Danielle Newnham Podcast

Today's guest is Polina Marinova Pompliano, writer and founder of The Profile –a  newsletter and media company that profiles the world’s most successful people from founders to athletes, actors to authors and many many more in between.Previously, Polina was at Fortune magazine as a journalist and editor where she wrote Term Sheet – a daily digest on businesses deals and the people behind them.Polina is also the author of Hidden Genius: The Secret Ways of Thinking That Power the World's Most Successful People – a book which distils the mental frameworks that so many of the high achievers she has profiled use to view the world and to achieve their extraordinary success - from Navy Seal David Goggins to Spanx founder Sara Blakely, Pixar’s Ed Catmull and Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York.In this conversation, we talk about Polina’s upbringing in Bulgaria before moving to the US and how feeling like an outsider shaped her view of the world and how she learns. We also talk about some of the frameworks used by the high achievers which she details in her book and the lessons they share on taking risk, failure, building a community and the importance of storytelling. Enjoy!Danielle ------------Pre-order Polina's book, Hidden Genius herePolina on Twitter and Instagram / Sign up to The Profile newsletter hereDanielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham  / Newsletter here

Today’s guest is Jennifer Phan - co-founder of Passionfroot - a platform empowering creators to partner directly with brands and agencies to monetise their product and services, be it a podcast, a newsletter or YouTube channel.Born to immigrant parents, Jen started her career as VC investor before seeing a gap in the market for creators who are trying to earn money directly from their work. Passionfroot takes care of the admin and business side of earning a living from your work and helps to remove the barriers and gate keepers which have historically been in place and held many creators back.In this conversation, Jen and I discuss the wave of creators turned entrepreneurs, why she wants to empower creators anywhere in the world, what the next frontier for creator entrepreneurs looks like, as well as some of the platforms she recommends to help you grow your community.This is a great conversation with lots of fantastic lessons for founders and creators so I hope you get as much value out of it as I did.Please 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.Jennifer on Twitter / Passionfroot website / Passionfroot Podcast, Creators on Air here / Newsletter hereDanielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham  / Newsletter here 

Dr Alvy Ray Smith is the co-founder of Pixar, a computer scientist and pioneer in the field of computer graphics. After starting his career in academia, Alvy had an epiphany following a serious skiing accident. He decided to move to California to combine his two passions - art and computers - in a place where he felt something good was about to happen. Alvy was always a pioneer. From creating his first computer graphic in 1965, Alvy became an original member of the Computer Graphics Lab at the New York Institute of Technology, he witnessed the birth of the personal computer at Xerox PARC, and he was the first director of computer graphics at George Lucas’s Lucasfilm. It was there that Alvy gathered some of the smartest people he knew to develop computer graphics software, including early renderer technology. He and colleague Ed Catmull then spun out to co-found the famous Pixar, soon followed by the hiring of Lucasfilm colleague John Lasseter, and Steve Jobs as an investor. It was at Pixar that Toy Story would be made - the very first, entirely computer-animated, feature film. In 2006, Pixar was sold to Disney for $7.4 billion.Alvy also co-founded Altamira Software and has created a number of computer art pieces including the famous Sunstone with Ed Emshwiller which featured in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Alvy was also the first Graphics Fellow at Microsoft.In this interview, Alvy recounts his career from the early days at Xerox PARC to how Pixar got started. We discuss the Pixar journey in detail, as well as his latest book – A Biography of the Pixel  (here)- including how innovation is born from three strands: An idea, chaos and a tyrant. And how Steve jobs was both the saviour and the tyrant in the incredible Pixar story.Alvy has combined his two passions – art and computer science – to spend his career showing the world what computers can do.  A true pioneer, this is one of my favourite conversations. I hope you enjoy it too.-----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 @daniellenewnhamAlvy Ray Smith on Twitter @alvyray / website Buy Alvy Ray Smith's book A Biography of the Pixel 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. Image of Alvy Ray by Christopher Michel.

