Tech Talks Daily

Sophia Matveeva is the founder of Tech For Non-Techies, a learning community and media company. Sophia has contributed to the Financial Times, The Guardian, and Forbes on entrepreneurship and technology and hosts the top-rated Tech for Non-Techies podcast. She has also guest lectured at Chicago Booth and London Business School, and led the Blackstone x Techstars accelerator at the University of Texas at El Paso. As a non-technical founder, she has co-created apps and algorithms that have been used by thousands, won App of the Day by Mashable, and were featured by Inc, the BBC and more. Sophia loves helping entrepreneurs and has advised Chicago Booth's New Venture Challenge and Microsoft x London College of Fashion incubator. She also holds an MBA from Chicago Booth, and a BSc (Hons) in Politics from Bristol. She speaks English, Russian and French. Sophia Matveeva shares her startup story. Then, we talk about why investors are turning towards non-technical founders and what this means for the industry. Sophie shares advice on how non-technical professionals can transition into a career in tech for non-technical professionals.

Stijn "Stan" Christiaens has a new title at Collibra - Chief Data Citizen. He joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how Collibra is getting data and policies ready for a cloud-native world, ensuring the company complies with growing privacy regulations, protecting data assets, and more. We also discuss why the most critical priority for this year is increasing and maintaining data quality. Over the past transformative year, Collibra has spent many resources in getting the business to be digital-first. And he knows that data products are garbage in, garbage out, so the outcomes of the product, the user experience, and the smart features all depend on the quality of the data that feeds them. I also learn why he's changed his title and what it means. Collibra is putting smart data quality controls at various places and how he plans to organizational data priorities for the rest. We also talk about the EU's recent announcement to take control around AI and how the proposed legislation will strengthen AI update, investment, and innovation across the EU.

Rohan Pasari is the co-founder and CEO of Cialfo, an AI-driven platform that brings together people, software, and data to simplify college and career counseling workflows. He co-founded Cialfo with the vision to make education accessible for 100 million students globally. Rohan joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to discuss how EdTech can make higher ed more accessible, how data analytics is transforming the college recruiting process and shares insights into the shift to virtual search and recruitment channels for higher education.

Recent announcements from Facebook and Twitter are signaling growing support for security keys as a means of user protection. Stina Ehrensvärd from Yubico discusses why this is an essential step toward a genuinely passwordless future for all. Yubico has worked closely with both platforms to support two-factor authentication based on its physical security keys. So while Facebook users have been able to use the hardware to secure their accounts on desktops, the recent announcement sees iOS and Android users now able to do the same. This adds a critical security layer and prevents a password from being the last line of defense against phishing or other malicious attempts to compromise private information. Importantly, security keys also reduce friction and complexity for users compared to the repeated insertion of One Time Passcodes or similar security features. Yubico's mission has always been to make the internet a safer place for everyone – and over the years, it has partnered with tech giants such as FIDO Alliance, Google, and Microsoft to develop appropriate standards and realize this vision. In our interview, Stina discusses the collective impact of these recent announcements and how increased industry collaboration is delivering the highest level of security and convenience to more users online, regardless of device and platform. I learn more about how Yubico helps companies like Google secure 85,000+ of its employees against online fraud, platforms like Gov.UK to help protect gateways against cybercriminals, and within the UK government and defense departments to secure their security users.

