Danielle Newnham Podcast

In today’s episode, I speak to AI and Machine Learning Scientist and founder of Kingfisher Labs - Dr Catherine Breslin. Catherine spent several years in academic research before she joined the Amazon Alexa team during its infancy back in 2014. Whilst there, Catherine managed the Cambridge-based AI Alexa team which were working on inventing foundational Machine Learning tech to build intelligent conversational interfaces for a myriad of devices, apps, languages and environments. The team also worked on technology that enabled the automatic speech recognition and natural language understanding behind Amazon’s Alexa.Catherine holds a First Class Honours degree in engineering and computer science from Oxford University, a Masters in the field of Speech, Text and Internet Technology from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Engineering and Automatic Speech Recognition, also from Cambridge.In this fascinating conversation, we talk about how Catherine got into engineering and what led her to the field of speech recognition, what the early days of working on Alexa were like and what the wins and issues were when it first launched.We also talk about the future of smart devices, what working on Alexa has taught her about human nature, how hard it is from a science perspective, to turn virtual assistants into true companions and how far out we are from achieving AGI - (artificial general intelligence).I hope you enjoy it!-----Let us know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.------Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnhamCatherine on Twitter @catherinebuk / Website / Instagram @catherinebreslin-----This episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng. Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD. 

In today’s episode, I speak to Dhiraj Mukherjee, co-founder of Shazam – the music recognition app which was started in London in 1999, and acquired by Apple in 2018 for a reported $400 million.The story of Shazam is one of pure innovation, foresight, and a twenty plus year friendship. In 1999, Chris Barton dreamed of a seemingly impossible solution to ambient music recognition and created the team — including friend Dhiraj Mukherjee, classmate Philip Inghelbrecht, and engineer Avery Wang — to make it a reality. Shazam has now been downloaded over 1 billion times and sees more than twenty million Shazams a day. I first met Dhiraj and Chris eight years ago when I interviewed the founders for my first book. Their story is so compelling that I wanted to bring them on to the podcast, as individuals, and learn more about each element of the business. So today, I am talking to Dhiraj about his background in India and traveling around the world as a child, meeting and starting a business with Chris Barton, the operational side of building Shazam in the early days from funding to how they physically got the music library together at a time when there were no smartphones, and also his role now as an investor and what he looks for in a founder. Shazam is the ultimate startup story - one of grit, foresight, perseverance and friendship – and I think you’re going to really enjoy it. ------Let us know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.------Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram: @daniellenewnhamDhiraj on Twitter / website / Shazam-----This episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng. Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD. 

In today’s episode, I speak to Jim McKelvey – serial entrepreneur and inventor, co-founder of Square and author of The Innovation Stack. Jim is also the co-founder of LaunchCode, a non-profit which helps people learn to code and get hired and founder and CEO of Invisibly which aims to give consumers control over how their personal data is monetised by advertisers. He also serves as an Independent Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.Jim is someone who has always had a lot going on. In his early twenties, whilst contracting for IBM, Jim was also a  glassblowing instructor and had founded a CD cabinet manufacturing company but just before Christmas in 1989, everything changed for Jim when his mother died suddenly. The incident made Jim re-evaluate his life and priorities and he realised that he no longer wanted to do lots of things to a mediocre level. He wanted and needed to focus on the work that matters most to him.Soon after, Jim set up Mira – a digital company which still exists today and where he first met and hired intern Jack Dorsey. After handing the reigns of that company over, Jim co-founded a glassblowing studio and gallery called Third Degree Glass Factory and it was here where the idea for Square would come.In this interview, we dig deeper into Jim’s childhood and how his mother’s death affected his path, how Jack Dorsey went from intern to friend to co-founder and how they built Square into a business that empowers small businesses, whilst taking on Goliaths like Amazon and winning.There are so many great lessons in this interview about entrepreneurship, innovation and beating the competition which I think you’ll really enjoy.------Let us know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram: @daniellenewnhamJim on Twitter @2000F Instagram JimMcKelvey1Jim websiteLaunchCodeSquareInvisibly Third Degree Glass FactoryYou can buy Jim's book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time here.-----This episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng. Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD.  

In today’s episode, I speak to Shellye Archambeau – esteemed Silicon Valley leader and tech CEO.Shellye was one of Silicon Valley’s first African American female CEOs and pioneered a path in tech for others to follow. She started her career at IBM where she spent 15 years, ultimately leading its Asia-Pacific business for the public sector. Shellye later became the CEO of MetricStream in Palo Alto. She had joined tech company Zaplet which was going through some difficulties and was only months away from bankruptcy when she led it through an incredible business pivot, and merger with MetricStream. Shellye built the company into an award-winning global market leader with over 1200 employees serving customers around the world. Shellye is the author of two books, the most recent being Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms which came out last year and which we discuss in this interview. It’s a great book which  Fortune magazine named one of its top 10 business books of 2020.In this episode, we discuss the many obstacles Shellye faced in her life (both personal and professional) and how she overcame them, as well as how she planned her career in tech. And planning is an important thread in Shellye’s book which we dig deeper into – how anyone anywhere can find the career and life they want with intentional planning. There are lots of great lessons in this episode and Shellye’s life story is incredibly inspiring. -----Let me know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram: @daniellenewnhamShellye on Twitter @shelarchambeau and Instagram @shelarchambeauShellye website and book Shellye's book Unapologetically Ambitious can be bought here.-----This episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng. Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD. 

