s not just our computer networks at risk – our laws and regulations are also vulnerable. Bruce Schneier , internationally renowned security technologist and fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how humans have always exploited loopholes in rule-based systems, and how that will change as AIs become more powerful. They also discuss: Why making AI systems easier to monitor and regulate also makes them less powe...
Jun 09, 2021•38 min•Ep. 34
Could we have a financial industry without banks or brokers? That’s the vision of decentralized finance – or DeFi – in which financial products are built from tamper-proof digital smart contracts interacting with blockchains. Sergey Nazarov , co-founder of Chainlink, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the promise of this emerging sector to bring greater transparency, control, and yield for both customers and businesses. They also discuss: How blockchains and smart contracts work together to reconfigur...
Jun 02, 2021•49 min•Ep. 33
AI can offer a new type of competitive advantage, but entrepreneurs need to know what it is and how to unlock it. Ash Fontana , author of The AI First Company and managing director at Zetta Venture Partners – a firm that exclusively invests in early-stage AI startups, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the risks and rewards of applying AI to business problems. They also discuss: Why the high up-front cost of developing AI models favors multi-sector businesses. Which is more important for an AI-focused...
May 26, 2021•58 min•Ep. 32
Using forests to offset a company’s carbon emissions has been dismissed as “greenwashing.” But Diego Saez Gil argues that a verifiable and transparent global market in carbon credits is a vital tool to mitigate climate change. In part 2 of their discussion, he joins Azeem Azhar to explore how his company, Pachama, uses technology to connect farmers and ecologists with climate-conscious corporations in an effort to evolve the global carbon marketplace. They also discuss: Why companies need offset...
May 20, 2021•33 min•Ep. 31
How do we build a market for carbon offsets that is both trustworthy and effective? Diego Saez Gil , co-founder and CEO of Pachama, believes he has the answer. In part 1 of the conversation, Diego joins Azeem Azhar to explore how AI, satellites, and LiDAR can be leveraged to verify the conservation efforts of farmers, NGOs, and governments and help lay the foundation for sustainable work against climate change. They also discuss: How the rapid cycles of a tech startup interact with the slower rh...
May 19, 2021•33 min•Ep. 30
Kenneth Cukier , senior editor at the Economist , and Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger , professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the University of Oxford, argue that because AI systems have no causal model of the world, they lack the human capacity for imagination and decision-making. Azeem Azhar explores their contention that we should not rely on AI to provide solutions to our problems. Rather we should systematically challenge how we frame our problems in order to produce breakthrough ins...
May 12, 2021•47 min•Ep. 29
In less than a decade France has gone from tech backwater to the startup engine of the EU. It recently celebrated its 12th company to achieve a $1 billion valuation and is well on the way to President Macron’s goal of “25 unicorns by 2025.” Kat Borlongan , director of La French Tech, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how her government taskforce has been working to effectively drive growth in the French startup scene. They also discuss: Why achieving tech sovereignty has become a key motivator for go...
May 05, 2021•42 min•Ep. 28
Turning a corporate climate pledge into reality is a complex endeavor. Watershed, a software startup co-founded by Christian Anderson , is committed to using data to cut corporate emissions fast. In conversation with Azeem Azhar , Christian shares the challenges of putting this dream into practice. They also discuss: The role of network effects in the net-zero transition. How Watershed’s data business compares to social media. Why carbon removal decisions in companies should reside within the CF...
Apr 28, 2021•47 min•Ep. 27
Livestock is responsible for 15 percent of global greenhouse emissions. Could meat grown in labs offer a sustainable – and palatable – future? Didier Toubia , CEO and co-founder of cultured meat start-up Aleph Farms, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the biotech, ethics, and economics of making beef without cows. They also discuss: Why food security and public health are driving the development of alternative protein sources. Why cultivated meat may achieve price parity with normal beef within five y...
Apr 21, 2021•37 min•Ep. 26
AI is not just code and algorithms. It’s an industry built on a global network of resource extraction, human labor, and data collection. Kate Crawford , senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research and research professor of communication and science and technology studies at USC Annenberg, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the far-reaching impacts of AI and to consider the urgent case for proper governance and regulation of the industry. They also discuss: Why we need to observe hardware supply ...
Apr 14, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 25
IonQ is the first company solely focused on quantum computing to go public, with its quantum computers accessible via the cloud today. The company’s co-founder/chief scientist Chris Monroe and president/CEO Peter Chapman join Azeem Azhar to explore how they turned cutting-edge research into a scalable product. They also discuss the engineering challenges that remain before quantum systems not only surpass the fastest supercomputers, but also become widely available. In addition, they address: Wh...