With stakeholder capitalism and conscious capitalism entering the mainstream, we wanted to explore the future of work and how businesses are not just leveraging technology to help run their business but also transform the employee experience. Danijela Nandi, Senior Product Manager at Citrix Workspace, and Nancy Pautsch, Chief Evangelist of Stakeholder Value (President) of Envision IT talk about how hybrid working and how technology makes teams more productive and helping to build a more conscious culture where everyone has a sense of purpose. They also discuss the ROI of improving employee engagement and wellbeing. About Envision IT Envision IT is a soulful company whose business is technology optimization, ensuring that mainstream technologies in businesses today are an enabler to employee engagement and business success (versus being an obstacle). Nancy Pautsch is the Chief Evangelist of Stakeholder Value (President) of Envision IT, a group of curious and compassionate people growing a soulful company. Envision's mission is to enrich the lives of their stakeholders. Their business is technology consulting focused on optimization to ensure technology is an enabler to employee engagement and business success. Envision is the go-to technology partner for organizations across the U.S. Nancy has been in the technology industry for 20+ years. Keys to her leadership are a growth mindset and fostering collaborative cultures that breed a grounded sense of purpose while striving for excellence. As a thriving Firm of Endearment, Envision has been lauded locally for their contributions to the community and economy; recognized globally in the technology industry as 'best of the best' for engineering quality, innovation, and customer experience; and highlighted by the Conscious Capitalism movement as a model for stakeholder orientation.

Real Ice is a Wales-based company that has invented a revolutionary renewable energy-powered ice maker to replenish the polar ice caps that are melting as a result of global warming. The Real Ice machine, developed by recent Bangor University graduate Cian Sherwin, is a windpowered machine that pumps water from under the Ice to the surface, where it freezes rapidly and patches gaps in the sea ice. It also works to thicken the Ice, thus increasing the albedo effect, which is the ability to reflect the sun's energy back into space instead of being absorbed by the earth. Still in the prototype phase, the project plans to employ indigenous people of Arctic regions to own, maintain and operate the machines. At the same time, they earn carbon credits which can be sold to companies to offset their fossil fuel use. By combatting the effects of global warming and ice loss on traditional local communities, Real Ice also hopes to boost the development of Arctic regions experiencing the harsh negative effects of global warming.

Mansour Karam is the Co-Founder of data center network automation company Apstra, which was recently acquired by the networking giant Juniper Networks. With over a decade of experience in network automation and network solutions, Mansour currently works at Juniper as the VP of Products, helping clients deliver on their networking solutions and make the most out of their business with Juniper. Mansour discusses how automation is essential to minimizing costly mistakes and eliminating human error from mundane tasks in a hyperconnected data center. Mansour also elaborates on the two main areas where automation maximizes productivity in the data center. We talk about scaling capacity with output so that data center development is not inhibited and processing repetitive tasks, so developers have more time and bandwidth for crucial development. Mansour also explains how automation is essential to minimizing expensive mistakes and provides robust data sets for IT leaders to apply hyper-accurate insights in development. About Juniper Juniper Networks challenges the inherent complexity that comes with networking and security in the multicloud era. They do this with products, solutions and services that transform the way people connect, work and live. They simplify the process of transitioning to a secure and automated multicloud environment to enable secure, AI-driven networks that connect the world.

Curve Health is an elderly care telemedicine platform that is installed directly into nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The company announced a $6m seed round in late 2020, and on May 6th, will announce national partnerships with facilities in Minnesota and California, bringing telemedicine access to the bedsides of hundreds of patients. The platform is peer-reviewed & proven by the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine to reduce unnecessary hospital transfers from skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) by up to 80%. About Tim Peck Tim Peck is the founder of Curve Health. Before founding Curve, Peck earned his MD from NYU, then held a faculty position at Harvard Medical School and was the Chief Resident in the Emergency Department at Beth Israel Deaconess (BIDC). From there, Peck cofounded Call9, a company that was the forebearer to Curve Health and was responsible for changing the landscape of care delivery to nursing homes.

Assaf Morag and Ehud Amiri from Aqua Security join me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast to discuss finding from Aqua's 2021 Security Report, which assesses cloud infrastructure risks. During 12 months, Aqua Security conducted an in-depth analysis of Aqua Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) usage data and found that 40% of users had at least one misconfigured Docker API. But, overall, 84% of users were able to detect and remediate misconfiguration issues using CSPM, which would otherwise have gone unnoticed without manual involvement. Although cloud-native applications have many benefits, such as allowing more agility by giving more people access to define the environment, it means that many organizations are moving away from a centralized approach to security. Where once there was only a small, highly skilled team of security practitioners making all configuration changes, we now have a modern, decentralized approach. Indeed, a recent IDC survey showed that almost 80% of respondents had at least one cloud security breach over the preceding 18 months. We talk about Aqua's 2021 Security Report findings, explore the complexity of cloud environments, and discuss some solutions to help mitigate these risks.

