5 Year Frontier

The future of intellectual property. In it we cover programmable IP, the new economy of ideas, convergence of fan and creator, tackling LLM data attribution, blockchain’s gift to AI, and the future of human creativity. Jason Zhao is co-founder of Story Protocol, who are building a programmable intellectual property infrastructure for the internet. Built on the blockchain, Story provides a neutral source to track IP origins, enable remixing of IP with multiple stakeholders receiving attribution, and delivers an economic framework for everyone to participate in revenue that is created. Born out of South Korea, a global cultural innovator, the startup has raised over $50M from the likes of A16Z Crypto, Endeavor, and Samsung to become the leading contender to reimagine how intellectual property is managed for our modern age. Prior to founding Story Jason was at Google’s Deepmind focusing on putting novel AI research into production. He is an investment Scout at Sequoia, a computer science graduate from Stanford and can be seen lecturing about his passion in philosophy at Oxford University. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of genetic engineering. In it we cover de-extinction, growing the Woolly Mammoth, human longevity, AI-led drug discovery, and the future of biotech. Ben Lamm is CEO of Colossal Biosciences, a Texas based biotech company on a mission to safeguard our worlds biodiversity and re-wild our planet. As part of that they are endeavoring to bring back extinct species such as the Woolly Mammoth, the Dodo, and the Tasmanian Tiger by as as early as 2028. Colossal has raised $225M to date and is a truly revolutionary organization pushing the frontier of genetic engineering with some of the leading minds in the field. The innovations developed from their research has impacts beyond animal conservation and advances our ability to fight diseases, uncover new drugs, protect our climate, reproduce successfully, and extend human lifespan. Ben comes from a software background and successfully built and sold three companies prior to Colossal. He brings to the world of science the energy and unique thinking of a software entrepreneur at a time when AI and computational biology is really propelling the field in leaps and bounds. Ben is prolific in the world of scientific innovation, sitting on the board of the Planetary Society, The Explorers Club, as well as owning the award winning science publication Nautilus. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of space operations. In it we discuss how software is making launches safer, AI co-pilots for complex workflows, predictive simulations, El Segundo and new deep tech hubs, and upcoming interstellar missions. Laura Crabtree is CEO of Epsilon3, a software platform to manage and orchestrate engineering, testing and operations for the space industry and other complex industries. Backed by frontier investors Lux Capital and Village Global, Epsilon serves NASA, Virgin Galactic and United States Space Force. Their software is embedded throughout the organization and seeks to drive operational excellence amongst the complex chaos. Laura spent a decade within SpaceX as Senior Mission Operations Engineer as well as 5 years at Northrop Grumman as a Systems Controller, providing us a unique perspective of the two generations of space companies. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of manufacturing and robotics. In it we cover advanced factory automation, humanoid robots, how digital twins simulate and optimize manufacturing lines, AI-led product and parts design, nanotechnology, and the next generation of physical technology founders and startups. Lior Susan, a pioneering force in digital transformation for physical industries who wears the hat of a CEO and investor simultaneously to extreme success. A serial entrepreneur, Lior is CEO of Bright Machines, delivering advanced robotics and automation for manufacturing. Funded to the tune of $300M Bright Machines operates out of the US, Mexico, and Israel. Its key funder is the VC firm Eclipse that Lior also co-founded and works as a General Partner. A firm that become one of the first specialists in physical industry transformation and since grown to manage over $4B and partnered with over 70 companies. Lior sits on both sides of the table and offers a uniquely deep perspective on how our world is being reshaped. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of 3D printing. In it we cover mass customization at scale, computer-led design, creating the un-makable, printing body parts and food, rethinking global trade, and the future of product design and production. Philip DeSimone, co-founder of Carbon. Headquartered in California and serving customers in 17 countries from Adidas to Ford, Carbon is a 3D printing technology company helping businesses develop better products and bring them to market in less time. Carbon is a vertically integrated organization developing 3D printer hardware, advancing material science inputs, and designing the software to make it all work seamlessly. With over 300 patents filed, Carbon has raised $680M from the likes of Sequoia, Temasek, Adidas, BMW, and Google. Coming up to 12 years since co-founding Carbon, Phil leads Carbon’s go-to-market strategy and manages their most strategic partnerships and customers. