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"Until you experience a thing, you don't know a thing. That's something that bothers me a lot with the investor world-unless you've done it, you don't really know what the grind feels like." In this episode, Bogdan Knezevic, co-founder and CEO of Kaleidoscope, unpacks how hands-on experience-from the grind at Frequency Therapeutics to launching the Rhodes Incubator-shaped his passion for biotech startups and team building. He shares the pivotal role of serendipity and authentic networking at Creative Destruction Lab and Entrepreneur First, which ultimately set the stage for founding Kaleidoscope. Bogdan dives into the challenges of innovating biotech R&D infrastructure, the importance of collaboration, and why tackling meaningful problems drives his mission in a rapidly evolving industry.
Joe Andrews is Co-founder and President at Aztec Labs, the leading privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum that empowers developers to build applications protecting user privacy while ensuring compliance. Joe also serves as Head of Product at Aztec and Product Lead at CreditMint since February 2018. He holds a BEng in Materials Science from Imperial College London and was previously Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer of Radish, a food tech startup acquired by Tovala. Joe is an experienced developer and was an EF9 Cohort Member at Entrepreneur First. LinkedIn / Twitter
Joe Andrews is Co-founder and President at Aztec Labs, the leading privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum that empowers developers to build applications protecting user privacy while ensuring compliance. Joe also serves as Head of Product at Aztec and Product Lead at CreditMint since February 2018. He holds a BEng in Materials Science from Imperial College London and was previously Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer of Radish, a food tech startup acquired by Tovala. Joe is an experienced developer and was an EF9 Cohort Member at Entrepreneur First. LinkedIn / Twitter
Matthieu Stefani nous présente Coralie Chaufour, fondatrice du bureau parisien d'Entrepreneur First (EF), une organisation unique dédiée à l'investissement dans les talents avant même qu'ils ne forment une équipe ou aient une idée précise. Contrairement à un incubateur ou un accélérateur classique, EF se définit comme un "talent investor", axé sur la découverte de personnes d'exception et leur mise en relation pour former des équipes capables de créer des startups de haute technologie. Coralie explique que leur approche consiste à réunir environ 40 à 50 personnes talentueuses dans un espace commun pendant trois mois, les encourageant à trouver le bon partenaire cofondateur et à développer des idées innovantes. Elle met en avant l'importance de l'ambition, du sens commercial et de la productivité pour réussir dans l'entreprenariat.L'épisode met également en lumière les défis de l'entrepreneuriat en France, notamment les différences culturelles et éducatives entre les ingénieurs et les étudiants en commerce. Coralie aborde la sous-représentation des femmes dans les domaines techniques et l'importance de promouvoir l'entrepreneuriat féminin. Elle détaille également le processus de sélection rigoureux d'EF, qui inclut des hackathons et des évaluations pour identifier les futurs entrepreneurs prometteurs. Enfin, elle partage des exemples de startups issues de leur programme et discute de l'impact des tendances technologiques, comme l'IA, sur le paysage entrepreneurial actuel.[00:00:00]: Création du bureau de Paris pour Entrepreneur First[00:03:17]: Recrutement de jeunes ingénieurs et profils idéaux[00:09:17]: Importance des soft skills et diversité des formations[00:14:00]: Importance du matchmaking entre cofondateurs[00:17:44]: Critères de financement et rupture d'équipes[00:21:11]: Trois critères clés pour un bon entrepreneur[00:30:16]: Stratégies de recrutement à l'international[00:35:08]: Femmes exceptionnelles dans la bio et la biotech[00:42:18]: Anticipation des tendances technologiques[00:48:00]: Montant des investissements réalisés par Entrepreneur First[00:52:20]: Suivi des startups et rôle des investisseurs[00:59:47]: Actions pour encourager l'entrepreneuriat féminin[01:01:01]: Ressources et livres recommandés pour entrepreneurs[01:02:50]: Importance des soft skills et accompagnement des profils techniques[01:03:06]: Remerciements et clôture de l'entretien
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviews Taia Rashid, and Daphne Carter. The company proudly boasts the distinction of being the "first Black women-owned citrus-based liqueur in the United States." They created a vodka-based drink that is infused with the finest natural ingredients. The two women came up with an idea to start a business while vacationing on the shores of the Amalfi Coast in the summer of 2022, and now the two beverages born from that idea-inspiring trip are the award-winning Daphane Limoncello and Daphane Raspberry Berrycello. Cashid Beverage LTD Co has created a one-of-a-kind "original beverage" that is vodka-based and infused with the finest natural ingredients. The libations can be chilled as a shot, sipped alone over ice, or mixed with other fine spirits, juices, and seltzers to create fantastic palette-pleasing experiences! #BEST #STRAWSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviews Taia Rashid, and Daphne Carter. The company proudly boasts the distinction of being the "first Black women-owned citrus-based liqueur in the United States." They created a vodka-based drink that is infused with the finest natural ingredients. The two women came up with an idea to start a business while vacationing on the shores of the Amalfi Coast in the summer of 2022, and now the two beverages born from that idea-inspiring trip are the award-winning Daphane Limoncello and Daphane Raspberry Berrycello. Cashid Beverage LTD Co has created a one-of-a-kind "original beverage" that is vodka-based and infused with the finest natural ingredients. The libations can be chilled as a shot, sipped alone over ice, or mixed with other fine spirits, juices, and seltzers to create fantastic palette-pleasing experiences! #BEST #STRAWSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In today's 40 Minute Mentor episode, we're revisiting our popular episode with the brilliant Alice Bentinck MBE, Co-Founder of Entrepreneur First and author of “How to be a Founder”. Frustrated by a business landscape that found latent talent shackled by predetermined career paths, Alice set out to challenge cultural norms when she co-founded Entrepreneur First in 2011 – an accelerator that celebrates and invests in talented, ambitious individuals and looks to match-make Co-Founders to launch successful businesses. In this episode, Alice shares everything from her early career to challenging the norms of entrepreneurship and backing diverse talent.