With nearly half of Americans currently working from home, and an additional 20% expected to remain that way in the future, the challenge of remote authentication has never been more important. Replacing passwords and updating software are no longer enough as lines blur between work/personal security posture and data subsequently becomes more at risk. Eric Brown, Senior Manager, Enterprise Identity & Access Management at SAIC, urges that with this change comes a need for organizations to recalibrate their approach to authentication. Eric shares his insights and advises how to secure identities while balancing a simplified user experience. He also discusses lessons learned with SAIC as the company transformed to a remote workforce – including key takeaways related to their multi-factor authentication platform for remote employees. About SAIC SAIC is a premier Fortune 500® technology integrator driving digital transformation. Their robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, civilian, and intelligence markets includes secure high-end solutions in engineering, IT modernization, and mission solutions. Using their expertise and understanding of existing and emerging technologies, they integrate the best components from their own portfolio and partner ecosystem to deliver innovative, effective, and efficient solutions critical to achieving their customers' missions. Saic consists of a team of 26,000 driven by mission, united purpose, and inspired by opportunity. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $7.1 billion.

It's just over twenty years since the dot-com bubble burst, leaving economic chaos and unemployment in its wake. In the years following, a little-known project – Google Maps – was in its early stages intending to create more user-friendly maps. At the same time, Gidi Cohen, CEO of Skybox Security, had a similar vision, only for the cybersecurity space. "In the same way Google Maps allows users to understand their terrain, location and how to interpret traffic lights, we are helping security teams make sense of their IT network topology." Through a network model approach to security, Skybox has become a trusted partner to large enterprises like P&G, Vodafone and Estee Lauder. Skybox helps these organizations to connect the dots and get better visibility into the threats that lie within their fragmented networks, decentralized, inconsistent configurations and change management processes, unsafe cloud, and network configurations. Gidi joins me on the podcast and talks about why it's important to understand exposure vs. exploitability on vulnerabilities. We also attempt to demystify security complexity and talk about what is currently keeping CISO's awake at night. Gidi also shares his origin story and how he married his passions of math, analytics, technology, and cybersecurity to create Skybox. But even as founder and CEO, how he stills rolls up his sleeves to code.

AllianceBlock is building the first globally compliant decentralized capital market. The AllianceBlock Protocol is a decentralized, blockchain-agnostic layer 2 that automates the process of converting any digital or crypto asset into a bankable product. Incubated by three of Europe's most prestigious incubators: Station F, L39, and Kickstart Innovation in Zurich. It is led by a heavily experienced team of ex-JP Morgan, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs investment bankers, and quants, AllianceBlock is on the path to disrupt the $100 trillion securities market with its state-of-the-art and globally compliant decentralized capital market. The first globally compliant decentralized capital market, recently announced that it secured funding under the $100M accelerator fund set up to boost the Binance Smart Chain ecosystem, the latest in a series of announcements made in the past week. It's been a huge few weeks for the DeFi powerhouse, which continues to cement its position within the burgeoning DeFi industry. Rachid Ajaja, CEO and Co-founder of AllianceBlock, joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to share his grand vision for AllianceBlock.

Ransomware threats are snowballing. Time and again we have witnessed that a ransomware attack on a single endpoint brings down the enterprise infrastructure just in a few seconds. Despite the hype around cybersecurity, there aren't credible solutions available to addresses the most fundamental reasons behind the majority of the cyber breaches – shared VLANs; excessive access granted by traditional firewalls/ VPNs; and legacy protocols over unpatched systems. While there are many security companies trying to prevent ransomware from getting into your network, Airgap's "Zero Trust Isolation Platform" is protecting organizations even if their perimeter is breached or if they have unpatched vulnerable servers inside their data center. Airgap's "Ransomware Kill Switch" is a potent ransomware response for the IT organization. Airgap can be deployed in minutes without any agents, forklift upgrades, or design changes. Ritesh Agrawal, CEO, Airgap, returns to the Tech Talks Daily podcast to talk about Ransomware trends. We discuss how to protect against business disruption caused by ransomware attacks that often cripple organizations.