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of air travel. In it we cover arrival of flying cars to our cities as soon as next year, what they will look like, the reorganizing of the industrial complex to scale them en mass and how our concept of cities and daily lives will evolve as a result. Adam Goldstein is founder and CEO of Archer Aviation, a publicly listed company advancing sustainable air mobility. Archer builds electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft as part of its quest to develop new urban air mobility networks. Yes we’re talking about flying cars. A future that Archer sees arriving as soon as 2025. Partnering with industry giants like United airlines and NASA, Archer is bringing its first aircraft, called Midnight, to ferry commuters over crowded highways and allow airlines to more efficiently feed their large hubs with passengers from the outer suburbs. Before Archer, Goldstein co-founded and led Vettery, a recruiting software company, which was sold to The Adecco Group for over $100 million. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of gaming. In it we cover games coming to life with AI powered characters and perpetually evolving worlds. We discuss how it reshapes gameplay, the economics of gaming, and extends out into the rest of our world in places such as media, education, commerce and health. At its core it shines a light into how humans and AI could interact and co-evolve. Kylan Gibbs is Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Inworld, the leading AI engine for games. Inworld is on a mission to bring games to life with Ai-powered characters and worlds that evolve with each action. Founded in 2021, the company is the most well funded AI gaming startup with over $120M raised from the likes of Lightspeed and Kleiner Perkins. Calling Disney, Warner Brothers, Niantic, and Xbox amongst its numerous customers. Kylan is responsible for Inworlds product vision and draws on his experience developing novel Ai at both Google’s DeepMind and Bain & Company. He can also be found guest lecturing at Stanford University. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of sports and the fan experience. In it we cover disrupting the economics around sport, the rise of fan owned leagues, teams, and athletes, winning Kentucky Derby as a startup, the 21st Century sports agency, and the future of media and entertainment.    Brian Doxtator is the CEO of Commonwealth, an LA based startup challenging the economic model of horse racing, golf, and sports more broadly. Commonwealth enables its 20,000+ members to buy shares in horses and athletes, competing head on with wealthy sports owners for winnings while unlocking a new level of fan engagement and experience through ownership. Commonwealth has taken horse racing by storm: in 2022 their horse Country Grammer was the world’s highest earner, in 2023 Mage won for them the Kentucky Derby. The company continues to expand into other sports and has the backing of renowned investors such as Roger Ehrenberg and athletes like Larry Fitzgerald. Brian has spent his career in technology startups, notably growing mobile-marketing company PlayHaven from $0 to $45M in revenue before its acquisition.   Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of Ai’s ability to see and make sense of our world. In it we cover topics including predictive security systems making our lives safer, breakthrough advances in large vision models, counteracting big brother and bias, and the future of multi-sensory AI. Shikhar Shrestha is co-founder and CEO of Ambient Ai, the silicon valley startup that rocketed out of stealth in 2022 with over $50M in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, adding a further $20M in 2023, and who boasts a list of fortune 500 as customers. Ambient equips security cameras with computer vision technology that enables them to see and understand the world around them. Shikhar spans a technical career from DARPA to Apple and Google, earning a Masters in Mechatronics, Robotics and Smart Imaging Systems from Stanford University. A true expect in computer vision technology i’m excited to learn from him where this transformative technology is taking us. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of biosecurity and securing our environments from virus and disease. In it we cover the power of light to disinfect and protect our indoor spaces, advances in sensor technologies and data to pick up future pandemics, risk modeling for real estate operators and the insurance industry, all the way to biosecurity at our borders and protecting humans as they travel through outer space. Ben Boyer is co-founder of R-Zero Systems, who builds autonomous systems that disinfect indoor environments using UV light. Founded in response to COVID RZero has become a leader leveraging light, sensors, and data to keep our environments safe from disease — deploying their technology in hospitals, schools, offices and with the government. This year they raised over $100M from the likes of Qualcomm, Mayo Clinic and Upfront Ventures. In addition to Rzero, Ben is co-founder of Tenaya Capital, a growth stage venture firm with over $1.5B AUM backing technology companies such as Lyft, Kayak and PlanGrid amongst others. Subscribe for the latest episodes. Email me on danieldarling@focal.vcSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.