We’re familiar with product/market fit, but have you ever considered product/person fit? Having empathy for the end user is what differentiates the companies that design technology for the benefit of humans from those that are simply out to make a profit. So, how do we design AI, VR and AR products that promote social good—and truly change people’s lives? Sean White is the Chief R&D Officer for Mozilla, the non-profit company behind the Firefox browser. Sean also serves as a visiting lecture...
Aug 16, 2018•31 min•Ep. 20
What’s different about the decentralized business model of a company like Coinbase? Why do they measure success based on customer experience? And how do they find the best talent with the right mindset to join the Coinbase team? John Yi is the Group Product Manager for Services at Coinbase, a digital currency platform where merchants and consumers can transact with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. Based in San Francisco, Coinbase is on a mission to champion economic freedom ...
Aug 09, 2018•24 min•Ep. 19
‘The closer you get to 50/50 polarizing, the more viral you’re likely to go.’ Ameen Soleimani is the master of branding, coining terms for his blockchain startup like SpankBank and Booty call. Working with the porn industry lends itself to polarizing branding, but why does Ameen think porn also happens to be the most practical application of crypto technology? Ameen is the co-founder and CEO of SpankChain, a startup set to revolutionize the adult film industry using blockchain technology. The te...
Aug 02, 2018•20 min•Ep. 18
What if every individual had the ability to invest in their community? Dan Finlay sees a future in which the blockchain allows us all to function as venture capitalists, investing in the people we trust in our social networks, using our social collateral to back the things we truly believe in. Dan is a software developer and product lead at MetaMask, a bridge to the distributed web. The platform allows users to run Ethereum dApps (without running a full Ethereum node) and provides a user interfa...
Jul 26, 2018•26 min•Ep. 17
Esteban Ordano believes that decentralization is key to mitigating the risk that comes with digital communication, and his work uses VR to return our sense of immediacy, to recreate the personal connections that will lead to what he calls a ͚Renaissance of humanity.͛ So, what does the world look like at this intersection of virtual reality and cryptocurrency? Esteban is the founder and CTO of Decentraland, a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain where users can purchase lan...
Jul 19, 2018•19 min•Ep. 16
So many ICOs, so few products on the market. One of the rare startups that has managed to launch a decentralized product is Golem Network. Golem runs on the same principle as Airbnb, leveraging the sharing economy of decentralized tech to connect many computers in a peer-to-peer network. The same way that Airbnb hosts mobilize their unused resources (i.e.: spare bedrooms) to generate income, Golem users lend out their available computing power, giving software developers the ability to distribut...
Jul 12, 2018•20 min•Ep. 15
Only a handful of investment firms were brave enough to enter the crypto space back in the early 2010’s. Those pioneers have witnessed quite an evolution in the blockchain space, and they have gone from being the black sheep of venture capital to enjoying a red-carpet experience with every hedge fund manager on Wall Street. Paul Veradittakit is a Partner with Pantera Capital, a leading investment firm focused exclusively on projects related to blockchain technology, digital currency and crypto a...
Jul 05, 2018•21 min•Ep. 14
The startups that become really big, really fast are capitalist mutations or ‘Thunder Lizards’ that force the world to react to their agenda. Their founders refuse to accept the world as is and write their own rules, rather than conforming to the systems in place. This is how VC Mike Maples identifies the entrepreneurs he wants to support, the Prime Movers he can serve as not just an investor but a coconspirator. Mike is the founding partner at Floodgate, a venture capital fund focused on backin...
Jun 28, 2018•32 min•Ep. 13
‘I wanted to play with Barbies, but I also loved smashing up a computer and learning about silicon chips.’ Despite growing up in a tech savvy, entrepreneurial family, Jesse Draper didn’t see herself as a venture capitalist for a long time because ‘that’s not what women do.’ So, how do we level the playing field and get girls to see themselves in roles as startup founders, investors and board members? Jesse is the founding partner of Halogen Ventures, a VC firm focused on early-stage investing in...
Jun 21, 2018•34 min•Ep. 12
Imagine having a private band or orchestra talented enough to extemporaneously compose, orchestrate and perform the soundtrack to your life, adjusting to the environment or your emotions in real time? Better yet, what if YOU had the ability to create audio content that would adapt to any given situation in an immersive space? Ryan Groves is an award-winning music researcher and veteran developer of intelligent music systems. He also serves as the President and CPO of Melodrive, an adaptive music...