Today’s guest is Michael Gibson, co-founder of 1517 – a venture fund he started in June 2015 with Danielle Strachman which backs, and I quote, “dropouts, renegade students, and deep tech scientists, at the earliest stages.”Prior to starting 1517, Michael worked with Peter Thiel, and alongside, Danielle Strachman, they ran The Thiel Fellowship for five years. For those who don’t know, The Thiel Fellowship was set up to fund students who were 22 or under, giving them a total of $100k over two years so that they could dropout of the traditional education system and pursue important work. The Fellowship guided them through this process which would often involve scientific research, creating a startup, or working on a social movement. Past founders backed by the Fellowship include Vitalik Buterin who was still a teenager when the fellowship allowed him to drop out and work on Ethereum full time, as well as Laura Deming, the founder of The Longevity Fund and Iddris Sandu, co-founder of Spatial Labs.Michael is also the author of Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University which I absolutely loved.It’s a book about startups, creating a fund with Peter Thiel, founders, reimagining education to empower the young to create great companies without the limitation of credentials, and it also tells the story of identity, specifically, Michael’s own challenging path to finding out who he is after his father - a suspected CIA agent was found murdered when Michael was still a toddler.Honestly, I can’t tell you how good the book is but trust me, it’s well worth your time as is this episode so please enjoy my conversation with Michael Gibson!---------------Michael on Twitter / 1517 Fund / Buy the book hereDanielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham   / Newsletter      

Interview with Dean Forbes - hugely successful turnaround tech CEO who has led several companies to massively successful exits. But let’s go back in time. Dean experienced hardship growing up and his family were made homeless twice but Dean always had big aspirations. His first goal was to make money doing what he loved which was football and whilst he did get to play for a Premiership, the experience was short-lived and he was soon ushered into a soulless call centre where he honed his sales skills.He then found himself at Primavera – an American software company where he grew the business to its sale to Oracle where he stayed on, making him the youngest vice president at Oracle for 30 years.From there, Dean joined Paris-based KDS a SaaS software company where as CEO, he led it to an acquisition by American Express – their largest tech acquisition at the time.Dean then went on to be CEO at CoreHR - a cloud-based HR solutions provider, where he led its growth and expansion up to acquisition by The Access Group in the UK’s largest private to private Human Capital Management M&A deal. Then in 2021, Dean became CEO of Forterro which is home to a portfolio of specialised ERP (enterprise resource planning) software products (think the software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management etc). Having been hired to drive the company’s growth in Europe - within a year, he led the business to a 1 BILLION Euro exit!If that wasn’t enough, Dean is also the founder of Forbes Family Group where he coaches and mentors young leaders and entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds. Like I said, this is a special episode where we focus on Dean’s journey as CEO and how and why he makes the decisions he does in business – all of which have led him to so many hugely successful exits.Enjoy!-----------------Dean on Twitter / Instagram / Forterro / Forbes Family GroupDanielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham   / Newsletter 

Steve Furber is a seminal computer scientist, mathematician and hardware designer whose work includes the BBC Microcomputer and the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor which can be found in over 100 billion devices today.Steve studied both Maths followed by a PhD in Aerodynamics at Cambridge University before joining Herman Hauser and Chris Curry at Acorn Computers. For the next decade, he would work with a first-class team of engineers and designers to revolutionise the home computer market before he and Sophie Wilson went on to design the ARM processor with a relatively small team and budget and with little inkling of the consequence it might bring to the world.In 1990, Steve left Acorn moved to Manchester where he is now Professor of Computer Engineering at the university there. He was charged with leading research into asynchronous systems, low-power electronics and neural engineering which  led to the SpiNNaker project - a super computer incorporating a million ARM processors which are optimised for computational neuroscience. He is basically trying to reverse engineer the brain – a lofty ambition even by his own admission.In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Steve’s life journey from studying maths with professors such as the famed John Conway and Sir James Lighthill to the highs and lows of building the BBC Micro and the story behind the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor.I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Steve and am overly excited about his SpiNNaker project which we also discuss today.Enjoy!--------------Steve Furber info / SpiNNaker info / Micro Men filmDanielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham   / Newsletter 

Hello and welcome to the Danielle Newham Podcast where I interview tech founders and innovators to learn the inspiring, human stories behind the game-changing tech we use every day.I wanted to come on here quickly to wish you all a fantastic 2023 and to thank you all for being part of this podcast journey with me. I appreciate everyone who has listened and shared their favourite episodes in 2022 – truly, I couldn’t do this without you all.I also wanted to thank the incredible guests I had on in 2022 from Klout founder Joe Fernandez to Dr Mary-Lou Jepsen, Jack Butcher, Rony Abovitz and many more. I was honoured to share your stories with the world.And I am looking forward to sharing more incredible inspiring stories with tech founders and innovators this year such as Steve Furber who was a principal designer for the BBC Micro computer and ARM’s 32-bit microprocessor which is now in many billions of devices.But before we move into 2023, I thought I would re-share the most-listened to episode of last year which is my conversation with Jimmy Soni, author of The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley. I think this is a great story revisit at the start of this year as it has all the elements which make up a great tech innovation – grit, hustle, immigrant entrepreneurs, many of whom have gone on to create huge waves in the world. A hugely inspiring and true story behind the well-known PayPal mafia.Enjoy!  