For episode 463, CEO & Co-founder Zac Williamson joins Brandon Zemp to talk about Aztec, the leading privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum that empowers developers to build applications protecting user privacy while ensuring compliance. Previously, Zac founded CreditMint and is the co-inventor of PLONK, a widely-used zero-knowledge proof system. Zac holds a Doctorate in Particle Physics from the University of Oxford and is a former physicist at CERN and T2K Japan. Zac is also an EF9 Cohort Member at Entrepreneur First, supporting early-stage tech startups. ⏳ Timestamps: 0:00 | Introduction 1:02 | Who is Zac Williamson? 4:52 | What is Aztec? 7:15 | Use-cases on Aztec 10:54 | Blockchain is Infrastructure 13:17 | Value in Web3 15:49 | Crypto innovation in the United States 19:11 | How to build on Aztec 20:40 | Programmable Privacy 21:34 | Aztec Testnet 25:56 | Aztec 2025 Roadmap 27:47 | Aztec website, social media & community
En este episodio charlamos con Daniel Partida, un profesional experto en ciencia de datos y tecnología. Actualmente es el Head of Data en Safe y ha liderado áreas clave como producto, ingeniería, marketing, y crecimiento. Anteriormente, cofundó la startup Moonpass, donde fue CTO. También ha trabajado como Founder in Residence en Entrepreneur First, y ha sido investigador en la Universidad de Zúrich y Digital Advisor y Quantitative Associate en 4E Capital. Para encontrar alfa: https://espaciocripto.substack.com/ Para discutir el episodio: https://t.me/espaciocripto Si usas TikTok, checa: https://tiktok.com/@espaciocripto Compra criptomonedas FÁCIL en: https://bando.cool/ 00:00 Intro 01:50 Presentación de Daniel Partida 05:35 ¿Qué es Safe? 07:47 Head of Data en Safe 10:39 Experimentos de Safe 12:26 Ads 14:04 Data en Safe 19:28 El equipo de Safe 25:18 Fuentes de Blockchain contra fuentes internas 28:52 Que datos recolectan en Safe 33:36 Organizaciones de Safe 37:38 Fallar en un emprendimiento 45:52 El enfoque de los VCs 48:57 Empezar de 0 en una StartUp 51:45 Tazas de referencia 55:49 ¿Qué e preguntarías a Satoshi Nakamoto? 57:39 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
En este episodio charlamos con Daniel Partida, un profesional experto en ciencia de datos y tecnología. Actualmente es el Head of Data en Safe y ha liderado áreas clave como producto, ingeniería, marketing, y crecimiento. Anteriormente, cofundó la startup Moonpass, donde fue CTO. También ha trabajado como Founder in Residence en Entrepreneur First, y ha sido investigador en la Universidad de Zúrich y Digital Advisor y Quantitative Associate en 4E Capital. Para encontrar alfa: https://espaciocripto.substack.com/ Para discutir el episodio: https://t.me/espaciocripto Si usas TikTok, checa: https://tiktok.com/@espaciocripto Compra criptomonedas FÁCIL en: https://bando.cool/ 00:00 Intro 01:50 Presentación de Daniel Partida 05:35 ¿Qué es Safe? 07:47 Head of Data en Safe 10:39 Experimentos de Safe 12:26 Ads 14:04 Data en Safe 19:28 El equipo de Safe 25:18 Fuentes de Blockchain contra fuentes internas 28:52 Que datos recolectan en Safe 33:36 Organizaciones de Safe 37:38 Fallar en un emprendimiento 45:52 El enfoque de los VCs 48:57 Empezar de 0 en una StartUp 51:45 Tazas de referencia 55:49 ¿Qué e preguntarías a Satoshi Nakamoto? 57:39 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From School Stabbings to $150 Million Revenue Join Jimmy as he sits down with Barney Hussey-Yeo, founder of Cleo, in this riveting episode of Jimmy's Jobs of the Future. Barney candidly shares his unexpected journey from attending a state school in Sheffield to founding a company with $150 million ARR and clear aspirations of reaching $1 billion ARR. Learn about his days playing online poker, the setbacks he faced, and how he pivoted to success through the Entrepreneur First program. Gain insights into Cleo's growth, it's unique AI-driven product, and Barney's ambitions for global expansion, particularly in the U.S. Dive into his thoughts on the entrepreneurial landscape, the significance of nurturing homegrown talent, and his advice for young aspiring entrepreneurs. This episode is packed with valuable lessons, personal anecdotes, and a deep dive into building a generational company. 00:00 Intro 03:40 The Power of Simplicity: Redefining Financial Services 08:31 Building a Global Fintech: Challenges and Opportunities 14:09 The UK vs. US: A Tale of Two Markets 16:24 The Future of AI and Financial Services 21:43 Personal Journey: From Poker to Machine Learning 23:35 The Value of Studying Computer Science 24:06 Earning Potential for Computer Science Graduates 26:31 Transparency in Company Culture 27:52 Challenges and Rewards of Hiring Leadership 31:32 Structuring Teams for Success 35:45 Ambition and Career Growth 47:01 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs ********** Follow us on socials! Instagram: instagram.com/jimmysjobs Tiktok: tiktok.com/@jimmysjobsofthefuture Twitter / X: twitter.com/JimmyM Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jimmy-mcloughlin-obe/ Want to come on the show? hello@jobsofthefuture.co Sponsor the show or Partner with us: sunny@jobsofthefuture.co Credits: Host / Exec Producer: Jimmy McLoughlin OBE Producer: Sunny Winter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Join us for an insightful episode where our host, Gina Patterson, sits down with Rachel Zimmer, Co-Founder and CEO of Simple Ventures, a Canada-first startup studio focused on bringing innovative global ideas to the Canadian market. Rachel shares her entrepreneurial journey, including the successful exit of her B2B marketplace, 5Crowd, and her experience launching North American operations for Entrepreneur First. Rachel also offers valuable career advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of following great leaders, embracing uncomfortable learning experiences, and ensuring that your actions align with your words. Whether you're curious about the Canadian startup ecosystem, navigating imposter syndrome, or looking for ways to integrate work and life, this episode is packed with practical tips and Rachel's reflections on what it takes to build a successful business.
Matt Clifford is the co-founder and chair of Entrepreneur First, a global talent investor that has helped create over 500 companies worth more than $10 billion. He's also the founding chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, the UK's answer to DARPA. In this episode of World of DaaS, Matt and Auren discuss: Investing in talentTraits of successful foundersThe UK's advanced research effortsAI and national defenseLooking for more tech, data and venture capital intel? Head to worldofdaas.com for our podcast, newsletter and events, and follow us on X @worldofdaas. You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Matt Clifford on X at @matthewclifford.Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
On today's episode of the Climate Insiders podcast, we're sitting down with Allister Furey, CEO and Co-founder of Sylvera. Sylvera is a carbon data provider that helps organizations ensure they're making the most effective investments toward net zero. We build software that independently and accurately automates the evaluation of carbon projects that capture, remove, or avoid emissions.With Sylvera's data and tools, the world's largest businesses and governments can confidently invest in, benchmark, deliver, and report real climate impact.Allister Furey has an MBA from London Business School, and a PhD in computational neuroscience and robotics from University of Sussex, where he focused on optimizing control of wind energy systems. He has worked as a consultant for Bain & Company, as CTO of a leading UK wind energy technology company, and venture partner at Entrepreneur First.Allister and his co-founder Sam Gill observed that carbon markets needed a revolution in data quality to reliably deliver climate benefits, and to achieve the necessary scale to have a meaningful impact. Together they founded Sylvera in 2020 to bring transparency and, ultimately, trust to carbon markets.This episode delves into:- The Importance of Accurate Carbon Data- Challenges of Carbon Markets- Role of Sylvera- Emerging Carbon Removal Technologies- Future of Carbon MarketsIf you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our channel!Want to go deeper?Invest in climate moonshots with Climate Insiders. Join 300+ members and become a shareholder of the best climate tech startups alongside us, from $1,000. Become a member now: https://www.climateinsiders.comJoin the Climate Insiders newsletter, The only newsletter you need to invest in climate tech. Every Saturday I share one actionable tip to invest successfully in climate tech. Join 3,500+ investors and get access to investing tips and strategies to invest today: https://climateinsiders.substack.com/(00:00) - Intro(00:13) - How Can We Incentivize Investment in Real Climate Action?(00:51) - How does Sylvera defer organizations like Vera or B0?(01:27) - Why are Carbon Markets Important?(07:40) - How Does Sylvera's Rating System Drive Smarter Climate Tech Investments?(10:10) - How Easy Can the Rating System Recognize mistakes?(13:30) - What is a Triple B in The Ranking System?(15:18) - What Factors Matter the Most When Rating Direct Air Capture Projects?(21:43) - What Emerging Carbon Capture Technologies should Investors Keep an Eye on?(24:40) - What Will Carbon Markets Look like In 10 Years?(29:54) - Is the Carbon Market going to Be Regionally Fragmented? (30:47) - Outro
