Perpetual Motion Podcast

Michael and Colin talk entrepreneurship, investing, and creativity with American entrepreneur and angel investor Keith Schacht.

The Perpetual Motion podcast visits the 2025 Rice Business Plan Competition and talks with several of the 42 teams from around the world competing for more than $1.5 million in cash and prizes. Timestamps:2:02 - GreenLIB: One-step pre-treatment process that extracts and refines critical battery elements4:25 - Rora: Committed to bettering women's health at every life stage by creating innovative products for menopause symptom management8:10 - Safe Marine Transfer: Focused on safe subsea chemical injection to economically extend deepwater subsea tiebacks13:01 - Xatoms: using AI and Quantum-Chemistry to discover new materials to clean polluted water16:57 - Pinwheel: Designed for kids and managed by parents, this cool looking, modern phone helps kids grow into independent adults who use technology well23:20 - Watermarked.ai: Disrupts AI model training with undetectable audio watermarks and detects AI-generated deepfakes25:46 - Mito Robotics: AI-powered robotic system designed to automate research-scale cell culture

Michael and Colin meet with Lonn Cunningham, a veteran, inventor, and dedicated fisherman. Lonn shares how his mobility disabilities have put him in a unique position to help people find human connection.

In this episode, Michael and Colin talk to inventor and professor, John Hetling, about his ground-up process for teaching the next generation of inventors, as well as his novel approach to addressing health issues through scans of the eye.

Michael and Colin talk with innovator, creator, director, advocate, and inventor (whew) Audrey Rumsby about unconventional fundraising for art patronage, the preservation of cultural heritage, body dysmorphia, startups, and parenting, to name a few of the topics covered.Guest: Audrey Rumsby

For the 50th episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler revisit a number of their past guests to check in with them and see how each of their endeavors have progressed in the intervening years.Timestamps:03:43 – Lisa Wallace from Episode 8: From Potato Farms to Server Farms11:57 – Bob Cousins from Episode 9: Meet the Inventor of the Year21:36 – Craig Grossman from Episode 19: Something Big About Something Small32:35 – Danny Hillis from Episode 3: Pursuit of Curiosity: Inside an Inventor's Mind44:11 – Lisa Myers from Episode 43: A Mother of Invention53:25 – Eric Bartsch from Episode 32: Electric Aviation Takes Off1:06:48 – Monica Plath from Episode 16: Tech Takes Toddlers to Task1:19:53 – Dr. Stephen Thaler from Episode 1: Are All Inventors Humans?

Michael Glenn and Vikram Iyengar visit the Austin Tech Week 2024 Startup Crawl. Listen in as they meet and mingle with Austin's foremost startup entrepreneurs.01:35 - Everlume Bio – Pioneering a new approach to drug development for rare diseases.13:01 - Imperium Technologies – Delivering cutting-edge technology that replaces manholes and stethoscopes with web browsers and smartphones.20:20 - Arovia – Develops nanomaterial tech with display, lighting, energy, and automotive applications.25:08 - Mindspace AI – Harnesses AI to assist companies with projects from development to deployment, strategy to market success.36:13 - Applied Bioplastics – Develops new solutions for mass produced bioplastics in the retail, packaging, and medical industries.39:53 - Quantum Photonics – Aims to create sustainable photonic power networks and liberate humanity from energy scarcity.42:31 - Cyber Fusion Innovation Center (CFIC) – Aids the U.S. Army Cyber Command in defending the Department of Defense Information Network, delivering cyberspace effects.43:50 - Nuvothera – A Fort Worth, TX-based biotech company formed by seasoned dermatology pharmaceutical executives with the mission of developing novel over-the-counter products.51:44 - Space Cowboy – A system to capture and remove small pieces of space debris, reducing operational risk to satellite assets, and stewarding the orbital environment.56:30 - Hylio  – Improves farming by leveraging advanced technologies such as GPS and data analytics. 62:22 - Hollocraft – An eVTOL startup revolutionizing urban air mobility with sustainable, efficient, and user-friendly solutions.65:54 – Stargaze – An educational and investment app, developed by Godly Money, that operates according to Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) principles.

