Jimmy's Jobs of the Future Katie Prescott | The Future of Tech & Billion Dollar Scandals
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Billion-dollar deal. Explosive fraud allegations. Extradition. Acquittal. A yacht, a storm… and a tragic ending.
In this episode of Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future, Katie Prescott, tech correspondent at The Times, takes us inside her new book on Mike Lynch – the brilliant, controversial founder at the centre of Britain’s biggest tech scandal.
Katie explains how Lynch rose from a nurse-and-fireman family to build Autonomy into a multibillion-dollar company, why HP paid $11bn for it, and how that deal spiralled into one of the most complex legal sagas in modern British business.
She talks about writing the book in the aftermath of his death, what she learned from those who worked closest with him, and why his story still hangs over the UK tech ecosystem today.
Along the way, Jimmy and Katie dig into power in Big Tech, the culture of entrepreneurship, Dragons’ Den, Reggae Reggae Sauce, and what it really takes to report on the people shaping our technological future.
If you want to understand how one tech deal became a decade-long war over truth, power and billions, this conversation is unmissable.
00:00 Intro
01:35 Katie’s new book & why this story matters
02:20 Early life and career of Mike Lynch
04:55 The rise of Autonomy
08:27 The HP acquisition & legal battles
16:18 The tragic end and Lynch’s legacy
24:42 The UK tech ecosystem today
35:25 Peter Jones and the startup mindset
36:42 How entrepreneurship has evolved
37:14 The Reggae Reggae Sauce phenomenon
37:59 Katie’s transition into journalism
39:43 What a journalist’s job really is now
40:06 Interviewing the world’s top tech leaders
41:24 Power dynamics inside Big Tech
44:32 Future trends in technology
50:34 Advice for aspiring journalists
51:22 BBC vs The Times
55:47 Hiring a tech correspondent
57:33 Closing thoughts
58:36 End
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Credits:
Host / Exec Producer: Jimmy McLoughlin OBE
Producer: Sunny Winter https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnywinter/
Junior Producer: Thuy Dong
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