This episode from Web3 with a16z Crypto, is all about innovation on a global scale, exploring both ecosystem and individual talent levels. We examine what works and what doesn't, how certain regions evolve into startup hubs and economic powerhouses, and what constitutes entrepreneurial talent. We also discuss the nature of ambition, the journey to finding one's path, and broader mindsets for navigating risk, reward, and dynamism across various regions, with a particular focus on London and Europe.Joining us is Matt Clifford, who played a pivotal role in the London entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem since 2011, is the Chair of Entrepreneur First and the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Before this episode was recorded, Matt served as the Prime Minister's representative for the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park. Recently, he was appointed by the UK Secretary of Science to deliver an “AI Opportunities Action Plan” to the UK government.This episode was recorded live from Andreessen Horowitz's first international office in London. For more on our efforts and additional content, visit a16zcrypto.com/uk. Resources:Find Matthew on Twitter: https://x.com/matthewcliffordFind Sonal on Twitter: https://x.com/smc90 Stay Updated: Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16zFind a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zSubscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithioPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Talent Investing and the Future of EntrepreneurshipIn this episode, we have Matt Clifford, founder of Entrepreneur First, an organization focused on talent investing. We cover how EF invests in talent, the success stories and unicorns that have emerged, and whether location truly matters for entrepreneurs.Matt also discusses the optimism of Indian talent, the regulatory environment in Europe, and India's unique AI opportunities. We also explore how the UK differs from the EU in tech innovation, why Silicon Valley remains the best, and what it takes to win in the software market.Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction00:25 - Investing in Talent First07:34 - Matt's Journey From Mckinsey to EF11:13 - Why EF is Now A Venture Fund15:02 - How EF Investments in Talent17:55 - EF Success Stories & Unicorns26:16 - Does Location Matter for Entrepreneurs?30:38 - Why Indian Talent is So Optimistic?33:33 - Is Europe All About Regulation?37:29 - India's Unique AI Opportunity45:06 - How UK is Different From EU50:08 - Why Silicon Valley is Still The Best54:02 - What to Win in Software Market56:34 - Key Learnings from 13 Years of EF___________________________________Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journeys from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys. Hence was born The Neon Show (Earlier 100x Entrepreneur) to learn from founders and investors, the mindset to scale yourself and your company. This quest still keeps us excited even after 5 years and doing 200+ episodes. We welcome you to our journey to understand what goes behind building a super successful company. Every episode is done with a very selfish motive, that I and Nansi should come out as a better entrepreneur and professional after absorbing the learnings. __________________________________Visit our Website: https://neon.fund/Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheNeonShowwFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/__________________________________Sponsor Shout OutLooking to build a differentiated tech startup with a 10X better solution? Prime is the high conviction, high support investor you need. With its fourth fund of $120M, Prime actively works with star teams to accelerate building great companies.To know more, visit https://primevp.in/
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: #194 - Defensive acceleration and how to regulate AI when you fear government (Vitalik Buterin on the 80,000 Hours Podcast), published by 80000 Hours on August 1, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum. We just published an interview: Vitalik Buterin on defensive acceleration and how to regulate AI when you fear government. Listen on Spotify, watch on Youtube or click through for other audio options, the transcript, and related links. Below are the episode summary and some key excerpts. Episode summary … if you're a power that is an island and that goes by sea, then you're more likely to do things like valuing freedom, being democratic, being pro-foreigner, being open-minded, being interested in trade. If you are on the Mongolian steppes, then your entire mindset is kill or be killed, conquer or be conquered … the breeding ground for basically everything that all of us consider to be dystopian governance. If you want more utopian governance and less dystopian governance, then find ways to basically change the landscape, to try to make the world look more like mountains and rivers and less like the Mongolian steppes. Vitalik Buterin Can 'effective accelerationists' and AI 'doomers' agree on a common philosophy of technology? Common sense says no. But programmer and Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin showed otherwise with his essay "My techno-optimism," which both camps agreed was basically reasonable. Seeing his social circle divided and fighting, Vitalik hoped to write a careful synthesis of the best ideas from both the optimists and the apprehensive. Accelerationists are right: most technologies leave us better off, the human cost of delaying further advances can be dreadful, and centralising control in government hands often ends disastrously. But the fearful are also right: some technologies are important exceptions, AGI has an unusually high chance of being one of those, and there are options to advance AI in safer directions. The upshot? Defensive acceleration: humanity should run boldly but also intelligently into the future - speeding up technology to get its benefits, but preferentially developing 'defensive' technologies that lower systemic risks, permit safe decentralisation of power, and help both individuals and countries defend themselves against aggression and domination. What sorts of things is he talking about? In the area of disease prevention it's most easy to see: disinfecting indoor air, rapid-turnaround vaccine platforms, and nasal spray vaccines that prevent disease transmission all make us safer against pandemics without generating any apparent new threats of their own. (And they might eliminate the common cold to boot!) Entrepreneur First is running a defensive acceleration incubation programme with $250,000 of investment. If these ideas resonate with you, learn about the programme and apply here. You don't need a business idea yet - just the hustle to start a technology company. But you'll need to act fast and apply by August 2, 2024. Vitalik explains how he mentally breaks down defensive technologies into four broad categories: Defence against big physical things like tanks. Defence against small physical things like diseases. Defence against unambiguously hostile information like fraud. Defence against ambiguously hostile information like possible misinformation. The philosophy of defensive acceleration has a strong basis in history. Mountain or island countries that are hard to invade, like Switzerland or Britain, tend to have more individual freedom and higher quality of life than the Mongolian steppes - where "your entire mindset is around kill or be killed, conquer or be conquered": a mindset Vitalik calls "the breeding ground for dystopian governance." Defensive acceleration arguably goes back to ancient China, where the Mohists focused ...
with @matthewclifford @smc90This special episode is all about regional innovation — at both a systems and people level.We cover what does and doesn't work in making certain places become hubs of innovation and economic growth (aka “innovation ecosystems”). But we also discuss — going back and forth between the structural and individual — when to intervene for entrepreneurial talent; the nature of ambition, yearning, and finding one's path; and more broadly, mindsets for navigating risk/reward and dynamism in different regions including London and Europe. We also discuss new ways of funding breakthrough R&D at a national level, tech trends of interest including crypto, and much more.Our special guest — in conversation with editor in chief Sonal Chokshi, who also brought him to the a16z Podcast over 8 years ago in its first-ever UK roadshow in December 2015 — is Matt Clifford, who's played an important role in the London entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem since 2011. Matt is the Chair of Entrepreneur First (which he co-founded with Alice Bentinck over a decade ago); and is also the Chair of the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). [Before this episode was recorded, Matt was also the Prime Minister's representative for the AI Safety Summit — which he helped organize at Bletchley Park (the historic home of computing in the UK); after this episode was recorded, Matt was appointed by the UK secretary of science to deliver an “AI Opportunities Action Plan” to the UK government, which was just announced last week.]Fittingly, this episode was recorded live from Andreessen Horowitz's first international office, in London; for more on our efforts there, and other content from there, please visit a16zcrypto.com/uk.As a reminder: None of the following should be taken as investment, legal, business, or tax advice; please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information -- including a link to a list of our investments.
