Exploring the Roles of Fatherhood, AI, and Start Ups with a Guest

Linus Ekenstam is a designer and serial entrepreneur who has founded and sold several companies. He has also been a design leader at Typeform, Bamboo Blockchain and Flodesk. He's currently building an AI-powered children's story generator at BedtimeStory.ai and a platform to track and improve mental health called Sensive. He is a partner and the father of two daughters. In today's conversation we discussed:

* What it means to be an "AI Gardener"

* Struggles with male infertility

* Time and relativity

* How to navigate the daily grind with two working parents and a 4 and 2 year old

* A visit from his youngest daughter while recording

* How he thinks technology will transform his daughter's lives

* Optimism for the future with AI as a useful tool

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast and YouTube.

—

Where to find Linus Ekenstam

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linusekenstam/

Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/LinusEkenstam

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LinusEkenstam

Newsletter: insidemyhead.ai

Where to find Adam Fishman

- FishmanAF Newsletter: www.FishmanAFNewsletter.com

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/

—

In this episode, we cover

[1:47] Welcome

[2:15] What do you do here?

[3:08] AI Gardener

[4:40] Childhood

[6:18] Fav US kid’s show

[7:32] Difference between his and his kid’s childhood

[10:44] kids/partner

[11:38] Pull to move back to Sweden during COVID

[13:07] Male infertility

[23:38] Advice

[25:52] Earliest memory of being a dad

[27:44] Manage daily grind/work/family

[30:25] What did you do w/kids before preschool?

[31:51] Most surprising thing about becoming a dad?

[36:17] Time & relativity

[42:24] Where do you and your partner not align?

[45:25] AI change kid’s relationship to tech/what are you working on?

[50:11] How do you recharge your batteries?

[51:37] What is a mistake you made as a dad?

[53:39] Follow along

[55:30] Rapid fire round

[58:33] Thank you

—

Show references:

Linus’ Tweet on Male Fertility: https://x.com/linusekenstam/status/1696424299773485380?s=46&t=_JjHRNFJidzXB5axbw2gmQ

Star Wars: https://www.starwars.com/

Encanto:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2953050/

Baby Bjorn:https://www.babybjorn.com/

TMNT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles

Power Rangers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Rangers

TypeForm: https://www.typeform.com/

Bamboo BlockChain: https://www.bamboonetworks.com/

Flodesk: https://flodesk.com/

Bedtime Story: bedtimestory.ai

Sensive: https://www.sensive.co/

Ikigai: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai

—

For sponsorship inquiries email: podcast@fishmana.com.

For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com 

Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at

http://www.armaziproductions.com/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit startupdadpod.substack.com