Colin Fowler and guest host John Fuller visit TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. Listen in as they meet and mingle with the foremost startup entrepreneurs.2:12 Metal Light – is a clean-tech startup that advances metal-air technology and develops clean and sustainable power generators.9:50 BANF – is a Korea-based company that uses sensors to collect data on tire pressure, temperature, tread wear, wheel alignment, and even lug nut stability.17:36 Rarefied – is developing a novel propulsion mechanism that allows lightweight platforms to fly in near-space (30 km-100 km altitudes) using only sunlight.28:10 Tensor Tech – specializes in guidance, navigation, and control for satellites. 36:55 Solideon – is a manufacturing entity capable of crafting any aerospace vehicle.47:23 Witching Hour – creates low-cost, rapid, and effective forest fire mitigation technology, with the mission of ending forest fires.53:34 - SkiiMoo Tech – is the first ultra-humanistic prosthetic penis that can go from flaccid to erect at the push of a button via a smartphone or smartwatch.01:00 Posha – is transforming how the world eats healthy by building cooking robots for the home.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler discuss pioneering innovation and disruption with serial entrepreneur Nathan Schulhof.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler speak with Maxime Lamothe-Brassard of LimaCharlie about cybersecurity as a buildable cloud service. Maxime discusses a thoughtful approach to product development that puts cloud service structure into context in terms of both market forces and the historical development of cybersecurity products.“But the fundamental truth behind it is, all of this is just stuff made up by humans to make a system work. And if you read about it and you go and you try to understand it, you can step through it and you can do it.” - Maxime Lamothe-Brassard, Founder & CEO of LimaCharlie

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler discuss, inter alia, how passion and anger drive creativity with renaissance man John Dolmayan, drummer with System of a Down, entrepreneur, inventor, artist, author, and founder/CEO of Ship Assure and SGCC, Inc.“Somebody has to be successful, at all times. Why can't that person be you? That's the dream. It keeps the dream alive. It keeps you working and putting that effort in to make, make the difference. As long as you dream, you live.” – John Dolmayan, Founder and CEO of Ship Assure and SGCC Inc.; System of a Down drummer

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Chris Needham and Frank Oudheusden, engineering consultants in the solar field, about issues faced in designing solar arrays and how radical changes in the market and technology lead to radical adaptations of the associated engineering.“My advice is to find a growth industry where you're not staring at a whole mass of experts that got in before you so that you're allowed to try the new things and to make the mistakes.”  - Chris Needham, Manager, Azimuth Advisory Services, LLC

In this episode, Michael and Colin talk with Lisa Myers, inventor of Ceres Chill. As a new mom, she built a successful business aiming to solve the problems she faced in the workplace as a nursing mother and lawyer.“I'm so proud to be working in support of hero moms and families everywhere, bringing science to the table.”  - Lisa Myers, CEO and Founder, Ceres Chill

In this episode, Michael and Colin talk with Dr. Cecil Christensen, an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Christensen, a medical pioneer who performed the first hip replacement surgery in the US, shares stories and discusses the hard work, foresight, and innovation that guided him on his journey.“I had asked the British surgeon if I could come and work with him the following year. And he says, well, write me a letter. And so I did.” --- Cecil Christensen, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon

Join host Michael Glenn and guest host Dan Austin at the Capital Factory 2024 SXSW Startup Crawl. They travel the floor to meet inspiring entrepreneurs and government agency representatives who are bringing about the future of innovation.Your guided tour begins here:[1:55 ] Vlogmi—A social media platform focused on sharing genuine and authentic content to create a positive effect on digital well-being.[7:08 ] EVE—A drone network that can be safely used in an urban environment, allowing first responders to deploy the correct resources to quickly address a problem.[10:17 ] Free Water—An innovative advertising platform utilizing premium spring water packaging as an advertising medium while prioritizing philanthropy and sustainability.[13:54 ] Hubspot—A customer platform combining the software, integrations, and resources to connect a business's marketing, sales, content management, and customer service.[18:10 ] NUTS—This data-centric security protects sensitive data itself, rather than just the perimeter of the system on which it is stored.[31:54 ] Space Cowboy—A system to capture and remove small pieces of space debris, reducing operational risk to satellite assets, and stewarding the orbital environment.[38:05 ] Sunfish—A user-friendly and person-portable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with field-proven artificial intelligence (AI) and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).[44:22 ] Mesodyne—A patented LightCell™ power generator converts any fuel into electricity via light, increasing the endurance of small systems to 10 times that of batteries.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler meet with Barmak Heshmat and Christopher Barsi of Brelyon to discuss their immersive Ultra Reality displays. Their topics include the technical aspects behind the perspective and optics required to achieve a 10' virtual display from a significantly smaller physical screen.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler discuss earth observation with Clint Graumann, CEO and co-founder of Nuview, a company that is building a commercial satellite constellation dedicated to annually mapping the planet's entire land surface using LiDAR technology.