Liav Chen, CEO and Co-Founder of Humanz joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to talk about the AI-based influencer marketing platform with a twist. Over the years, advertising has migrated towards social media marketing, and today more than ever before, marketing tactics rely heavily on influencer endorsement and vise versa. Currently, this model suffers from influencer fatigue, and both marketers and influencers lack the ability to trust the data. There seems to be a river of 'dirty money' flowing from buying fake followers, having bots engaged with content, and more. Platforms like Humanz were created to make sure authenticity and real value are being measured and presented as part of any potential collaboration. Using Humanz's unique technology, based on two main sets of proprietary algorithms and big data analysis, influencer marketing's largest problems face a reckoning. It's a new level of targeting that taps micro-influencers, a vastly underutilized resource in the marketing sphere. Before co-founding Humanz, Liav spent five years serving in the highly esteemed Israeli Intelligence Unit 8200. This is where he gained extensive experience in DevOps, big data, and machine learning. Chen identified multiple shortcomings in influencer marketing and created the Humanz platform to fix what is broken. Chen built the platform to provide a total scope of data on a content creator's account and its following, allowing for better collaborations, better ads, and greater success with reaching an audience. Liav discusses how influencer marketing became the new billboard and how Humanz mediates existing flaws and uses AI and big data to do so.

Michael O'Hara, Group Managing Director of specialist IT distributor DataSolutions, joins me on the Tech Talks podcast. The company appeared on my radar when they recently announced that they are aiming to become the world's first carbon-neutral IT distributor by the end of 2022. As well as implementing measures to improve its own sustainability, the organization has also launched a "Techies Go Green" community to encourage and support partners and other businesses in doing the same. Michael discusses his ambitious growth plans for DataSolutions and talks about his decision to expand from Ireland into the UK market back in 2016 on the cusp of Brexit and how he has successfully built up the UK arm of the business over the last four years. In fact, the organization was recently awarded the title of Distributor of the Year at the Network Computing Awards 2020, showcasing its increasing influence and growth. Michael also provides insights into how the business has adapted throughout the pandemic and supports organisations in doing the same through its innovative mobility and security offerings, which have become vital for many companies over the last 12 months. 2020 research by DataSolutions revealed just how crucial such technologies are for both now and going forward, with a third of office workers admitting they would quit if home-working weren't supported.

CloudSphere helps organizations simplify cloud management by automating governance, minimizing security risks, and managing costs from a single platform. Keith Neilson, Technical Evangelist for the company, joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast. The IDC forecasts worldwide spending on cloud services will surpass $1 trillion in 2024. Keith shares why securing and governing multi-cloud environments is a top IT challenge facing enterprises as cloud adoption accelerates amid the pandemic. I learn how this challenge has driven demand for CloudSphere's solution, which helps organizations simplify cloud management/avoid costly breaches. We also discuss the immense cloud governance gaps enterprises experience that ultimately leaves sensitive data vulnerable to breaches. Keith shares how CloudSphere recently released research which found that 32% of enterprises experienced unauthorized access to cloud resources, and another 19% were unaware if unauthorized access occurred. Keith also discusses why having visibility into which users have access to data and resources is increasingly difficult due to the complex nature of cloud environments and best practices for enterprises to manage cloud access rights.