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, co-founder of Stemettes an award-winning social initiative focused on getting girls, young women and non-binary people excited about, and encouraged into STEM fields through mentoring, qualification academies and STEM clubs.But let’s go back a bit. Because to understand why Anne-Marie chose this path, you need to understand her life story. At age just 10 years-old, Anne-Marie got her GCSE’s in Maths and Computing –these are exams that are normally taken at age 16 here in the UK. By age 11, she had done her A levels (which are usually taken at 18) and by age 13, she had won a scholarship to study at John Hopkins University.At just 20 years of age, Anne-Marie had graduated from Oxford University with a Masters in Mathematics and Computer Science.Anne-Marie is also an author She’s In Ctrl: How Women Can Take Back Tech, she’s a seasoned speaker, a podcast host, a Trustee Of the Institute for the Future of Work, a TV presenter (Countdown), and Anne-Marie works with media companies like BBC and 20th Century Fox to ensure that we see more diverse tech role models on screen.She was also awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 2017 for her work with young women and the STEM sector.Enjoy!----------------Dr Anne-Marie on Twitter /  Instagram /  Stemettes / She's In Ctrl  bookDanielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham   / Newsletter NB If you would like to sponsor Series 8 of the podcast, do get in touch.----------------Photo credit: Sam & Simon PhotographyMentioned in this episode:Hedy Lamarr Documentary  Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr StoryGladys WestHidden Figures Book by Margot Lee Shetterly

Magic Leap Founder Rony Abovitz is a serial tech entrepreneur and visionary. He co-founded Mako Surgical in 2004 — a robotics company specialising in manufacturing surgical robotic arm assistance technology utilised by hospitals worldwide. MAKO was acquired by Stryker Corporation in 2013 for $1.65 billion.Rony went on to found Magic Leap — a spatial computing company which envisaged a futuristic world, many years ahead of its time. Starting out of his garage in 2010, Rony worked on Magic Leap at night whilst still working at Mako during the day. He partnered with award-winning Weta Workshop in New Zealand and assembled a world-class team of creative scientists before building their own high-tech factory in the US. He remained Magic Leap’s CEO until 2020 when he helped recruit Peggy Johnson to be his successor. Rony remains on the Board of Directors at Magic Leap and is also founder and CEO of Sun and Thunder – which incubates creative tech experiments. He is also strategic advisor to Lamina1, the Layer-1 blockchain for the Open Metaverse co-founded by none other than Neal Stephenson - who famously coined the term “metaverse” in his book, Snow Crash.Rony is also working on another startup which we weren’t able to talk about but I am looking forward to having him back on the podcast next year to discuss it.This interview was recorded during the pandemic and the sound quality isn’t great so please forgive me for that but it’s still a fascinating interview with a pioneer of our times. Enjoy!-----------------You can read our interview hereRony on Twitter / Magic Leap / Sun and Thunder /  MediumDanielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham   / Newsletter 

Welcome to the Danielle Newnham Podcast where I interview tech founders and innovators to learn the inspiring, human stories behind the game-changing tech we use every day.I wanted to try something a little different today. I have been asked for a while now about doing shortened versions of podcast episodes so I thought I would test this out with some takeaway tips from the brilliant Dhiraj Mukherjee, co-founder of Shazam turned investor.In this fourteen minute episode, Dhiraj talks me through four lessons he learned from building Shazam into the one of the most recognised apps of our time.And I think these lessons are useful for any entrepreneur looking to start, build, scale and sell their startup. From coming up with a viable idea to picking the right investors and what to do once you launch – these takeaways will help you get your startup off to a flying start.As always, let me know what you think and if you would like to hear more of these shortened episodes with tangible take away lessons.Enjoy!Dhiraj website / Twitter Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham   / Newsletter