Jun 14, 2018•18 min•Ep. 11
How did the top icons in science, technology, entrepreneurship, entertainment, literature, and business launch their careers? What qualities do people like Maya Angelou, Warren Buffet and Pitbull have in common that helped them overcome immense challenges and rise to the top of their respective fields? The answer lies in gaining access through ‘the third door.’ As a freshman in college, Alex Banayan was searching for a book that would explain how high achievers got past rejection and obstacles t...
Jun 07, 2018•33 min•Ep. 10
Sending a cold email to a reporter who has never heard of you is not the best way to get media coverage for your startup. But how do we figure out which publication is the best fit for the story we have to tell? How do we play the game of relationships that leads to positive press? How do we pinpoint and pitch a story worth telling—one that is bigger than ourselves? Teddy Schleifer is a Senior Reporter for Recode, covering venture capital, finance and influence in Silicon Valley. Prior to joinin...
May 31, 2018•20 min•Ep. 9
While the internet has been ground-breaking in terms of connecting people to information, it has done a poor job of connecting us to each other. Stories of fake news and harassment are widespread, and the anonymity of the platform allows individuals to curate a persona very different from who they are in real life. By contrast, virtual reality translates our mannerisms and voices, providing a shared experience in which we sound and act like ourselves. The unique property of VR is in its ability ...
May 24, 2018•32 min•Ep. 8
Philip Rosedale believes that virtual reality is a world-saving undertaking, but its current single-player use cases separate us from each other rather than bringing us together. And he is on a mission to develop the VR technology that will create shared spaces where people connect in real-time, to ‘get people in a room together.’ Philip is the Co-Founder and CEO of High Fidelity, a San Francisco-based software company designing social virtual reality technology with the goal of deploying an ope...
May 17, 2018•46 min•Ep. 7
Crypto is no longer a dirty word in DC, and we have the Chamber of Digital Commerce to thank for that shift in sentiment. Established in 2014, this nonprofit represents companies in the blockchain space, fighting on Capitol Hill for a better regulatory framework that will allow innovation to thrive in this country. Perianne Boring is the Founder and President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s largest trade association for the blockchain industry. The Chamber’s mission is to promote...
May 10, 2018•18 min•Ep. 6
As the blockchain ecosystem shifted from a Bitcoin-centric world to one that welcomed multiple coins, the demand for a hardware wallet that allows users to secure and manage crypto assets grew exponentially. Ledger became the go-to solution, and the startup scaled to sell 1M units in the last year. Thomas France is the co-founder of Ledger, the leading security and infrastructure solution for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications. He is also the co-founder of La Maison du Bitcoin (The Bit...
May 03, 2018•18 min•Ep. 5
The beauty of open-source software lies in its efficiency. If two companies, building different solutions, work together on the parts of the projects that overlap, they accomplish more in less time. The Hyperledger Project is an open-source collaboration working to build a set of blockchain technologies that can be used in a variety of industries and embedded in the emerging internet technology stack. Brian Behlendorf is the Executive Director of the Hyperledger Project for The Linux Foundation....
Apr 26, 2018•23 min•Ep. 4
VR is not just for gaming anymore. Other industries are starting to take advantage of immersive technologies for applications like product design and experiential marketing. Ford is using the technology to create virtual prototypes of new vehicles and Lionsgate is experimenting with VR experiences to promote movies. When Unity Technologies realized their platform was already being used by the auto and film industries—among many others—they brought in Tony Parisi to help the company expand its re...
Apr 19, 2018•25 min•Ep. 3
What gets Kira Noodleman excited about her job as an investor with VC firm Bee Partners? The opportunity to paint a picture of what the future looks like—and then back it up with money and resources for startups in the early stages. Kira is a fan of tackling problems in disruptive industries and across cultures. With a background in product and program management, Kira has an appreciation of the skillful risk-taking that fuels successful entrepreneurship. She was a part of Google’s Project Ara a...
Apr 12, 2018•28 min•Ep. 2
‘Who has the power of the internet? Does the power lie in the hands of a few centralized companies? Or does it lie in the hands of users and communities?’ We all know the answer here. Though the web initially gave authority to its users, the pendulum has swung the other way. Now there are four companies with all the data and all the power, and many would argue that they are using it in questionable ways. Chris Dixon believes that there is still a chance we can shift the power dynamics back to us...
