The Superposition Guy's Podcast

Dr. Joe Ghalbouni, a quantum communication PhD who moved from academia into Point72’s innovation team and now runs Ghalbouni Consulting, is interviewed by Yuval Boger. They discuss how he helped a major hedge fund move from quantum curiosity to concrete education, use case discovery, and POCs, and why he believes the real bottleneck today is not hardware but algorithms and sector-aware problem mapping. The conversation explores where quantum is most promising in financial services, from optimization to quantum machine learning, and how quantum inspired methods on classical hardware are already delivering value. They also cover PQC and QKD roadmaps, what it really takes to move a quantum solution into production, and why Joe is surprisingly optimistic about seeing useful quantum advantage in specific use cases within the next few years.

Biliana Rajevic, Head of External Communications at Quantum Brilliance and co-founder of Quantum Women, Rachel Rayner, a science communicator and comedian, and Alison Goldingay, a quantum researcher at UNSW. We discuss the "Elevating Quantum Women's Voices" program, an initiative designed to empower women in the quantum industry to communicate effectively and build their visibility. They share insights from the program's curriculum, such as the power of storytelling, adapting to different audiences, and the specific challenges of presenting on Zoom. Rachel describes her "Quantum Comedy" shows that blend humor with physics, while Alison and Biliana demonstrate the program's "60-second challenge" by explaining single-photon detection and diamond-based quantum computing in plain English. We also explore the broader importance of diversity in the quantum ecosystem, and much more.

Laurence Coldicott, curator of global quantum technology conferences, is interviewed Yuval Boger. They discuss how enterprise engagement has expanded beyond early adopters in finance to logistics, pharma, and defense—and how agendas now balance computing with “quantum defense” topics like PQC and QKD. Laurence contrasts U.S. scale and federal momentum with Europe’s fragmented landscape, notes attendance growth from hundreds to over a thousand, and describes a successful new event in Doha. He emphasizes keeping conferences pragmatic and hype-free, prioritizing practitioner talks and real case studies, and offers advice to speakers: be candid about maturity, challenges, and near-term value. They touch on rising government participation, the growing intersection with AI and cyber, and much more.

Bill joins Yuval Boger to discuss SAS’s vendor-agnostic, hybrid approach to quantum and analytics. Highlights include D-Wave warm-starts that let SAS prove optimal kidney-exchange solutions in seconds, as well as QML pilots for fraud and bankruptcy modeling and disaster response. He shares a pragmatic definition of “quantum advantage”, treating QPUs as just another PU alongside CPUs/GPUs, and why rapid progress toward error correction—and ideas like Penrose’s—keep him learning.

Sergio Gago, CTO of Cloudera and former Head of AI & Quantum at Moody’s is interviewed by Yuval Boger. They discuss a practical, problem-first path to quantum in finance. Sergio contrasts annealers and gate-based systems, emphasizes hybrid workflows for portfolio optimization and Monte Carlo risk, and explores fraud detection and knowledge-graph use cases. Sergio stresses rigorous benchmarking against top-end GPUs/FPGAs, explainability for regulators, and total cost of ownership over lab metrics. They also touch on post-quantum cryptography (offense vs. defense), realistic definitions of “quantum advantage,” and why disciplined pilots—and candid vendor comparisons—matter more than hype, and much more.

Constanza Bustamante, a research fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is interviewed by Yuval Boger to discuss quantum policy at the nexus of national and economic security. Constanza contrasts China’s state-led, scale-oriented model with the U.S.’s science-first, private-sector translation approach; traces bipartisan continuity from the National Quantum Initiative Act through today; and examines Europe’s growing techno-nationalism and reciprocity gaps. Constanza argues broad tariffs risk hobbling a nascent U.S. quantum supply chain, explores quantum sensing as a near-term “atomic advantage”, weighs research-security safeguards against academic openness, and much more.

Vijoy Pandey, who leads Cisco’s Outshift incubation group, and Reza Nejabati, Cisco’s head of quantum research, are interviewed by Yuval Boger. They discuss Cisco’s strategy to enable distributed quantum computing and a future “quantum internet.” Vijoy and Reza explain why Cisco won’t build QPUs, focusing instead on room-temperature, telecom-band entanglement networking. They discuss Cisco's aim is to make networking a “no-brainer” and push modality complexity to the edge via transducers and even entanglement-mode conversion, the argument that scale-out plus scale-up will reach “million usable qubits” faster, and much more.

Bert de Jong, Director of the Quantum Systems Accelerator at Berkeley Lab, shares insights on cutting-edge quantum technologies. He discusses the integration of superconducting and trapped-ion systems, and the importance of error correction in quantum computing. Bert highlights unique strategies for overcoming cost and scaling challenges, and emphasizes the need for industry collaboration and workforce training starting in high schools. He believes significant scientific impacts from quantum computing are on the horizon, potentially within five years.

Sebastian Weidt, CEO and co-founder of Universal Quantum, is interviewed by Yuval Boger. They discuss his company’s unique approach to building scalable trapped-ion quantum computers. Sebastian explains how Universal Quantum focuses on overcoming key scaling challenges—such as error-free modular connections, laser-free control, and integrated electronics—rather than rushing small systems to market. He contrasts their 70K cooling and qubit-shuttling architecture with other modalities, addresses trade-offs like gate speed, and shares why algorithmic execution speed can offset slower clock cycles. Sebastian and Yuval also talk about the company’s €70M DLR contracts, its emphasis on software alongside hardware, and Sebastian’s view that quantum utility will likely emerge north of 10,000 qubits. Reflecting on entrepreneurship, he shares lessons learned about market education, the company’s engineering-heavy team, and much more.

Scott Buchholz, the Global Quantum Computing Lead at Deloitte, shares his expertise in how quantum technology can solve real business problems. He discusses the timelines for commercial viability and Deloitte's key role in demystifying quantum jargon for clients. Scott highlights their development of quantum-inspired machine learning solutions and the importance of strategic vendor selection. With insights into the intersection of quantum computing and various industries, he emphasizes building the right teams to prepare for future advancements.