In this episode, Michael and Colin talk to Kumar Gaurav, a former manager on Perkins Coie's Finance Digital Transformation team. While at the firm, Kumar developed an artificial intelligence (AI) platform named Harold, for presenting varied manners of complex financials to firm partners. Kumar describes what the process was like for developing new inventions from within the unique law firm environment.

1:00 - Eve Vehicles—Drone network that can be safely deployed in an urban environment, allowing first responders to deploy the right resources to address a problem as quickly as possible.10:29 - Advanced Telesensors—Provides completely touchless heart rate and respiratory rate sensing without the use of a wearable for everyday general wellness.12:46 - Keywell.ai—Provides strategic data science and analytics services to help healthcare organizations improve outcomes and affect lives. It helps accelerate companies' initiatives and keep ahead of the analytics modernization curve.17:29 - Fastspring—Helps software as a service (SaaS) and software companies sell online by handling every payment from subscription management to tax collection, remittance, and more.21:51 - Genetech Solutions—Provides a complete suite of digital services that help companies grow, including web design, cybersecurity services, mobile applications, page speed optimization, and more.25:42 Doseform—Helps pharmacies automate manual tasks by providing AI-enabled workflow and patient engagement software.29:35 - NUTS—Provides real-time heart rate, breath rate, and motion/occupancy status (which indicates movement, sleep, location, and lack of movement) in real time from your smartphone.

Join host Colin Fowler and guest host Suzana Gadzo as they travel the floor at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 to meet inspiring entrepreneurs committed to creating innovation's next wave.Your guided tour begins here:Toi Labs - 00:59: provides early detection and health monitoring through advanced toilet technology.Plantiga - 08:28: is a human analytics company focused on gait analytics, sensors, and instrumented footwear. PetNow - 16:35: is a biometric pet ID that utilizes a unique pattern of a dogs' noses and cats' faces to help find lost pets.Simpleem - 24:10: builds Artificial Emotional Intelligence (AEI) designed to apply AI for humanizing interactions and leverage behavior for success.Helm.AI - 34:48: develops and licenses AI software throughout the L2-L4 autonomous driving stack: perception, intent modeling, path planning and vehicle control.Aviant - 43:28: is a last-mile drone home delivery service.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler meet with Hope Shimabuku, director of the Texas Regional U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to learn how the Patent Office fulfills its mandate of encouraging and protecting innovation, including by reaching out and serving underrepresented and overlooked inventors.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Ajay Bam, CEO and co-founder of Vyrill, about indexing the content within hosted videos by timecode to enable direct navigation within videos.

On the third anniversary of the Perpetual Motion podcast, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler meet with Chris Beaman, founder of Astronomic, a matchmaking service that helps entrepreneurs, founders, and investors build their professional networks. Prior to Astronomic, Chris was in marketing and developed some of the first influencer campaigns by brokering relationships between social media personalities and brands.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Eric Bartsch, co-founder and chief executive officer, and Erik Lindbergh, co-founder and executive chairman, of VerdeGo Aero, about the application of hybrid-electric generators to power electric motors on airplanes, improving efficiency and maneuverability. The future of flight is electric.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Aarash Darroodi, Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, about humanity's common language—music. Aarash takes us on a journey that includes the movement of music across cultures; current innovations in music, including the acoustasonic guitar; and the future of artificial intelligence (AI) as an influence on musical style.

Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler sit down with Molly Kocialski, the director of the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as she shares stories about innovation in the climate tech space and programs at the USPTO that incentivize further discovery. Molly explains the value of research and quantification when pursuing end solutions.

