Inspired in 15

What if setting up internet for your business could be as easy as switching on electricity? Anil Varanasi and his brother Sunil started Meter in 2015 to bring a full-stack approach to internet infrastructure. As people return to the office, our shared dependence on the internet has only increased. We cover where 5G and Starlink fit in, why Nicole Starosielski's The Undersea Network is required reading, and what role automation will play in the future.

How do you verify someone's identity online? Alain has spent the past decade problem-solving in all things digital identity. He was a founding member of the Stanford Bitcoin Group and went on to start identity verification company Cognito, which was acquired by Plaid. We cover how identity is shifting as we move toward web3, why the DMV is central to verification in the US, and how the globalization of fintech increases the risk of identity fraud.

The US housing market has seen sky-high demand, with a record number of homes being sold last year. At Qualia, Nate Baker has created a vertical SaaS business to support the industry. Qualia is now the default closing platform used by over half a million real estate and mortgage professionals in all 50 states. We cover why real estate technology is a "sneaky big market," how the next chapter of digital transformation in real estate will unfold, and why he's keeping an eye on whether Zillow expands to own the full purchase transaction.

Every aspect of how we work and live is being changed for the better with data. So what does the next decade hold for the data tech stack? Matthew Scullion has been at the forefront of bringing data analytics to the cloud at the helm of Matillion, a data integration and transformation platform. We cover why data is the new currency, the shift toward every business person becoming a data person, and why we are still in the early innings of making data useful.

From a consumer commitment to sustainability, to the supply chain crisis, there are tailwinds behind new models of commerce. Andy Ruben, who served as Walmart's first Chief Sustainability Officer, believes recommerce is the future. His company, Trove, powers circular shopping for leading brands from Patagonia to Levi's. We cover why consumer consumption is becoming less sustainable at an alarming pace, how tech enables the best brands to sell their items multiple times, and why he's bullish on web3's future as an authentication tool in resale markets.

Overnight, the pandemic shifted modes of healthcare delivery across the United States, with telemedicine suddenly spiking in usage. Dr. Thomas Lee has spent over a decade thinking about healthcare delivery. Before smartphones were ubiquitous, he launched One Medical with a brick and mortar-centric model of delivering primary care. Now he's shifted his focus to last-mile healthcare and bringing care to the most complex populations across the country. We cover why the core challenge is how to facilitate better clinical decisions, why payers are a critical participant in the healthcare system, and why he's hopeful that American healthcare will improve over the next decade.

Dapper Labs has quickly become a top player in the NFT craze, responsible for some of the most broadly used applications in the history of crypto. As web3 continues to rise in prominence, all eyes are on regulators at the global, federal, state, and local level. As the head of Government Affairs at Dapper Labs, Alison Kutler is leveraging her expertise (she was formerly Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at the FCC) to educate regulators about the future of the internet. We cover why not all NFTs are created equally, why regulation has the potential to make the US a leader in digital assets, and how one of the biggest industry blockers is regulatory inaction.

When Peloton started in 2012, the idea of an at-home fitness experience that was equal parts motivating and social seemed like a wild idea. But over the past decade, Peloton has been at the forefront of building tech-enabled workouts that have redefined the industry. Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Tom Cortese has been there from day one—and has seen the rapid acceleration that Covid brought to the promise of at-home workouts. We cover why the combination of hardware, software, and content works, where the creator economy and fitness industry will intersect, and what fitness will look like in a post-pandemic world.

With the Great Resignation top of mind for every employer, creating a people-centric employee experience has never been more important. For two decades, Sequoia has provided benefits, HR, payroll, and risk management solutions for employers across the country. As Sequoia's Principal and CMO, Michele has a front-row seat to the programs that employers are adopting in order to maximize their investment in people. We cover why so many companies are deepening their investment in mental health benefits, how early-stage startups are managing workforces that are suddenly distributed across state lines, and how HR has become an increasingly strategic function within every organization.

Paul Budnitz is no stranger to the world of art, toys, and fashion. A serial entrepreneur and artist, he founded Kidrobot and has numerous creations in the permanent collection of MoMA. Now, at Superplastic, he's building an entertainment company composed of animated synthetic celebrities—digital characters which boast millions of followers across social media platforms. We cover how virtual celebrities will exist between the metaverse and real life, why Facebook's name change missed the Web3 mark, and how storied art institutions and fashion houses will engage with NFTs.

For years, the promise of autonomous vehicles has seemed like a distant dream. But Oliver Cameron, VP of Product at Cruise—the $9B autonomous ride-hail subsidiary company of General Motors, says we're at a transitional moment. With the deployment of driverless cars in major cities, we're on the cusp of an exciting future that can redefine how we get around. We cover how AV companies can help build consumer confidence, what it takes for self-driving vehicles to be the more sustainable option, and how the industry's use of machine learning has actually accelerated technology in wholly different fields.

Every tech company today shares a major pain point: the search for engineering talent. Prashanth Chandrasekar has a unique viewpoint on the topic as CEO of Stack Overflow, the world's largest online developer community with over 100 million monthly visitors. We cover what developers care about most (spoiler: flexibility and learning opportunities rank high), why more engineers are embracing the gig economy, and why asynchronous work is inevitable.

For over twenty years, Google has been synonymous with search, and they hold 92% of the market. Few know Google's market dominance better than Sridhar Ramaswamy, who was SVP of their $100B ads and commerce business. Now, he's building Neeva, the world's first ad-free, private subscription search engine. We cover what it means to bring search back to the basics, how Web3 will impact the relationship between search engines and publishers, the limitations of voice search, and more.

When the Squire cofounders started fundraising for their barbershop tech platform, they got pushback on the vertical SaaS model. Would the market be large enough? But the business vision—and their granular focus—has paid off, with 2,000+ partners in over 40 major markets. We cover why payments must be the centerpiece of a vertical SaaS strategy, why SMB customers are more similar to consumers than enterprise, how Covid encouraged digital adoption, and more.

How will restaurant technology evolve over the next decade? We sit down with the founder of Slice, which supports 17,000 independent pizzerias across all 50 states. We cover the shift toward mobile transactions, why ordering delivery over the phone is bad for restaurants, what place robotics will have in the kitchen, and more.

A taste of Inspired in 15, the new podcast from early-stage venture capital firm Inspired Capital. Each episode features an expert founder or operator, sharing their insights on the future in just 15 minutes.