"If you're a power that is an island and that goes by sea, then you're more likely to do things like valuing freedom, being democratic, being pro-foreigner, being open-minded, being interested in trade. If you are on the Mongolian steppes, then your entire mindset is kill or be killed, conquer or be conquered … the breeding ground for basically everything that all of us consider to be dystopian governance. If you want more utopian governance and less dystopian governance, then find ways to basically change the landscape, to try to make the world look more like mountains and rivers and less like the Mongolian steppes." —Vitalik ButerinCan ‘effective accelerationists' and AI ‘doomers' agree on a common philosophy of technology? Common sense says no. But programmer and Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin showed otherwise with his essay “My techno-optimism,” which both camps agreed was basically reasonable.Links to learn more, highlights, video, and full transcript.Seeing his social circle divided and fighting, Vitalik hoped to write a careful synthesis of the best ideas from both the optimists and the apprehensive.Accelerationists are right: most technologies leave us better off, the human cost of delaying further advances can be dreadful, and centralising control in government hands often ends disastrously.But the fearful are also right: some technologies are important exceptions, AGI has an unusually high chance of being one of those, and there are options to advance AI in safer directions.The upshot? Defensive acceleration: humanity should run boldly but also intelligently into the future — speeding up technology to get its benefits, but preferentially developing ‘defensive' technologies that lower systemic risks, permit safe decentralisation of power, and help both individuals and countries defend themselves against aggression and domination.Entrepreneur First is running a defensive acceleration incubation programme with $250,000 of investment. If these ideas resonate with you, learn about the programme and apply by August 2, 2024. You don't need a business idea yet — just the hustle to start a technology company.In addition to all of that, host Rob Wiblin and Vitalik discuss:AI regulation disagreements being less about AI in particular, and more whether you're typically more scared of anarchy or totalitarianism.Vitalik's updated p(doom).Whether the social impact of blockchain and crypto has been a disappointment.Whether humans can merge with AI, and if that's even desirable.The most valuable defensive technologies to accelerate.How to trustlessly identify what everyone will agree is misinformationWhether AGI is offence-dominant or defence-dominant.Vitalik's updated take on effective altruism.Plenty more.Chapters:Cold open (00:00:00)Rob's intro (00:00:56)The interview begins (00:04:47)Three different views on technology (00:05:46)Vitalik's updated probability of doom (00:09:25)Technology is amazing, and AI is fundamentally different from other tech (00:15:55)Fear of totalitarianism and finding middle ground (00:22:44)Should AI be more centralised or more decentralised? (00:42:20)Humans merging with AIs to remain relevant (01:06:59)Vitalik's “d/acc” alternative (01:18:48)Biodefence (01:24:01)Pushback on Vitalik's vision (01:37:09)How much do people actually disagree? (01:42:14)Cybersecurity (01:47:28)Information defence (02:01:44)Is AI more offence-dominant or defence-dominant? (02:21:00)How Vitalik communicates among different camps (02:25:44)Blockchain applications with social impact (02:34:37)Rob's outro (03:01:00)Producer and editor: Keiran HarrisAudio engineering team: Ben Cordell, Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic ArmstrongTranscriptions: Katy Moore
3 Gründer, 3 Pitches, 1 Jury - und der Sieger kriegt Dienstleistungen im Wert von 60.000€ , um seine Idee zu bauen. Wer gewinnt? Mehr Geschäftsideen? Finde eine Geschäftsidee, die perfekt zu dir passt, im kostenlosen Quiz! In der Jury sitzen: Lilith Brockhaus, Gründerin von Visualmakers, einer der führenden No-Code Agenturen in Deutschland. Philipp Herkelmann, ehemaliger Partner bei Entrepreneur First und Investor in über 30 Startups Alexander Mrozek, Gründer von Digitale Optimisten Diese 3 mutigen Gründer pitchen um Support im Wert von 60.000€. Jakob Ackermann, Gründer von cleverwatt. Amrita Gilsdorf-Maskos, Gründerin von Paritale. Stefanie Kruse, Gründerin von Thyropal Mehr Details: In dieser Podcast-Folge pitchen drei Startups ihre Geschäftsideen. Das erste Startup, CleverWatt, bietet kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen eine einfache Möglichkeit, ihre Energiekosten nachhaltig zu senken. Das zweite Startup, Paritale, hat das Ziel, flexible Arbeitsbedingungen für Eltern zu schaffen und Unternehmen dabei zu unterstützen, diese Zielgruppe für sich zu erschließen. Die dritte Startup-Idee wird noch nicht vorgestellt. In diesem Teil des Gesprächs wurden drei Start-up-Ideen vorgestellt: Cleverwatt, Parrytail und Thyropal. Cleverwatt ist ein Energieeffizienz-Start-up, das Unternehmen dabei unterstützt, ihren Energieverbrauch zu optimieren. Parrytail ist eine Plattform, die Unternehmen dabei hilft, Eltern in Teilzeit zu rekrutieren. Thyropal ist eine App für Schilddrüsenpatienten, die ihnen hilft, ihre Symptome besser zu verstehen und mit ihren Ärzten zu kommunizieren. Es wurden auch Fragen zu den Zielgruppen, dem Geschäftsmodell und dem Datenschutz gestellt. In dieser letzten Episode des No-Code for Impact Symposiums 2024 werden die Gewinner des Wettbewerbs verkündet. Die Teilnehmer diskutieren die Pitches und bewerten sie anhand von Kriterien wie Impact, Geschäftsmodell und technischer Machbarkeit. Keywords Startups, Geschäftsideen, Pitch, CleverWatt, Energiekosten, Nachhaltigkeit, Paritale, flexible Arbeitsbedingungen, Eltern, Unternehmen, Cleverwatt, Parrytail, Thyropal, Energieeffizienz, Rekrutierung, Eltern in Teilzeit, Schilddrüsenpatienten, Symptome, Ärzte, Zielgruppen, Geschäftsmodell, Datenschutz, No-Code for Impact Symposium 2024, Gewinner, Pitches, Impact, Geschäftsmodell, technische Machbarkeit, ThyroPAL, CleverWatt, Paritale
Paul Copplestone is the co-founder and CEO at Supabase, the “open source Firebase alternative for building web and mobile apps.” If you were wondering what that means or why you should prioritise a listen— in Paul's words: “if you're going to build your next startup, you'd probably choose us … and we'll provide all the tools you need to get started: a Postgres database, authentication system, file storage… the works.”Today, Supabase is prolific. One of the most commonly called out products by makers on Product Hunt; one of the most redeemed Y Combinator “perks” with nearly a third of the most recent YC batch using it; they've secured a place as back-end infrastructure of choice for many founders setting out to build AI-centric applications.Paul has come a long way from his family farm near Kaikoura. Before Supabase, he co-founded South East Asian-based home-services startups ServisHero and Nimbus For Work, and participated in Entrepreneur First, Singapore. Today, he & co-founder Ant have raised $116M and lead a globally distributed company with 80 employees over 30+ countries. With their ambition and vision, it's clear they're just getting started.In today's episode, we discuss:* Paul's journey from NZ to Malaysia and now Singapore.* Building and scaling Supabase as a globally distributed team.* The impact of AI on software development, and what to use if you're getting started today.* Underrated benefits of open source for recruiting, growth, and how to think about product development.Links:Supabase:* Supabase website: https://supabase.com/* Supabase on Twitter/X (great follow) https://x.com/supabase* $80M Series B announcement: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/10/supabase-raises-80m-series-b-for-its-open-source-firebase-alternative/Paul:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcopplestone/* Twitter/X: https://x.com/kiwicopple* Blog: https://paul.copplest.one/blog/ (so much good stuff in here)* GitHub: https://github.com/kiwicoppleTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(01:18) Paul's origin story(04:05) Founding ServisHero in Malaysia(06:23) Joining the Entrepreneur First program(08:58) Why founders should think about setting up their HQ in Singapore(09:57) Founding Supabase(11:36) The benefits of open source(13:43) Insight into Supabase customers and how AI is changing the game(15:33) How open source helps with recruiting(18:18) Taking a “product led growth” approach to enterprise customers.(21:12) When/how Supabase will “cross the chasm” as it matures into a enterprise customer base.(22:19) How AI is changing devtools(24:09) Paul's angel investing thesis(26:33) Thinking about companies like countries(28:59) Paul's favourite blog posts from his personal archive(31:06) How we can be helpful to Paul!Subscribe at diaspora.nz to receive new episodes every Friday! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diaspora.nz
In this conversation, Bob Turner interviews Chris Olson, a paramedic firefighter who recently lost 60 pounds. They discuss Chris's journey to weight loss, his motivation and discipline, and the lifestyle changes he made to achieve his goals. Chris emphasizes the importance of setting clear goals, making small incremental changes, and finding a strong why. He also shares his strategies for maintaining healthy habits while working long shifts and managing a busy schedule. Chris's story serves as inspiration for anyone looking to make positive changes in their life.
Part 3 of 3. My guest for this week's episode is Grant Aarons, Co-Founder and CEO of FabricNano, a London-based biotech whose mission is to transform industrial chemical processes using cell-free biomanufacturing. FabricNano empowers users with the world's most advanced, flexible, and easily scalable biocatalyst platform, providing highly stable and performant biocatalysts to enable profitable production of sustainable and biobased chemicals. Their approach starts with novel immobilization engineering for enzyme stabilization, followed by budget-conscious protein engineering and process engineering to reach their clients' targets for commercialization of their new biochemical production process.
Part 2 of 3. My guest for this week's episode is Grant Aarons, Co-Founder and CEO of FabricNano, a London-based biotech whose mission is to transform industrial chemical processes using cell-free biomanufacturing. FabricNano empowers users with the world's most advanced, flexible, and easily scalable biocatalyst platform, providing highly stable and performant biocatalysts to enable profitable production of sustainable and biobased chemicals. Their approach starts with novel immobilization engineering for enzyme stabilization, followed by budget-conscious protein engineering and process engineering to reach their clients' targets for commercialization of their new biochemical production process.