For the second year in a row, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler visit the South By Southwest® Creative Industries Expo. Join us as we travel the floor to meet inspiring entrepreneurs and government agency representatives that are bringing about the future of innovation.Your guided tour begins here: 00:41: EverCase is disrupting the freezing process using electrical and magnetic fields to prevent ice crystals from forming.13:48: Visual Note is a device that instantly turns a guitar into a musical learning system using LED lights.22:51: Russell Photonic Guitar is a next-generation musical instrument that uses mathematical processes to accurately convert electric guitar signals into accurate MIDI data.27:50: Numbers is a decentralized asset network for creating community, value, and trust in digital media.33:18: Transcentdance is a form of entertainment that converts scents into dances and recreates them in augmented reality (AR), allowing people to interact with scents as a temporal and spatial art form.38:29: Phantom Snack lets you enjoy the sensation of crunching and munching tasty snacks without putting anything in your mouth.41:03: The CIA gives U.S. leaders the intelligence they need to keep our country safe41:03: CIA gives U.S. leaders the intelligence they need to keep our country safe.47:09: The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency delivers world-class geospatial intelligence that provides a decisive advantage to policymakers, warfighters, intelligence professionals, and first responders.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler discuss the genesis of South by Southwest (SXSW) with Hugh Forrest, the festival's co-president and chief programming officer. Hugh describes the processes for selecting programming and what happens every year when hundreds of thousands of the world's creative avant-garde descend on Austin for SXSW.

Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Gene Dolgoff, CEO at Holobeam Technologies Inc., about applications of holograms and wave interference to achieve the “teleportation” of energy. Gene has developed an array of wave emitters that align waves in such a manner that causes destructive wave interference where energy is not desired and constructive interference where the energy is desired. Among other uses, the selective effect of coordinated wave interference enables the removal of cancer cells without harming surrounding, healthy tissue.

Michael Glenn and guest host Andy Pettit visit the 2022 Austin Startup Week Crawl. Listen in as they meet and mingle with Austin's foremost startup entrepreneurs.The guided tour begins here:(1:11) - Clearity Health seeks to enable affordable healthcare for all. Clearity Health is not an insurance company, but a place where individuals can compare healthcare prices provided by real people in their areas.(9:27) - Modgarden is a modular, organic vegetable growing appliance designed particularly for the urban dweller.(17:18) - Austin-based Creative 3D Technologiesdesigns and manufactures advanced 3D printers and manufacturing platforms. The company aims to enable the ability to create without the typical constraints of design limitations, high costs, or supply chains.(24:21) - Fetii offers an on-demand group transportation and ride-sharing service complete with a user-friendly app. Fetii provides franchisees with the vehicles and technology needed to assist groups and businesses on demand.(26:24) - Fit Lift is a fitness platform that can be used on any iPhone or iPad. It provides real-time data and feedback during the user's workout, providing instant guidance on the need to speed up, slow down, adjust posture, change weights, and more.(35:39) - Kegsafe uses state-of-the-art technology and software to provide the market's most accurate system of keg inventory management.(38:18) - SKAN analyzes existing code repositories and issue tracker data to understand human factors and boost productivity.(45:01) – Rockdrill Research (Space Cowboy) designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. Space Cowboy works to rein in the rapidly growing issue of space debris.

Michael Glenn, Colin Fowler, and guest host Lara Dueppen speak with NaThanya Ferguson of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) Office of Innovation Outreach. This episode touches upon topics concerning unrepresented groups of inventors, including the historical underrepresentation of women as named inventors on patent applications. NaThanya highlights a number of inspirational inventor stories, and the group discusses what is currently being done, and what can still be done, to address the need to include everyone in the patent process.“Please follow this link to learn more - Inventor and Entrepreneurship Resources webpage: www.uspto.gov/inventors”

Colin Fowler and guest host Al Araiza traverse the floor at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 in search of creativity.Your guided tour begins here:1:25 – Neubility innovates the delivery industry with self-driving delivery robots, redefining how items are transported within cities.7:15 – Simply-Bread provides microbakers with the products and services they need to be successful entrepreneurs while nourishing their communities.14:56 – Eliza Dolls teaches young girls how to code and build hardware through custom, tech-enabled projects based on the things girls love.20:35 – Munevo is a proportional head control for electric wheelchairs. Based on Smartglasses, Munevo helps people with disabilities achieve more independent mobility and self-determination.28:45 – Neurode is developing a non-invasive wearable device to improve cognitive performance for people with neurological conditions such as ADHD.35:34 – PregnanTech aims to revolutionize obstetrics and newborn pediatric medicine by reducing the rate of preterm birth worldwide.41:41 – ECM's use of an interconnected, multi-layered printed circuit board as the stator fundamentally changes the way electric motors/generators are designed and manufactured.51:18 – 4Earth builds robotic water treatment tech in a box for factories, manufacturing companies, and the oil and gas industry.1:01:33 – Woosh is a smart air filter that automatically monitors the air quality in real time and transmits the data, via Wi-Fi, to a mobile app.

