The Times Tech Podcast

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Marcus Gerhardt, chief executive of Blackrock Neurotech, to talk about his boarding school days in Wales (4:00), his dotcom adventures (10:00), pivoting to brain-computer interfaces (16:00), the “Utah array” (18:40), how in 2006 the first person sent an email with his thoughts (20:30), starting the company (23:00), the state of the technology today (26:40), targeting tetraplegics (33:00), getting investment (38:15), going to market (41:30), and reaching an inflection point (47:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on co-founder and chief executive of Checkerspot, to talk about using algae to make skis (3:55), what he leaned at pioneer Solazyme (8:30), naming the company after a butterfly (16:10), how synthetic biology is like computers were in the 1980’s (18:00), starting out as an investment banker (21:15), switching to biotech (27:00), and then to Solazyme (28:30), algae oil skis (32:15), convincing investors (36:30), the rise of climate tech (42:00), and his worst day (48:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Michael Selden, co-founder and chief executive of Finless Foods, to talk about growing tuna in a lab (2:45), getting the price down from $300,000 to $150 per pound (5:45), a publicly available bluefin tuna genome (8:45), replacing fetal bovine serum (11:30), using plant based material for the flesh “scaffolding” (14:20), scaling up (16:10), aiming for the mass market (19:55), why almost all American seafood is imported (21:20), the problems with seafood (22:40), the hardest moment(s) (27:30), the challenge of turning “clean meat” into an industry (32:00), and the science that is yet to be figured out (35:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and chief executive Charm Industrial, to talk about a different approach to carbon capture (3:30), overshooting our emissions (7:25), starting the company after a career in software (11:35), finding the Tesla roadster of CO2 removal (14:30), the potential (16:55), scaling up (19:40), attracting investors (22:00), and the CO2 scoreboard (24:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Cody Friesen, founder of Source Water, to talk about using solar to solve the water problem (4:30), the messy energy transition (9:15), our reliance on “dino-juice” (11:00), how its panels work (13:00), improving performance (22:00), starting the company (24:55), luring investors (27:00), going from scientist to founder (30:50), creating a battery company (38:00), scaling up (40:00), and solving problems for seven generations hence (44:45). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Warren Hogarth, founder of Empower, to talk about solving the credit score quandary (3:20), how his struggle to buy a car planted a seed for the company (6:20), tapping in to bank account data (8:05), his first job shoveling poop (13:00), trying his hand at fuel cell technology (14:40), then doing a fintech startup (15:50), joining the legendary venture firm Sequoia Capital (18:00), not investing in Lyft (19:55), launching Empower (21:50), the problem with credit scoring (28:05), learning how fintechs got built at Sequoia (31:10), raising $150 million after staying lean for years (34:10), completely automating credit approval (34:30), keeping an eye on employment amid economic turmoil (36:35), and operating remote-first (39:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Anand Parikh, co-founder and chief executive of Faeth Therapeutics, to talk about using nutrition to treat cancer (3:30), pairing it with chemotherapy (8:45), growing up in London (10:00), moving from corporate law to a startup (12:00), starting Faeth (17:10), a dream team of cancer scientists (18:30), seeking FDA approval (26:10), operating fully remotely (29:50), food as medicine (32:15), and his worst day of work (34:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’s tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Isaac P, a tech worker secretly working multiple full-time jobs, to talk about the “overemployed” phenomenon (4:30), making $1 million a year (6:05), why the days of the employee are dead (8:25), the rise of remote monitoring tools (13:10), a typical day (14:30), his view of employers/companies (15:30), starting the website, Discord and Reddit (18:30), burnout (21:20), whether a slowing economy will kill the “overemployed” era (23:30), whether going to university is the best plan (28:00), and decoupling your identity from your job (30:10). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm taking a couple weeks off. Will be back with you first thing in September. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Ben Parker, co-founder and chief executive of Lightship, to talk about electrifying the recreational vehicle industry (3:30), starting out in electric racing (6:00), getting a job at Tesla (7:40), the food truck problem (12:30), leaving Tesla (19:25), starting Lightship (25:25), rethinking design from the ground up (31:00), the pickup truck tipping point (33:00), raising $23m (36:20), lessons from Tesla (39:00), and why RV’s are beige (43:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.