Finding the ideal Co-Founder is one of the most critical decisions a Founder will make. In this episode, Alice Bentinck, CEO and Co-Founder of Entrepreneur First, shares how to create world class productive partnerships and finding your market edge. With over a decade of experience building entrepreneurial teams that have created businesses worth billions, Alice has seen what it really takes to get a business of the ground in the first 90 days. From identifying complementary skills, to conducting successful market research, to putting practicality before passion - Alice covers the full spectrum of establishing a powerful Co-Founding partnership. ____________ Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes.
How do you stand up an effective national AI project? Is the world prepared for the Reformation-level societal change AI could bring? Matt Clifford, according to Politico Britain's most powerful tech adviser, joins ChinaTalk to discuss! He served as Prime Minister Sunak's sherpa for the UK AI Summit, chairs ARIA, the UK's answer to DARPA, and co-founded Entrepreneur First, a startup incubator with a strong presence throughout Europe and Southeast Asia. We get into: Tech Diplomacy & the UK AI Safety Summit: How countries are waking up to the watershed moment at the advent of powerful new AI, and the surprising commonalities in China's perspectives on AI safety. Organizational Design at ARIA: What are the challenges creating a world-class science project in government? How can you attract the best people and create the right organizational culture for success? Open Source AI and the Global AI Race — How should we evaluate the approaches to AI across different countries and private actors? What's the verdict on open source models? Preparing for monumental changes — and why history cautions against expecting business as usual, and how fiction can open our mind to the possibilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How do you stand up an effective national AI project? Is the world prepared for the Reformation-level societal change AI could bring? Matt Clifford, according to Politico Britain's most powerful tech adviser, joins ChinaTalk to discuss! He served as Prime Minister Sunak's sherpa for the UK AI Summit, chairs ARIA, the UK's answer to DARPA, and co-founded Entrepreneur First, a startup incubator with a strong presence throughout Europe and Southeast Asia. We get into: Tech Diplomacy & the UK AI Safety Summit: How countries are waking up to the watershed moment at the advent of powerful new AI, and the surprising commonalities in China's perspectives on AI safety. Organizational Design at ARIA: What are the challenges creating a world-class science project in government? How can you attract the best people and create the right organizational culture for success? Open Source AI and the Global AI Race — How should we evaluate the approaches to AI across different countries and private actors? What's the verdict on open source models? Preparing for monumental changes — and why history cautions against expecting business as usual, and how fiction can open our mind to the possibilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Matt Clifford is a co-founder of Entrepreneur First and leads their AI efforts, as well as chair of ARIA, the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency. We talk about EF, talent investing, ambition, why we don't have more Thiel Fellowships, his new focus on AI, and AI safety concerns. — (00:59) Talent matters most (03:17) Scarcity of talent x culture (09:16) Founder qualities: effectiveness, unlocking resources (14:37) Can you teach ambition? (16:44) Failure to learn is an anti-signal (19:13) Alternative funding: income share agreements, adverse selection, longer term bets, & government funding (27:11) Why don't we have more grant programs or patrons, like the Thiel Fellowship? Scaling taste in talent & the macro talent allocation problem (41:32) Focusing on AI & handing off the EF CEO role (47:00) Is AI safety futile? Threat models and radical uncertainty (53:31) Final question for listeners — Matt's Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthewclifford Entrepreneur First: https://www.joinef.com/ Personal Site: https://www.matthewclifford.com/ Spencer's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R Spencer's Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com
Ivo Verhaegh, founder of Powerhouse AI, came to entrepreneurship through an interesting path. He knew he wanted to start a company, work with a co-founder, and live abroad from his home country, the Netherlands. Since he didn't have an idea for a business and couldn't find a co-founder on the same timeline for starting a business, he applied to a program called Entrepreneur First. The organization screens hundreds of applicants, accepting only 1% of the people who apply; a group of 80 are ultimately accepted and work with each other to find co-founders. Venture capitalists sponsor the Entrepreneur First program, through which they find viable businesses with co-founders that click, elevate each other and the business, and are productive. While in the program, Ivo met his co-founder (and now Powerhouse AI's Chief Technology Officer) Kushal Pillay – together they worked toward an affordable and manageable robot-driven warehouse environment. Ultimately, they created an app that automates the counting and checking of inventory and pallets in warehouse storage, maximizing productivity. Since the launch, they've won clients including DHL, Unilever, and numerous logistics companies. Funded and guided by investors, Ivo and Kushal were encouraged to think BIG and globally from the start. Being based in Singapore, which has a small domestic market, they assumed they would sell into Southeast Asia. Market research showed, however, that labor is plentiful and inexpensive in the region, so warehouse operations were satisfactory as-is, unlike in the US, which embraced the technology. Currently, Powerhouse AI offers its technology solely in English, but will soon translate for their Spanish, Chinese, Malay, and Hindu target markets. Ivo understands how important translation is and that Google Translate or AI are unreliable, so he plans on using professional translators. Some of the bumps in the road Ivo met along the way include: Not understanding the southeast Asian market well enough from the start took time away from early success. Not focusing on specific industries or geographies with targeted messaging slowed sales success. Not having in-person meetings with certain clients slowed the closing of sales. The logistics industry is traditional and prefers face-to-face meetings. Currently, the company's ideal client has over 100,000 square feet of warehousing space and requires precision in inventory management, making Powerhouse AI a clear fit for companies in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, consumer product, and automotive industries. Ivo's best advice: Think Big – surround yourself with other entrepreneurs to open your eyes to possibilities. Build a Superstar Team – hire people that are ambitious, curious, accountable, responsible, and knowledgeable. Ivo's two favorite foreign words are good ones: “Bolleboos” – a Dutch word that literally translates to “bright hat” and refers to a “smart person.” “Introspective” – an English word that represents “the superpower of knowing yourself.” Ivo certainly represents both of those words! Engaging, creative, smart, driven and very self-aware, he is a podcast guest to remember! Links: Website: https://www.powerhouseai.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivoverhaegh/ Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/ Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
“Le problème de la viande, c'est qu'elle vient des animaux.” De ce constat est née La Vie, la start-up food co-fondée par Nicolas Schweitzer. La Vie défie les normes, en créant de la charcuterie végétale qui ressemble comme deux gouttes d'eau au produit animal. Fondée en 2019, La Vie a rapidement capté l'attention, avec une levée de fonds de 25 millions d'euros en début 2022, et une distribution dans plusieurs grandes enseignes et chaînes de restauration. Dans cette conversation fascinante, découvrez : Le parcours atypique de Nicolas Schweitzer : d'une première expérience dans le logiciel aux Philippines, à la création de La Vie en France. Les coulisses de La Vie : les débuts au sein de l'incubateur Entrepreneur First, les grands défis (détracteurs et actions en justice), le process de création de leurs produits et les futurs projets d'expansion. L'art de réussir de gros deals : comment Nicolas a-t-il réussi des partenariats stratégiques avec Burger King, Sodebo ou Carrefour ? Nicolas partage aussi son avis sur la souffrance animale, et pourquoi la solution pourrait résider dans une alternative végétale. Lancez l'épisode pour une exploration captivante du futur de la nourriture. TIMELINE : 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:05:20 - Présentation de Nicolas Schweitzer 00:06:OO - Présentation de La Vie 00:18:00 - Détracteurs et actions en justice 00:39:00 - La Vie et Burger King 00:46:00 - Partenariat avec Sodebo 00:48:00 - Entrepreneur First et les débuts de La Vie (1/2) 00:51:00 - La première entreprise de Nicolas Schweitzer 01:17:00 - L'art de faire des deals 01:22:00 - Entrepreneur First et les débuts de La Vie (2/2) 01:41:00 - Le marketing 01:44:00 - Les premiers deals avec Carrefour et Sodebo 01:53:00 - La souffrance animale 02:04:00 - La création du produit 02:10:00 - La Vie dans les restaurants 02:15:00 - La Vie à l'international 02:15:00 - Les levées de fonds 02:20:00 - Le SaaS vs la food 02:29:00 - Conclusion Avec Nicolas nous avons cité d'anciens épisodes de GDIY : #190 - Thibaud Hug de Larauze - Acheter, réparer, revendre : le poids lourd du circulaire #252 - Michaël Benabou - L'autre fondateur de Veepee qui s'est émancipé pour créer son empire #101 - Anthony Bourbon - L'avenir de la nourriture est-il liquide ou en barre ? #127 Paul Lê - De la résilience, de l'honnêteté et du travail pour réussir big time Avec Nicolas, nous avons parlé de : La Vie sur Instagram L'incubateur Entrepreneur First Oradian Le BSA AIR L'agence Buzzman Kiss My Burger La cancérogénicité de la consommation de viande (OMS) Nicolas vous recommande de lire: Comment réussir une négociation, de Roger Fischer et William Ury Sapiens, de Yuval Noah Harari Homo Deus, de Yuval Noah Harari L'Ange exterminateur, d'Airy Routier Si vous avez apprécié cet épisode, laissez un commentaire sur nos posts LinkedIn ou Instagram. Si vous voulez faire découvrir cet épisode, taguez un ami. La musique du générique vous plaît ? C'est à Morgan Prudhomme que je la dois ! Contactez-le sur : https://studio-module.com. Vous souhaitez sponsoriser Génération Do It Yourself ou nous proposer un partenariat ? Contactez mon label Orso Media via ce formulaire. Vous pouvez contacter Nicolas Schweitzer sur Linkedin.