Apr 05, 2018•40 min•Ep. 1
There are plenty of people who work full-time, yet still don’t make enough to get by. What if there was an app that would allow individuals to earn income in the form of cryptocurrency from anywhere, at any time, with any device? Simon Yu had to drop out of college when his parents declared bankruptcy. He got a full-time job as a bank teller but was still struggling to make ends meet. In fact, Simon was sleeping through lunch so he wouldn’t have to eat another peanut butter and jelly sandwich. H...
Mar 29, 2018•26 min•Ep. 29
“From my point of view, yes, we need to be multiplanetary, and one of the big motivators … is really the desire to spend the rest of my career to make whatever big or small contribution—but a contribution—towards advancing Earth-escape technology as a category.” Max Haot is the founder and CEO of Launcher, a team on a ten-year journey to advance launch technology and deliver small satellites to orbit. Max came to the US in 2005 when the company he was working for in the UK was sold to Verizon. H...
Mar 22, 2018•19 min•Ep. 28
The beauty of smart hardware lies in its agility. With a recurrent feedback loop and regular software updates, products can be improved over time. Ubiquity Ventures is focused on funding startups that pursue this continuous refinement, investing in a feature trajectory rather than physical product. Sunil Nagaraj is the managing partner of Ubiquity, a seed-stage venture capital firm interested in smart hardware and machine intelligence. Prior to starting his own fund in 2017, Sunil spent six year...
Mar 15, 2018•24 min•Ep. 27
Bitcoin mining is tough to explain to Muggles outside the ecosystem, but Chris Shepherd is up for the task. Chris was a part of Tribe 4 here at Boost, and he also happens to be the face of the illustrious Boost VC Mural. Who better to take us through the basics of mining? Chris is the co-founder and CEO of HashRabbit, a startup that builds software for large-scale mining facilities. Chris was introduced to mining as a designer and frontend developer for LaunchKey. From there, he made his own min...
Mar 08, 2018•24 min•Ep. 26
VR is about immersion. Rather than simply witnessing an experience, we become a part of it. Imagine the advantage for brands and publishers if their content could leverage that same kind of engagement, creating ads that include us in an immersive media experience. OmniVirt is a VR and AR advertising platform for brands and publishers with the capacity to distribute 360° video content that audiences can view with one tap—no app installation or headset required. The company seeks to help creators ...
Mar 01, 2018•26 min•Ep. 25
How can the crypto community embrace design thinking? By thinking in terms of prototypes. Rather than waiting until a product is perfect, develop a test version and let it out into the wild. Allowing the community to engage is the best way to learn what works and what doesn’t—and work up to your vision. Dan Elitzer is the Blockchain and Digital Identity Lead at IDEO CoLab, IDEO’s research and design network tasked with shaping how emerging technologies will affect our world. Dan has spent his ca...
Feb 22, 2018•24 min•Ep. 24
Up until 18 months ago, there was ‘one drone to rule them all.’ But that stopped working as the consumer began to demand specialization. Different industries have different needs, and the drone market has begun to drill down and solve the problems specific to fields like construction and agriculture. Some problems remain unsolved, and that’s where Mothership Aeronautics comes in. Jonathan Nutzati is an aerospace engineer, entrepreneur and future-thinker with a passion for solving mankind’s great...
Feb 15, 2018•24 min•Ep. 23
What if you could talk directly to a VR experience, accessing the menu or a particular tool simply by asking for it? Michael Ludden argues that voice interaction makes sense for every virtual reality application as a method of control, and in his role as Director of Product with IBM Watson, he is committed to building a toolkit for developers that allows them to incorporate services like Speech to Text and Watson Conversation into their own products. Michael began working with the developer comm...
Feb 08, 2018•25 min•Ep. 22
Relentless. When we met Sebastian Serrano in 2013, he was the quintessential tenacious founder, attending any and every industry event and becoming a part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem—before it was called the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Sebastian’s interest in the space began in 2012. Inflation in Argentina was on the rise, and the government was making it more and more difficult to move money. Bitcoin appeared to be the answer, and Sebastian set out to help build the infrastructure necessary t...
Feb 01, 2018•26 min•Ep. 21
"The first generation of headsets has proved that VR is going to be a thing, but it’s not going to be a thing on that generation of headsets." 2017 was a reality check for the VR industry. The market size continues to be limited by barriers like setup time and the fact that it’s a pain in the ass to take anywhere. So what is the key to mass adoption? Peter Le Bek argues that standalone will be the game changer the space needs to get people in headsets. Peter is the co-founder and CEO of Sketchbo...
Jan 25, 2018•18 min•Ep. 20
