Decoding Digital

A venture capital veteran talks about how to spot entrepreneurs and know which business ideas will succeed.

A payments industry veteran talks about launching a startup and what it takes to take on an established industry and succeed. 

Many of us worry about how secure our online lives really are. After all, the news is filled with stories of data breaches and denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. As co-founder of cloud security company Cloudflare, Michelle Zatlyn has some advice: Be cautious, but engage with technology to become a better digital citizen. Hear her discuss how to safeguard the digital world. 

The quest to cure disease is among our most enduring challenges, and the stakes could not be higher. Dr. Don Sheppard is using digital technology to bring together experts from a range of fields—medicine, engineering, sociology, and more—to help make the world a safer, healthier place. Hear Dr. Sheppard discuss his work with the pioneering MI4 initiative.

Every entrepreneur spends a lot of time thinking about their business, but for Brad Feld, it's not enough. Founders also need to be mindful about their work and the impact it has—on the market, on their colleagues, and on their own wellbeing. Hear the legendary investor and startup mentor talk about building businesses, coping with change, and remembering to be kind.

Venture capital has a people problem. Typically, it requires personal introductions and face-to-face meetings. It also takes a long time, and bias inevitably creeps in. Hear from Michele Romanow on how she is changing that dynamic by using data, AI, and automation to accelerate funding decisions and make it much more diverse.

What do you do after you’ve changed the way an entire generation of founders launch and build their companies? If you’re Eric Ries, you tackle one of your most ambitious projects yet—creating a new stock exchange to generate long-term, sustainable value. Hear Eric discuss “The Lean Startup,” the hard work of changing the status quo, and more. 

It takes a special type of person to succeed in the digital economy. They need vision, curiosity, grit, and determination to achieve their goals and create a bold impact, both at work and in the world at large. Hear podcast host Dan Saks explain why it’s critical to tell the stories of these Digital Heroes, and why he’s decided to do just that on Decoding Digital.