Ken Fine is the new CEO of Heap, the leading analytics platform helping product, marketing, and customer success teams craft exceptional digital experiences that convert and retain users. Grabbing hold on a company that's outperformed on ARR expectations in the last year and raised $191.1M over nine funding rounds, he's fully prepared to propel Heap even further ahead. And, he's got some friends in high – and unconventional – places to thank. I wanted to learn more about Ken's story and how he was influenced by his time in the Navy as an engineer designing and constructing submarine propulsion systems. Here in 2021, Ken shares his vision for the future of Heap, building on his 20 years of experience leading growth-stage B2B SaaS companies. Ken discusses the crucial importance of companies investing in data systems – especially when looking to scale. He also shares more about the principles he lives by and how those will manifest in Heap's product offerings, in turn guiding him in cementing the company's position as the go-to analytics provider.

Rich Waldron is CEO and co-founder of Tray.io. He believes strongly in democratizing the use of software and data for anyone – not just for engineers. He helped create Tray.io to lead the low-code general automation movement so that any business user can have the power to integrate their tech stack and automate mission-critical business processes by themselves. About Tray.io The Tray.io General Automation Platform democratizes automation and integration so anyone can easily turn their unique business processes into repeatable and scalable workflows that evolve whenever business needs change. Unlike iPaaS solutions, which are expensive, complex, and code-intensive, Tray.io's flexible self-service platform makes it simple to build integrations using any API and connect enterprise applications at scale without incremental costs. Process innovation is today's competitive advantage since companies can no longer differentiate on their tech stack alone. The promise of SaaS led to an avalanche of siloed point solutions that require businesses to force their processes into rigid, predetermined schema. The Tray Platform removes these limitations, empowering both non-technical and technical users to create sophisticated workflow automations that streamline data movement and actions across multiple applications. Freed from tedious and repetitive tasks, citizen automators, product leaders, and IT are able to uplevel their skill set with automation to unlock their full potential and do things in a way that's right for their business. Teams at leading companies including FICO, New Relic, Segment, and Udemy bring the future of work to life using Tray.io's solutions. Their motto is simply, Love your work. Automate the rest.™

When watching the latest summer blockbuster movie, you might think that the industry is at the cutting edge of technology. But behind the curtain, Hollywood is actually clunky and slow to change, and nowhere is this more evident than in the IP acquisition process. Around 50% of all entertainment is based on existing IP (novels, articles, biographies, memoirs, etc.)—this number is closer to 80% in television. Yet, the process of finding and buying the rights is analog and outdated—a person would have to find the source, spend weeks or months identifying the various rights holders, then negotiating the option rights. With Every network launching a streaming service, there is a voracious appetite for new content. 700+ new shows launched last year. But did you know, in order to launch even one show, it typically takes 80+ story ideas at the top of the funnel? Cue Story Scout—an online marketplace that curates IP, pre-negotiates all the rights, and allows studios and independent producers to find and option ideas with the click of a button. StoryScout is an immediate marketplace. They do all the finding of cool stories, clear the rights, represent everything and negotiate the deal. Think of it as an Amazon for cool ideas. Current subscribers include Sony Television, New Line, and Range Media, with sights set on deals with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, HBO, Fox, Sony Pictures, Snap, and CBS. Todd Hoffman, CEO of StoryScout, shares how this kind of tech is hyper-focused for Hollywood's needs. Hoffman and his colleagues all come from Hollywood and know what studios are looking for, from super-specific tagging (E.g., Stories set in "Latin America" that are "family-friendly" and "quirky" and are about "divorce") to film/TV-worthy stories. They're engineering machine learning tools to help them filter the most interesting, relevant ideas, too.

Daniel Gold is the co-founding partner of Future Energy Solutions. A serial entrepreneur obsessed with helping customers solve their pain points. He's transformed FES from a Florida lighting startup into an industry disrupter and global operation. FES has multi-billion dollar financial backing and has generated over $200M in energy savings for thousands of customers, including Hilton, Ford, Burger King, Taco Bell, Best Western, and Chevrolet. But where did it all begin? I sit down with Daniel in a relaxed conversation where he shares his inspiring startup story. I also learn how he created the "Gold Initiative" which offers businesses a complete LED Lighting Installation at no up-front cost, 15 years of free maintenance, no credit agreement, and no catch. Daniel shares how he knew business owners and managers are cash-strapped, and that's why he's endowed FES with the offer of a cost-free way for them to make major capital improvements, save money over time and become more sustainable. Here in 2021, FES is an international player in the LED lighting space. Daniel has been recognized by Forbes, Inc, and Fortune and honored by Florida Business Journal for 'Business of the Year.' But it's Daniel's inspiring story that will stay with you long after the end of this podcast episode.