In this episode you will learn:00:00 - Introduction01:54 - Talent Investing & Fundamentals 03:28 - Talent Investing vs. Recruitment05:10 - What Talent Investors Look For08:11 - Characteristics of Great Talent Investors14:14 - Early Discovery of Exceptional Individuals16:22 - Finding Exceptional Talent17:58 - Characteristics of a Great Founder23:48 - Challenges in Finding the Right Founders26:37 - Fear of Failure31:07 - Role of Family and Childhood34:02 - Decision to Become a Founder37:54 - Co-Founders with Complimentary Skillsets42:09 - Increased productivity w/ a Co-Founder52:18 - EF's Ecosystem 54:36 - EF's Graduate vs. Core Programs01:01:17 - ConclusionAboutRahul Samat, Partner and India Head at Entrepreneur First, brings over 14 years of experience as a founder, builder, and mentor. He holds a Master's in Science from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a scholarship program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Rahul started his career in banking at Barclays Investment Bank and later joined Capital One. In 2014, he co-founded InnerChef, a VC-backed startup, and in 2016, he became the Head of Private & Strategic Brands at Swiggy. In 2022, Rahul joined Entrepreneur First to lead and expand the team in India, focusing on supporting entrepreneurs from the pre-idea stage to fundraising through EF's investor network.
CEO Omar Dekkiche shares how his company Amatera is accelerating the natural evolution of plants to combat climate change and crop disease.Omar recalls how growing up on a farm in France motivated him to found Amatera, the moment of inspiration he had when he met his brilliant cofounder at the Entrepreneur First accelerator program, and his plans to use their breakthrough cellular evolution technology to revolutionize the agriculture industry by drastically improving the world's most important perennial crops, starting with coffee.
Francois (Frankie) Le Nguyen is the CEO and Co-Founder of Staging Labs, a startup that secures crypto and NFT assets by intercepting dangerous transactions in real-time. Frankie previously built and launched startup incubator Entrepreneur First in Canada and served as GM in both its Toronto and Singapore location where he helped build 50+ venture-backed startups valued at over $400M. Frankie started his career in product management at software companies LightSpeed and Holmusk, and is an angel investor on the side. You can follow Frankie's latest work and thinking at: https://www.francoislenguyen.com/ https://twitter.com/flenguyen linkedin.com/in/francoislenguyen ------------------------- Timestamps: (00:01) - Halloween, Bitcoin, and Childhood Memories (08:28) - Asian Immigrant Families and Career Expectations (15:22) - Frankie's Unconventional Path to Entrepreneurship (23:28) - From Ambition to Accidental Tech Career (29:41) - Entrepreneur First (38:11) - Building Resilience and Creating Connections (46:11) - Exploring the Journey of Staging Labs ------------------------- Transcript: https://justinpang.com/frankie-podcast-transcript
The launch of GPT-4 on the 14th of March this year was shocking as well as exciting. ChatGPT had been released the previous November, and became the fastest-growing app ever. But GPT-4's capabilities were a level beyond, and it provoked remarkable comments from people who had previously said little about the future of AI. In May, Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described superintelligence as an existential risk to humanity. A year ago, it would have been inconceivable for the leader of a major country to say such a thing.The following month, in June, Sunak announced that a global summit on AI safety would be held in November at the historically resonant venue of Bletchley Park, the stately home where during World War Two, Alan Turing and others cracked the German Enigma code, and probably shortened the war by many months.Despite the fact that AI is increasingly humanity's most powerful technology, there is not yet an established forum for world leaders to discuss its longer term impacts, including accelerating automation, extended longevity, and the awesome prospect of superintelligence. The world needs its leaders to engage in a clear-eyed, honest, and well-informed discussion of these things.The summit is scheduled for the 1st and 2nd of November, and Matt Clifford, the CEO of the high-profile VC firm Entrepreneur First, has taken a sabbatical to help prepare it.To help us all understand what the summit might achieve, the guest in this episode is Ollie Buckley.Ollie studied PPE at Oxford, and was later a policy fellow at Cambridge. After six years as a strategy consultant with Monitor, he spent a decade as a civil servant, developing digital technology policy in the Cabinet Office and elsewhere. Crucially, from 2018 to 2021 he was the founding Executive Director of the UK government's original AI governance advisory body, the Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation (CDEI), where he led some of the original policy development regarding the regulation of AI and data-driven technologies. Since then, he has been advising tech companies, civil society and international organisations on AI policy as a consultant.Selected follow-ups:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-buckley-10064b/https://www.publicaffairsnetworking.com/news/tech-policy-consultancy-boosts-data-and-ai-offer-with-senior-hirehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-programme/ai-safety-summit-day-1-and-2-programmehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-introduction/ai-safety-summit-introduction-htmlAn open event at Wilton Hall, Bletchley, the afternoon before the AI Safety Summit starts: https://www.meetup.com/london-futurists/events/296765860/Music: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration
In this episode, Alice and Gena spoke with Blake Scholl, founder of Boom Supersonic. Described by The Guardian as 'the man who aims to bring the son of Concorde to the skies', Blake is on a mission to bring supersonic commercial passenger flights to the world as soon as 2026. Why, you ask? Well, since Blake never got the chance to fly on the Concorde himself, and nobody appeared to be trying to revive supersonic air travel, he decided to do it himself. In his words, 'I realised that I wanted to work on the most important thing that's not impossible'. In this conversation Gena, Alice and Blake discuss what moved Blake to take on this mission at a time when it would've seemed crazy to almost everyone, how he honestly answered the question 'am I the person to go do this?', how he's had to grow and change to keep pace with his company, and much more. Subscribe to The Founder's Mindset so you never miss an episode. This is a podcast from Entrepreneur First. Learn more at joinef.com Thank you to Woolly Mammoth Media for consulting on and producing the show.
In the final episode of season 3, Alice and Gena reflect on the five conversations they've shared. We hope you've found these conversations as valuable and thought-provoking as we have. Subscribe to The Founder's Mindset so you never miss an episode. This is a podcast from Entrepreneur First. Learn more at joinef.com Thank you to Woolly Mammoth Media for consulting on and producing the show.
In this episode Gena and Alice had the pleasure of speaking with David Booth, the founder and CEO of OnDeck—a curated community designed to increase your odds of building a successful venture-backed company. Now, if you're thinking that sounds a bit similar to Entrepreneur First's mission, you wouldn't be far wrong. Both organizations share a belief that the world is missing out on some of its best founders, and a passion for catalyzing globally important companies by reducing the barriers for the world's smartest and most ambitious people to go and found them. In this conversation Alice, Gena and David talked about how David's parents raised him to be entrepreneurial from an early age, why founders need community before they need advice, the mistake of seeking external validation and credentialism as a way of outsourcing your own judgment of readiness, and much more. Subscribe to The Founder's Mindset so you never miss an episode. This is a podcast from Entrepreneur First. Learn more at joinef.com Thank you to Woolly Mammoth Media for consulting on and producing the show.