Michael And Colin discuss the effect of innovation, and particularly artificial intelligence, on society with Rachel Dooley, Liz Grennan, and Ilona Logvinova of McKinsey. The group discusses what it means for an AI to be responsible including the management of training data and careful consideration of learning algorithms and the role start-ups play in the development of responsible AI.

Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Erik Kulstad, cofounder of Attune Medical, about inventing and marketing new medical equipment. Attune Medical develops devices that give healthcare providers easy access to a patient's core and allow precise temperature control, whether warming or cooling, through the esophagus when clinically indicated.

Michael and Colin discuss the future of enterprise computing, Web3, interoperable blockchain networks, and the end of siloed information with Steve Cerveny, Founder and CEO of Kaleido. The conversation focuses on elements and tools of Web3 that go beyond the initial financial services use cases.Learn more about Kaleido here:https://www.kaleido.io

Michael and Colin discuss artificial intelligence (AI) innovations that examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are increasingly using to evaluate the innovative applications before them. Leading the discussion is Jerry Ma, the Director of Emerging Technology at the USPTO.

Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler speak with Craig and Ingrida Grossman of Gman BioTech about the development of antibacterial surface coatings and bacterial/viral tracing systems. Gman BioTech focuses on the importance of understanding and controlling the environment in which bacterial and viral threats thrive.Craig Grossman - Founder, President at Gman BioTech, Inchttps://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-grossman-6427072/https://twitter.com/CRAIGGROSSMAN4 Ingrida Grossman –https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingrida-grossman-3157052/

Michael and Colin visit the 2022 South by Southwest® Creative Industries Expo. After a two-year hiatus from live events, the festival is back. Join us as we meet a cross section of the exhibitors, explore their ideas, and share their enthusiasm and energy.Your guided tour begins here:[Hyperlink all company names]1:37: ZOZO NEXT https://zozonext.com/en aims to create a world where more people can enjoy fashion by imagining and solving users' problems in the fashion domain with the power of technology.16:37: MIDI 3D https://www.midi3d.com/ uses the hand as the ultimate immersive instrument and then ready to service the fingers as well, not as switches, but analogue-like.23:25: Haptx https://haptx.com/. uses patented technology that displaces your skin the same way a real object would.34:57: Simply Nuc https://simplynuc.com/ was created to take the hassle and confusion out of the mini computer ecosystem.37:46: Circular https://www.circular.xyz/ analyzes your bio-signals during your sleep to help you keep track of its efficiency.41:56 Near Space Labs https://nearspacelabs.com/ provides timely, wide-scale, commercially available imagery with the largest zero-emission balloon fleet in the stratosphere.56:20: The National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF - National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..."01:07:05: Codeanywhere www.codeanywhere.com is a Cloud IDE that saves you time by deploying a development environment in seconds, enabling you to code, learn, build, and collaborate on your projects.1:10:43: Heuritech https://www.heuritech.com is the only technology solution that analyzes the precise details of social media images for a comprehensive understanding of your product, customers and market.

Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler chat with fellow Perkins Coie patent attorney Vikram Iyengar about the pathway from inventor-engineer to intellectual property attorney, interwoven with an immigrant origin and the cultural expectations of Generation X in India. Vikram further contemplates the meaning of the word “inventor,” the environment of inventing in teams, and reflects on his early experiences interacting with patent attorneys from his current perspective as an attorney.

Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler, joined by guest host Sumedha Ahuja, speak with Monica Plath, the founder and CEO of Littlebird Connected Care. Monica shares her journey of being an inventor and entrepreneur, and she reveals the driving forces behind Littlebird—her own two little ones.

In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Ray Kampmeier, an electrical engineering consultant and product developer, about the challenges and rewards of designing and developing electronics products from proof-of-concept prototyping to mass-production and overseas manufacturing strategy. www.thehumbletransistor.com

Description: In this episode, Michael Glenn and Colin Fowler talk with Torrey Smith and James Erd, creators of the Endiatx PillBot, a remote-operated multivitamin-sized diagnostic robot that, once ingested, navigates around within the patient's GI tract to capture medical data. Torrey and James discuss their passion for invention, failure as a source of inspiration, and turning problems into opportunities.