Dr Mark van Rijmenam is the founder of Datafloq and Mavin. Datafloq is the one-stop source for emerging tech, offering C-level Executives information, insights, knowledge, and opportunities to drive innovation with data. The international keynote speaker is also the author of 3 best-selling management books. I wanted to learn more about his mission to educate people and organizations about how the future of work will revolve around data, decentralization, and automation. In doing so, they could gain a deep understanding of emerging technologies, including big data, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, and how they will change the future of work. We live in exponential times and simply having a digital strategy focused on continuous innovation is no longer enough to thrive in a constantly changing world. Van Rijmenam discusses how big data, blockchain, and AI will change collaboration and enable a networked society. The organization of tomorrow will look fundamentally different than today's organization. Those enterprises aware of the upcoming changes can best prepare and achieve competitive advantage in a data-driven society. Consequently, the future of work will require management and employees to take a different approach to create and deliver a product or service. The future of work will be defined by three concepts: data, decentralization, and automation that will radically change leadership, culture, privacy, and security. Van Rijmenam shares valuable insights around the future of work and how to build a competitive business.

Plivo provides easy and affordable APIs for businesses to develop powerful voice and messaging applications. Applications built over Plivo seamlessly integrate across web and telephony, including Mobile, PSTN, VoIP, and Gtalk. But where did it all begin? Venky B shares the story behind Plivo and how they serve thousands of innovative businesses in more than 190 countries, such as IBM, GoDaddy, PagerDuty, Deckers Brand, etc., through SMS and Voice APIs. I learn more about how the company's founders all met over GitHub, and the team signed its first paying customers before they had a commercial offering. Venky recommends launching early, iterate with few anchor customers to build a product marketing fit, and charge as early as you can. For startup founders, Venky B offers the following advice. Debt Funding: This was a no-brainer for Plivo, and other companies should consider this route as there is no dilution and helps with short-term investments. Entrepreneurship: Venky has guided the company to hold out from taking money and being trapped. This route is less taken, and Venky shares the benefits that he has seen thus far from this strategy. Recruiting: In the early days of your company, find passionate early employees who thrive in an unstructured environment. Additionally, hire generalists early and then form more specialized teams as you scale. Growth: The first step is finding a product-market fit with repeatability, focusing on making a few customers happy, and keeping an eye on churn. Global Expansion: Whenever financially feasible, build a local go-to-market team and engage customer teams to create passionate customers.

Anker Innovations, a global leader in mobile charging and consumer electronics, recently announced two products under the AnkerWork product line, including the PowerConf C300, Smart AI-enabled HD webcam, and the PowerConf S500 Portable Conference Speaker. For many, working from home has been a dream come true, but it also brings its unique challenges; distracting pets, family, poor lighting, and power and cable management issues, to name a few. AnkerWork products have been designed to help address many of these issues, while providing portable solutions and can be easily used in the home, the office, and on the road. Adam Weissman joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss Anker's decision to enter the B2B tech space at this moment in time, along with his vision of how the future of work will center on flexibility and mobility. We also talk about where the hybrid work model is heading, how future AnkerWork product offerings will be equipped to address the future of work, and what AI technology can play a stronger role in the new age of work.