Apr 07, 2021•49 min•Ep. 24
Meltem Demirors , Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the potential and politics of cryptocurrencies: from the ideological origins of Bitcoin to the new wave of decentralized financial products that could disrupt traditional finance. They also discuss: Why the values of the Cypherpunk community are enshrined in Bitcoin’s design. How the Decentralized Finance movement is re-imagining existing products on blockchain networks. If Bitcoin will ever break out of its nic...
Mar 31, 2021•50 min•Ep. 23
Atlassian, the enterprise software innovator, is helping to drive disruption across the world of work. Co-founder and co-CEO, Scott Farquhar , joins Azeem Azhar to explain how, during a global pandemic, they nearly doubled the size of their workforce, why the workplace will never be the same after Covid-19, and what the implications are for companies and employees who increasingly operate remotely, asynchronously, and in flatter hierarchies. They also discuss: Why Farquhar believes that most com...
Mar 24, 2021•48 min•Ep. 22
Cade Metz , technology correspondent at The New York Times, joins Azeem Azhar to discuss his new book Genius Makers . In it, he tells the story of the pioneers who brought AI out of academic labs, sparking a Big Tech arms race and transforming our everyday lives. They also discuss: How deep learning went from an unworkable concept to fueling the AI boom. Why bias and prejudice “baked in” to an AI system are almost impossible to remove. Which early signals tech giants followed to develop AI even ...
Mar 17, 2021•42 min•Ep. 21
What are universities for? Are they an elite pipeline for elite jobs, or can they meet the needs of societies transforming amid technological advances? Azeem Azhar explores the role of higher education in research, innovation, and progress with Geraint Rees , Dean of Faculty of Life Sciences at University College London and a leader of their AI strategy. They also discuss: How University College London researchers drove the design, approval, and production of a breathing aid for COVID-19 patient...
Mar 10, 2021•38 min•Ep. 20
Chris Urmson , co-founder and CEO of the self-driving technology startup Aurora, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the state-of-play of self-driving technology, the criticisms the tech must address, and the huge challenges to be overcome before we trust a computer to drive our kids to school. They also discuss: How Aurora’s founders built their “no jerks,” team-oriented culture. The importance of new LIDAR sensors (light-radar) for achieving faster speeds with bigger vehicles. Why Aurora is skipping ...
Mar 03, 2021•46 min•Ep. 19
Social networks polarize communities and spread misinformation. Professor Sinan Aral , director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy and author of The Hype Machine , joins Azeem Azhar to explore what makes these networks so powerful and how we can engineer our way to a healthier online ecosystem. They also discuss: Why powerful “network effects” lead to social media monopolies. Why forcing interoperability and “identity porting” is the key to healthy competition. Why repealing Section 230 ...
Feb 24, 2021•51 min•Ep. 18
Could deep tech companies bring about an age of abundance? Matt Ocko , co-founder and managing partner of Data Collective Venture Capital, joins Azeem Azhar to explore the art of investing in startups that aim to transform entire industries with radically cheaper, cleaner products. They also discuss: Why establishing “computational advantage” is key to a successful deep tech approach. How AbCellera, one of Matt’s portfolio companies, used machine learning and extensive automation to swiftly deve...
Feb 17, 2021•44 min•Ep. 17
From an insurance giant to an incubator of cutting-edge tech companies, Ping An’s evolution is impressive and unique. Chief Innovation Officer Jonathan Larsen joins Azeem Azhar to explore how the China-based holding conglomerate has managed such agility at immense scale. They also discuss: Why being founder-led has enabled bold movement into new markets. How Ping An created the world’s largest telemedicine platform from scratch. Why innovation must come from the company’s core culture and leader...
Feb 10, 2021•52 min•Ep. 16
“Quantum computing is to conventional computing what a warp drive is to a bicycle,” says Jeremy O’Brien , CEO of PsiQuantum. He joins Azeem Azhar to explore the exponential advantage quantum computing will bring to problems across science and industry, and how he’s using photonics to build the first productive quantum computer. They also discuss: Why only quantum computers can help solve our most intractable problems. Why VCs are not rushing to fund this transformative technology. How existing s...
Feb 03, 2021•51 min•Ep. 15
Regina Dugan, CEO of new biomedical non-profit Wellcome Leap and former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the U.S., joins Azeem Azhar to explore how she approaches delivering breakthrough technologies, and why she has now set her sights on global health. They also discuss: The thinking behind DARPA’s early support of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine technology. How the DARPA model of innovation can apply to advancing medical technologies. How the lessons from her experie...
Jan 27, 2021•49 min•Ep. 14