As a child, Philip Rosedale dreamed of creating a fully-fledged virtual society and that’s exactly what he did with Second Life. Despite it being conceived many years before, Second Life was launched in 2003. Almost two decades later, and with one million active users and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of transactions, Second Life experienced a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic as the world went into lockdown and more of us spent more time online.In this wonderfully wide-ranging conversation, Philip opens up about his early influences, his ability to see into the future and how he executes when the tech, not always the world, is ready.He also tells me about his latest company – High Fidelity which specialises in spatial audio -  and where he envisions the field going, as well as the future of virtual reality, education, crypto, live music, how tech can and should be harnessed for good, and how closely he believes the link is between virtual reality and reality. Mentioned in this episode:Oxford Uni panel talk with Elon Musk and Baroness Susan Greenfield:  https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/silicon-valley-comes-oxfordPhilip’s Writing/blog: https://www.highfidelity.com/blog/author/philip-rosedale NB At 52:13, I asked Philip, “What do you wish your legacy to be? The words which are inaudible at 52:32 are “be together” so his answer was, “It’s what I am continuing to work on. I’d like to continue to use technology to build these places which allow people to be together.” Let us know what you think of this episode and please rate, review and share - it means the world to me and helps others to find it too.Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram: @daniellenewnhamPhilip on Twitter: @philiprosedaleHigh Fidelity https://www.highfidelity.com/Second Life https://secondlife.com/This episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng. Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD. 

Richard Browning has been dubbed the real-life Iron Man for his jet suit invention which allows him to fly like a Marvel superhero... but he is far more than that.Richard is an inspiring inventor, founder, engineer, ex-Royal Marines Reservist and author who is changing the paradigm in human flight.In this episode, we talk about Richard’s childhood and how his father’s premature death impacted Richard’s life and career trajectory. We also discuss how being in The Royal Marines made him a better entrepreneur, what it takes to innovate, the difference between innovation and gambling, why all experimentation should be recoverable, and how to build a sustainable business around your invention.Richard rarely gives interviews so it was a real honour to have such an in-depth conversation with one of the most exciting inventors of our time, and he offers so many great lessons and insights in this episode.I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did and if you do, it would mean the world to me if you were able to like, share and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts – it offers me feedback, as well as helps others to find the podcast too.Mentioned in this interview:Richard’s TED talk can be found here.Richard’s book can be pre-ordered from Amazon here.Richard on Instagram: @richardmbrowning @takeongravityYouTube: Gravity IndustriesTwitter: Take on Gravity Danielle on Twitter: @daniellenewnhamon Instagram: @daniellenewnhamThis episode was hosted by me - Danielle Newnham, a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years - and produced by Jolin Cheng. Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate – the device which can help to reduce stress and anxiety in less than ten minutes a day. To get an exclusive $25 off your first purchase, simply head to Sensate and insert my discount code POD.

In this episode, Andy Hertzfeld shares his inspiring story from childhood through to creating the Macintosh and on to General Magic including the highs and lows along the way.We discuss his career and friendship with Steve Jobs and what it takes to hold a seemingly impossible vision, build a pioneering team capable of achieving it and, most importantly, when and how best to execute.There are many great stories in this episode, and anecdotes of a pivotal time in tech history but, best of all, Andy shares the lessons he learned from the successes, and the failures.------This episode was hosted by me, Danielle Newnham - a recovering founder, author and writer who has been interviewing tech founders and innovators for ten years, and produced by Jolin Cheng. https://twitter.com/daniellenewnhamAndy Hertzfeld https://twitter.com/andyhertzfeld------NotesIn this episode, Andy and I discuss:"Marc" which is Marc Porat - the co-founder of General Magic with Andy and Bill Atkinson. In 1990, Marc wrote the following note to John Sculley, imagining a truly smart phone: "A tiny computer, a phone, a very personal object . . . It must be beautiful. It must offer the kind of personal satisfaction that a fine piece of jewellery brings. It will have a perceived value even when it's not being used... Once you use it you won't be able to live without it." NB Interview with Marc coming soon!The General Magic documentary which can be found on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/general-magic/id1458835312Andy's book - Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made - can be bought here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revolution-Valley-Paperback-Insanely-Great/dp/1449316247Series 1 of this podcast is sponsored by Sensate.

In this Series 1 trailer, I will introduce to you the fantastic guests I have coming up on my show, as well as explain more about what got me excited about the tech industry and why I am passionate about sharing the human stories of the  inspiring founders and innovators behind the tech we use every day.