O2 and Virgin have almost 40 million customers between them, so it will be a huge challenge to bring their records into one platform. Of course M&As have become increasingly common in the telco industry in recent years, and tongues continue to wag about potential activity involving both BT and Nokia over the next few months. Data solutions provider Sagacity work with leading telcos, so I invited Harry Dougall, CFO and founding partner at on the podcast to discuss the typical challenges companies face when merging. We explore some of the mammoth data tasks that could make or break M&As, such as joining all the data together in a unified format. A merger of this scale often takes years, especially if customer information is spread across siloed departments. We talk about the importance of checking for accuracy and records that need to be merged (if somebody was a customer of both organizations). We also discuss how making decisions about which packages are appropriate for which type of customer, where they could be cross-selling services, and identify the most valuable customers to focus on retaining them.

Several years ago, Liberty Mutual developed a "Technology Manifesto," a six-page document that explained where they were going and what needed to change as part of their transformation journey. It laid out the tools needed to compete in the marketplace and a picture around the types of technology skills employees needed for roles in the future. Eric Drobisewski is the Senior Architect of Fortune 100, Liberty Mutual Insurance. Eric has more than 20 years of enterprise IT experience spanning many technology verticals, including Telecom, Network, and Cloud services. As a Senior Architect, he's responsible for more than 40,000 systems across the globe in a highly virtualized environment with a goal of modernizing a significant portion of those workloads for public cloud platforms. Over the past several years, Eric's focus has been on Liberty Mutual's enterprise cloud strategy, strategic enablement, DevSecOps and Infrastructure as Code practices, and driving containerization as the company's core compute fabric. With the mass shift to remote work, we talk about the technologies that enabled Liberty Mutual's 50,000 global employees to succeed and various areas of technology the company is continuing to expand to this year. I also learn how they are aiming to fully pivot to the cloud and reduce their three owned data centers to a single one, with aspirations to get to zero in the future.

Slater Victoroff is the Founder and CTO of Indico. An enterprise AI solution for unstructured content that emphasizes document understanding. Slater has been building machine learning solutions for startups, governments, and Fortune 100 companies for the past seven years and is a frequent speaker at AI conferences. Indico's framework requires 1000x less data than traditional machine learning techniques, and they regularly beat the likes of AWS, Google, Microsoft, and IBM in head-to-head bake-offs. Indico recently announced a $22 million Series B raise. Slater has been building AI, machine learning and deep learning solutions for the enterprise for the better part of the past decade, having worked with everyone from the federal government to two-person startups to the Fortune 100. He has also educated hundreds of business users on successfully implementing deep learning through a simple framework that helps executives rapidly accelerate the adoption of the technology in their businesses. We talk about The future of AI / Machine Learning, the effect of AI on automation processes, and making STEM more inclusive.

Calvin Brown is a tech founder with experience managing global teams and multi-million dollar software deliverables. His software architecture background, coding capabilities, and keen understanding of the entire process help inform his mindful but competitive approach. Calvin is fueled by his passion for understanding the nuances of the technical challenges businesses face across all industries. He considers himself a 'forever student,' eager to build on his hands-on technical foundation by architecting, building, and teaching others how to master the art of making complex technical issues solvable. Calvin has developed applications for some of the world's largest brands. What makes him unique is his dedication to educating entrepreneurs and other tech professionals on how to create the software that we all know and love. The tech group that he created for black coders, Black Men Code, has now grown to over 1,000 professionals. His many publications have aided him in his mission to spread knowledge, educate entrepreneurs and empower them to solve their own technical issues. Calvin shares how he helps businesses solve problems and run better by providing software-based solutions with an emphasis on innovation, creativity, and common-sense solutions. We discuss the importance of creating space for minorities within the tech industry, and Calvin shares his journey from a lower-middle-class Mississippi home to global tech success. We also talk about how to bring your application dream into reality and explore the future of tech.