In this season we're bringing you a veritable feast of bold and inspiring entrepreneurial guests, from the founder who's building the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, to one of Silicon Valley's most sought-after founder coaches. And this time no topic of conversation or exploration is off the table. En route to discovering the mindsets and strategies that have aided our guests on their journeys, we plumb the depths of their personal origin stories, battles with identity, and at times crippling mental health challenges. We hope you enjoy listening to this season of the Founder's Mindset as much as we've enjoyed creating it. In this first episode, we spoke with Dan Murray-Surter, a multi-award winning serial entrepreneur, top podcast host and public speaker. Dan's been described by The Sunday Times as a founder 'not afraid to rip up the plans', and by Entrepreneur magazine as 'one of the few brave voices speaking up about mental health and entrepreneurship'. Dan's current business, Heights, manufactures a multi-vitamin aimed at improving brain function. In this wide-ranging conversation we talk about how Dan grew up watching his immigrant father struggle and concluded that business was a terrible thing, how he ended up starting one anyway, why he's building Heights in public, and much more. Subscribe to The Founder's Mindset so you never miss an episode. This is a podcast from Entrepreneur First. Learn more at joinef.com Thank you to Woolly Mammoth Media for consulting on and producing the show.
In this episode, we spoke with Brett Kopf, a serial entrepreneur at the intersection of fintech and education. In 2011 Brett founded 'Remind', a tool designed to improve communication between teachers and parents. Remind has since grown to over 30 million active users, and is used by 80% of teachers in the United States. Remind has raised $60 million to date from the likes of Naval Ravikant and billionaire philanthropist John Doerr, and Brett remains on the company's board. Brett's current company, Omella, is an all-in-one platform for payments, forms and signatures that Brett founded after seeing thousands of educators struggling with collecting money. In this conversation, we talked about Brett's journey into therapy and how it helped him as a founder, the differences in approach between his first company and his second, how prioritizing his responsibilities as a father actually makes him a better founder, and much more. Subscribe to The Founder's Mindset so you never miss an episode. This is a podcast from Entrepreneur First. Learn more at joinef.com Thank you to Woolly Mammoth Media for consulting on and producing the show.
This episode is a little bit different and a particular delight for Gena, because she got to talk to one of her colleagues and direct inspirations: Amy Buechler—who is not a startup founder herself, but rather a psychotherapist turned executive coach. And not just any executive coach, but one of Silicon Valley's most sought-after coaches, having served as Y Combinator's first and only in-house Founder Couch for nearly 5 years before building her own independent coaching practice. In this episode, Alice, Gena and Amy talked about some of the distinct psychological patterns and pitfalls Amy has observed in the countless founders she's worked with, from feeling empowered and disempowered all at once, to being pushed along by fear; and Amy shares some of her tools and frameworks for addressing those challenges. They also talked about the very scrappy, entrepreneurial path Amy herself has taken in developing her founder coaching methodology, which really resonated with my own experience. Subscribe to The Founder's Mindset so you never miss an episode. This is a podcast from Entrepreneur First. Learn more at joinef.com Thank you to Woolly Mammoth Media for consulting on and producing the show.
Andy Ayim, MBE is an investor and founder based in the UK, and runs an Angel Investing School designed to “teach people how to invest small tickets in start-ups effortlessly.” He has run the School since January 2020, and is a venture partner and board member of numerous technology companies. Passionate about financial education and entrepreneurship, he has held been entrepreneur in residence at accelerators such as Entrepreneur First, and OneTech and spent time as Managing Director at the London Accelerator Backstage Capital, which focuses on supporting underrepresented founders. He was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to diversity in technology. Our conversation starts with Andy's early interest in finance and investing and he describes how his family had to order the Financial Times specially to their local newsagent in Tottenham. He became an entrepreneur at an early age and became fascinated by the business of investing and building a business. We trace this through his love of music and then hear about how he entered an accelerator program. Andy describes what makes an accelerator program successful and he stresses the importance for him of building deep relationships and trust at the early stages of an entrepreneurial venture. We turn then to the Angel Investing School and bust some myths about what it is to be an angel investor and what the curriculum taught at the school entails. We conclude with a discussion of the upcoming London Tech Week and what it offers for entrepreneurs and budding angel investors. Learn more about The Angel Investing School: https://angelinvestingschool.com/ Sign up to Andy's weekly newsletter here: https://andyayim.com/ LTW: https://londontechweek.com/ Connect with Andy on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyayim/ This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers.
Andy Ayim, MBE is an investor and founder based in the UK, and runs an Angel Investing School designed to “teach people how to invest small tickets in start-ups effortlessly.” He has run the School since January 2020, and is a venture partner and board member of numerous technology companies. Passionate about financial education and entrepreneurship, he has held been entrepreneur in residence at accelerators such as Entrepreneur First, and OneTech and spent time as Managing Director at the London Accelerator Backstage Capital, which focuses on supporting underrepresented founders. He was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to diversity in technology. Our conversation starts with Andy's early interest in finance and investing and he describes how his family had to order the Financial Times specially to their local newsagent in Tottenham. He became an entrepreneur at an early age and became fascinated by the business of investing and building a business. We trace this through his love of music and then hear about how he entered an accelerator program. Andy describes what makes an accelerator program successful and he stresses the importance for him of building deep relationships and trust at the early stages of an entrepreneurial venture. We turn then to the Angel Investing School and bust some myths about what it is to be an angel investor and what the curriculum taught at the school entails. We conclude with a discussion of the upcoming London Tech Week and what it offers for entrepreneurs and budding angel investors. Learn more about The Angel Investing School: https://angelinvestingschool.com/ Sign up to Andy's weekly newsletter here: https://andyayim.com/ LTW: https://londontechweek.com/ Connect with Andy on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyayim/ This podcast is brought to you with the kind support of Tom Raber and Alvine Capital, a specialist investment advisor and fund placement boutique with offices in London and Stockholm. An early adopter of the “reverse enquiry” form of placement, Alvine relies on insight and dialogue with its pan-European investor base to develop and source investment solutions from a wide variety of industry providers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this thought-provoking episode, host Gareth Davies delves deep into the world of mental health diagnostics with Emilia Molimpakis, the visionary CEO of thymia; an online platform transforming the landscape of mental well-being using a powerful combination of gamification, AI, and neuro-linguistics. Drawing on her lifelong fascination with neuroscience, Emilia shares her compelling insights on the critical role empathy plays in effective leadership and emphasises the need for ethical guidelines in the realms of technology and healthcare. Throughout the interview, Emilia fearlessly addresses the inadequacies of our current mental health support system, shedding light on the alarming reality that countless individuals slip through the cracks due to its inherent failures. She also discusses the bureaucracy that is ultimately preventing the NHS from adopting technological advancements within mental health diagnostics. Reflecting on her entrepreneurial journey, Emilia imparts her most valuable lesson learned: the importance of staying true to one's vision and not succumbing to the allure of easy money. By steadfastly holding onto their goals, entrepreneurs can build impactful solutions that align with their core mission and values. Wrapping up the episode, Emilia offers heartfelt advice to individuals facing mental health struggles. Encouraging them not to lose hope, she emphasises the significance of making their voices heard. Timestamps What does good leadership mean to Emilia (03:00) What did Emilia want to be when she grew up (05:00) How much does language shape our reality? (06:50) Academic ambition (09:15) The correlation between video games and brain function (12:00) Emilia's personal experience with mental health tragedy (13:00) NHS vs. tech modernity (18:05) Experience with Entrepreneur First (20:30) Biggest lessons learnt (24:20) How Thymia works (29:15) How effective are current mental health diagnoses? (39:00) Bureaucracy in the NHS (42:40) Emilia's advice to those struggling with their mental health (47:30) Advice to her 21-year-old self (50:00) What is Emilia most excited about in the AI revolution (52:00) Emilia's productivity advice (56:10)
If you want to get in contact with us you can reach us via email at associatedpodcast@gmail.com as well as on Twitter (@associated_pod). We are trying to understand our listeners better so we can make better content. You can really help us out by filling out our listener survey which you can find here (https://airtable.com/shraJVvUNv6D7PkDP). Description: In the penultimate episode of Season 8, Danielle and Tunde interview Alice Bentinck, one of the co-founders of Entrepreneur First. Fresh out of a grad program at McKinsey and Co, Alice and her co-founder Matt felt that there was an opportunity to shake up the early stage VC scene and founded Entrepreneur First (EF). Fast forward 12 years, EF has built more than 600 startups across 6 countries that are collectively worth more than US$10B. In this episode, Alice dives deeper into the genesis of EF and the complexities of their business model, unraveling some fascinating twists and turns along the way. She also outlines some of the unique challenges the EF team face such as identifying 'talent investors' as well as exceptional potential founder profiles at pre-ideation stage. A favourite discussion topic of ours is when Alice talks about the importance of social capital during fundraising, so keep your ears pricked for that golden nugget of wisdom!
