The future of online advertising. In it we cover co-pilot for marketers, brand ecosystems, disrupting ad agencies and a privacy first internet. Mike True is CEO of Prescient AI, a marketing technology company advancing the use of predictive AI models to maximize paid advertising efficiency and return on spend. Their technology works counter to how $700B in online ad spend is done today, by not relying on tracking users via cookies and instead building a platform to help marketers succeed when a privacy-first internet arises and cookies go away. With the most precise solution in the market Prescient can forecast future campaign performance across multiple channels three months out with a 90% level of accuracy. Calling over 100 iconic eCommerce brands as their customers Prescient has raised $20M from VC firms such as Headline, Blumberg, as well as the first check from us here at focal. CEO Mike True has been helping brands take advantage of AI and analytics solutions throughout his career prior to starting Prescient, working at IBM, Oracle, and App Annie. Mike has become a great friend and a founder held in high-regard as reshaping the online advertising industry. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of industrial robotics. In it we cover turning the physical world into data, robots that climb, fly, swim, AI’s ability to predict failures, and America’s $5T aging infrastructure problem. Troy Demmer is Co-founder of Gecko Robotics, who use a fleet of advanced robots and AI software to help government and heavy industry maintain and manage their critical infrastructure. From navy vessels to power plants to dams, Gecko collects data on and delivers insights across over 500,000 of the worlds most important and critical infrastructure. It has developed a digital layer of intelligence over the built world to improve performance, prevent breakage and failures, and increasingly predict how an asset will behave in the future. The company has raised over $220M from top investors including Founders Fund and US Innovative Technology Fund. Gecko’s co-founder and Chief Product Officer is Troy Demmer. A graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, Troy was previously in the healthcare industry working at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center before launching his first startup 360Showings, which 3D rendered homes for the real estate market. Along with his work at Gecko Troy also runs his own venture firm, First Order Fund, which invests in early stage startups building moats using data. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of biology. In it we cover machines controlling cells, manipulating biology with light, algorithms for drug development, and how biotech is becoming a low cost and mass production industry. Deniz Kent is CEO of Prolific Machines. Prolific is the first biotech company to harness light as a more efficient way to produce lab grown food, life saving drugs, and novel biosolutions. Offering a full stack tool kit from bioreactor to AI-software, Prolific’s groundbreaking technology provides dynamic control over virtually any cell function in any cell type. Until now, biomanufacturing has been limited to indirect cell control via expensive, inefficient, and imprecise tools like chemicals. Prolific’s platform enables direct control using light to produce new and superior biolsolutions faster, cheaper, and at greater scale. Based in Silicon Valley, the four year old company has raised $87 million in venture capital from the likes of Mayfield, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, In-Q-Tel and Fonterra. Prolific’s co-founder and CEO is Dr Deniz Kent, an expert in biological systems who earned his PhD in the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King’s College London. During his studies he co-discovered a new human liver stem cell, worked on cures for Asthma at GlaxoSmithKline and develop research in the field of cancer immunotherapy. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of cybersecurity. In it we cover cybercriminal organizations, network effects of security, data as our biggest weapon, crypto’s gift to bad actors and the threat of cyberwarfare. Nick Schneider is CEO of Arctic Wolf, one of the leading companies safeguarding the enterprise from cybersecurity threats. With a global presence and over 2,000 employees protecting more than 3,000 customers, they are a force in security operations. With an eye on going public, Arctic Wolf has been valued at over $4B calling KKR and Viking Global amongst its deep pocketed investors. Leading the company is Nick Schneider, a veteran in the security industry, Nick has developed expertise in creating best-of-breed technology platforms and sales organizations, which have been the driving force behind Arctic Wolf’s explosive growth. Prior to Arctic Wolf, Nick led organizations at Dell and Code42. Of key interest to me is how Nick is deeply involved in being at the frontier of artificial intelligence’s influence on cybersecurity — in particulate the dual role of AI, as both an enabler and inhibitor of cybercrime, which epitomizes the modern cybersecurity conundrum. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of biomanufacturing. In it we cover the emerging $4T bioeconomy, nature’s ability to manufacture products, AI’s acceleration of scientific discovery, China’s quest for biological supremacy, and rethinking sustainability. Edward Shenderovich is CEO of Synonym, prior he was both an investor and entrepreneur, founding commercial real estate company Knotel where he raised over $400M and managed 200 locations across 4 continents. As an investor he founded Kite Ventures as well as Essential Capital, which include Delivery Hero and Fyber as their investments, both reaching IPO. Uniquely, Edward is also an accomplished Poet, having published multiple books in his native Russian. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of the industrial economy. In it we cover Generative Engineering, digital twins, AI for the physical world, data that dwarfs the internet, Saudi Aramco the tech giant, and the digital future of heavy industry. Greg Fallon is CEO of Geminus, a company at the forefront of simulating and automating industrial operations through cutting-edge AI technology. Geminus is revolutionizing how industries operate by bringing unprecedented speed and scalability to AI model deployment, with successful implementations in energy, oil and gas, manufacturing, and semiconductors. With heavyweight investors and partners like SLB and LAM Research backing them, Geminus is a key player in the digital industrial landscape. As a proud early investor in Geminus almost six years ago, alongside our friends at The Hive, I’ve had the privilege of watching this company innovate the industrial complex. Greg, who holds a Master’s in Science from the University of Virginia, has a wealth of experience, having held senior executive roles in product and commercialization at both Autodesk and ANSYS—two of the most influential companies in industrial software. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of home building. In it we cover putting construction in the cloud, home buying simulations, AI co-pilots for builders, onsite computer vision, advances in material science, and the future of new homes. Marc Minor is the CEO of Higharc, a software platform that helps new home builders get to market with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Higharc’s mission is to modernize the $100 trillion U.S. residential real estate market and make home ownership more affordable. The platform has been used to design over 4,000 homes and has raised more than $80 million from top built-world investors such as Fifth Wall, Spark Capital, Lux, and a host of strategic partners, including Home Depot. Marc spent his career in the 3D printing and fabrication space, leading the marketing departments at Carbon and Desktop Metal before founding Higharc in 2018. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of human potential and performance. In it we cover the quest to be superhuman, making biological enhancement mainstream, cyborg athletes, human longevity, and endeavoring to build the biggest sporting spectacle the world has ever seen. Aron D’Souza is the Co-founder and President of the Enhanced Games. This new model of the Olympic Games places performance-enhancing drugs and genetic modifiers front and center. The Games strive to showcase humanity’s unbounded potential by embracing scientific innovations and breakthroughs. In an era of accelerating technological and scientific change, they believe the world needs a sporting event that embraces the future, particularly advances in medical science. By doing so, they promise to give us all a glimpse of what the future of human performance could look like. Set to debut in 2025, the Games have the deep-pocketed support of some of the most successful and polarizing technologists and investors, including PayPal founder Peter Thiel and Balaji Srinivasan, the futurist and former CTO of Coinbase, as well as an upcoming documentary series by Ridley Scott. Prior to the Enhanced Games, Aron founded Sargon, a technology infrastructure company for the pensions and superannuation industry across the Asia-Pacific region. Now owned by Vista Equity, Sargon has 200 employees and nine offices. Aron, the author of three books, studied law at both Melbourne University and Oxford. Sign up for new podcasts and our newsletter, and email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of coding. We will discuss the competitive AI landscape, NVIDIA and the hyperscalers, specialized versus generalized models, synthetic data, software that writes itself, and the future of software development. Jason Warner is co-founder and CEO of Poolside. Poolside is an AI startup challenging OpenAI and Anthropic by creating its own models to build the most capable AI for software development. Although less than two years old and launching this summer, Poolside has already raised over $500M from leading investors such as Redpoint, Bain, and DST. Jason was previously the CTO at GitHub, the world’s largest developer platform, both before and after Microsoft’s $7.5B acquisition, where he helped develop Co-pilot. Prior to that, he was the Head of Engineering at Heroku and a senior technical leader at numerous other companies. In addition to leading top software development teams, Jason served as a General Partner at Redpoint Ventures, who have invested in companies like Snowflake, Stripe, Hashicorp, and Netflix. He also sits on the Operator Board at Bridgewater Associates, helping them innovate at the technology frontier. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of the brain. In it we cover digital therapies, psychedelics, co-evolving with AI, technologies impact on society, and re-inventing how clinical trials are run. Guiding us will be Dr Adam Gazzaley, a Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at UC San Francisco and the Founder & Executive Director of Neuroscape, a neuroscience center engaged in technology creation and scientific research of novel brain assessment and optimization approaches. Adam is also co-founder of Akili, a company developing therapeutic video games, that brought the first FDA approved game to market. He is also a founder of JAZZ Venture Partners, a venture capital firm with close to $1B AUM investing in experiential technology to improve human performance. He has been a scientific advisor for dozens of companies including Apple, General Electric and PepsiCo. Adam has filed multiple patents and authored over 180 scientific articles. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.