Marcus AM is a creator, researcher, builder and artist. Fellow of the Ethereum Foundation and co-creator of Ethereum Guatemala. Author of the Last Mile Defi Report on crypto adoption in Latin America.Host and producer of the Odisea Podcast and recently the Last Mile DeFi Podcast. Very much a global traveller and was a part of Europe's leading start-up incubator Entrepreneur First.Contributing across a range of initiatives in regenerative projects and impact investing including CityDAO, Cohere, Tierra Foods, Create The Change, green fintech at Aspiration, and deploying last-mile housing with Lamina POP. He researched climate and finance at the Smith School and graduated from the University of Oxford.In this episode we talk about Marcus' origin stories growing up in rural Guatemala, observing corruption and fraught financial infrastructure leading to his early interest in Bitcoin. Through to verging into the Ethereum and crypto builder space and being accepted as a fellow of the Ethereum Foundation to research opportunities and use cases for crypto adoption in Latin America.We also talk about crypto as a counterculture movement, Marcus' interests in podcasting, supporting young developers and teams in the Latin American ecosystem, and the impact created by Devcon and ETH Global events in the region.SPONSORSZerion combines every corner of web3 in a simple and intuitive app for self-custodial humans. Discover the hottest NFT collections, track your DeFi rewards, and vote in DAOs across 10+ chains. Get started at zerion.ioLens Protocol is the open-source tech stack for building decentralized social media applications. A permissionless and transparent social graph that is owned by the user. Lens is the last social media handle you'll ever need to create. Visit lens.xyzYup is the best of web3 all in one feed. Aggregating content across Lens, Farcaster, Mirror, NFTs, and Crypto Twitter. Search across platforms, customize your feed, and show off your NFTs and POAPS on your profile. Visit yup.io
In the second part of Greg's conversation with Alice Bentinck, the co-founder of Entrepreneur First, they dive deeper into the topic of diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Alice shares her vision and mission behind Code First: Girls, a not-for-profit organization that has taught 30,000 women to code for free while they were at university. She explains why diversity is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage for startups and investors. She also reveals the simple fact that every founder needs to understand to succeed in the competitive and fast-changing world of technology. If you missed the first part of our interview, where Alice talks about how to be a founder and her new book “How to Be a Founder”, make sure to check it out. And don't forget to subscribe to the Startup Science Podcast for more inspiring and informative episodes with the best minds in tech.
What does it take to be a founder of a successful tech startup? How do you find the right co-founder, idea, and market? How do you overcome the challenges and uncertainties of building something from scratch? In this episode of the Startup Science Podcast, Greg talks to Alice Bentinck, a co-founder and General Partner at Entrepreneur First, an international talent investor that supports individuals in building tech companies. Alice shares her insights and advice on how to be a founder, based on her experience of creating and investing in hundreds of startups across the world. Whether you are an aspiring founder, a curious student, or a seasoned entrepreneur, you will learn a lot from Alice's wisdom and stories. Tune in and discover how you can unleash your potential and create an impact with technology.
Cessiah Lopez is an Affiliate of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.She is a serial entrepreneur & web3 degen with proven experiences in growing small businesses & creating digital products that elevate self-improvement.Holding an LLM from the University of East Anglia, her thesis focused on the applicability of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) to modern e-commerce. She has since worked as an Operations and Strategist for crypto and web3-based projects and is a recent ex-Founder at Entrepreneur First.She has a broad range of experiences spanning multiple industries, such as construction, recruitment, law, diplomacy, blockchain, and real estate. Her work lies at the intersection of law, web3, and startups, where she emphasizes the importance of social impact and mobility. Now, she is a Crypto Research Fellow for VentureESG, working to make ESG a standard part of due diligence for VCs in the web3 space.As a polymath, her creative pursuits and innovation-focused approach have extended to her entrepreneurship and current works within web3.You can check https://czawolf.com/ for more.
Read the full transcript here. What are "variance-amplifying" and "variance-dampening" institutions? Has the world been getting weirder recently? Should entrepreneurs aim for variance amplification or variance dampening? What percentage of people should be entrepreneurs? What traits and skills are necessary for successful entrepreneurship? How has ambition changed over the course of history? How can entrepreneurs know if they're really changing the world, or just doing something slightly before someone else did it, or just doing something that would have happened anyway? How can entrepreneurs avoid getting mired in "tar pit" ideas?Matt Clifford MBE is cofounder and CEO of Entrepreneur First, the leading technology company builder that invests in top technical individuals to help them build world-class deep technology startups from scratch in six locations across Europe, Asia, and Canada. Since 2011, Entrepreneur First has created over 500 startups worth over $10bn including Magic Pony Technology, Tractable, and CloudNC. Matt is also Chairman of the UK's new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), which aims to enable exceptional scientists and researchers to identify and fund transformational research that leads to new technologies, discoveries, products, and services. Matt sits on the board of Code First Girls, which he co-founded in 2013 to teach young women how to code, and is a member of the Innovate UK Council. Matt started his career at McKinsey & Co. and holds degrees from Cambridge and MIT, where he was a Kennedy Scholar. He was awarded an MBE for services to business in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours. Follow him on Twitter, interact with him on LinkedIn, or learn more about his work at Entrepreneur First.[Read more]
My guest today is Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First. Entrepreneur First, or EF, invests pre-company by systematizing the way that talented individuals find co-founders, develop ideas, and scale into companies. They're an incubator of teams and ideas on a mission to create impactful companies that, without their help, wouldn't exist. I first spoke with Alice's co-founder, Matt Clifford, over two years ago and have been fascinated with EF's model of investing ever since. Please enjoy my conversation with Alice Bentinck. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:33] - [First question] - Overview of what Entrepreneur First is today [00:05:57] - How she identifies the people to bring into each cohort and convince them to quit their job to join EF for eight weeks [00:10:10] - Categories of the main types of people who join the EF program [00:12:32] - What she's learned about negative screening at the first stage of recruits [00:14:07] - Positive signals she looks for in early admissions [00:17:46] - What the program itself feels like as a participant [00:21:29] - Reasons partners tend to fail and whether or not EF advises equity splits between founders [00:24:49] - How important the idea is that the team will be working on [00:28:04] - Exercises she enjoys doing with the new cohorts around social norms [00:30:38] - How the experience looks physically in each city [00:32:57] - Categories of data collected as the cohorts unfold and making investment decisions [00:36:46] - Ways the companies mature after EF and what kinds of investors fund the next stage of their startups [00:40:55] - Why aren't there ten EF style initiatives or organizations [00:44:26] - Motivations for the change in their holding company structure [00:46:48] - The love of product and ideas she's playing with right now [00:51:49] - Cities she has her eye on that EF is not a participant in today and criteria that makes a city desirable for EF [00:54:03] - A piece of software that EF could benefit from that doesn't exist yet [00:55:30] - The keys to her harmonious relationship with her co-founder Matt [00:59:01] - National and international impediments that directly impact company building [01:01:36] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her