Dinesh Malkani is Founder and CEO of Smarten Spaces. His company provides an AI-based technology platform/solutions to transition back to the workplace safely and securely. Smarten Spaces is working with Fortune 500 companies across 50+ cities globally. In today's episode, we talk about hybrid working, back-to-work technology, and the future of the workplace. About Smarten Spaces People spend a significant time inside buildings, and they thrive when these spaces are convenient and intuitive. At Smarten Spaces, their vision is to transform all spaces where people spend time, and they do so by designing technology that keeps human behavior and experience in mind. The company dreams of enabling future-ready spaces that help users optimize for the most value. Our tech solutions allow users to make informed financial decisions based on how their spaces are being utilized while also enhancing the experience of those that interact with the spaces. Better business, better experience. They believe that technology should be seamless. That's why their configurable solutions are designed for your convenience when planning for and interacting with the spaces of the future. With offerings across workplace management, space management, and tenant engagement, they are currently smartening 90 million square feet globally (and counting).

Rich Rudzinski always had an entrepreneurial spirit and found different ways to express that while growing up. He has been infatuated with computers since he first locked eyes on the sweet 486 Windows machine his uncle got his family in the early 90s. He broke, fixed, and gamed on that computer until he saved enough to build his own machine from scratch. The top of his class in high school, Rich followed his passion for computers while studying at UCSD where he graduated early with an innovative art/technology major (ICAM), with a focus on building interactive experiences with new technologies. Rich started his current venture, Tragic Media, in 2009 after working as a technology consultant for a variety of digital agencies. He saw a common theme of project overages, disappointed clients, and outsourcing went awry; and sought to build a company to solve that problem. Initially, a white-label solution for other agencies, Tragic Media now helps businesses of all sizes avoid technology tragedies. Over the years, the logo and frameworks have evolved, but Tragic still focuses on providing sound technical leadership for non-technical organizations. From the web to apps to the cloud and beyond! They partner with their clients to help them build a technology foundation built to scale. Rich is also in the process of building out a SaaS product for software team reporting and working to grow a sub-brand focused on helping organizations with IoT integrations and system implementations. I chat with Rich about entrepreneurship, pivoting a business, building processes with technology. We also discuss what emerging technologies excite him.

Here in the UK, the Daily Mail and Guardian Newspapers will give you to completely different sides of a news story. In the US, CNN and Fox News will often do the same thing. But how did we get here? And is there an appetite to return to factual rather than opinion-based reporting? Tim Huelskamp from 1440 Media joins me in a conversation about the monetization of polarization and how the click-bait structured media world is creating an outrage machine that relies on misleading headlines and sensationalism to sustain itself. I also learn how 1440 media is tackling this problem and the role of technology in helping people find an alternative to their echo chamber and find explore fact base news that challenges rather than strengthens your worldview. About 1440 Media Instead of cleverly crafted messaging and media narratives, 1440 provides an impartial view of what's happening in the world so our readers can form their own conclusions. Scouring hundreds of sources each day, 1440 delivers news with breadth plus depth, thoughtfully curated by experts, in a single morning briefing. We believe news is not about proving one side is right – it should inspire objective conversation that helps you navigate the world around you. While it may sound lofty, our goal is to empower readers so they can lead better, well-informed, more productive lives.

Nick Ford, the chief technology evangelist at Mendix, discusses some of the recent trends that have contributed to the rise of low-code adoption around the world. He also shares some of the most compelling findings from a recent survey commissioned by Mendix about low-code adoption in the manufacturing sector. I also learn more about the recent launch of Mendix 9 and how it can help businesses develop apps up to 10x faster. About Mendix Mendix, a Siemens business and the global leader in enterprise low-code, is fundamentally reinventing the way applications are built in the digital enterprise. With the Mendix platform, enterprises can "Make with More" by broadening an enterprise's development capability to conquer the software development bottleneck; "Make it Smart," by making apps with rich native experiences that are intelligent, proactive, and contextual; and "Make at Scale," to modernize core systems and build large app portfolios to keep pace with business growth. The Mendix platform is built to promote intense collaboration between business and IT teams and dramatically accelerate application development cycles while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and governance — in short, to help enterprises confidently leap into their digital futures. Mendix's "Go Make It" platform has been adopted by more than 4,000 leading companies around the world.

This year, global attention has continued to focus on privacy and data ownership questions within the digital sphere. On a mission to solve these issues and change how data is managed and transferred, Ontology has established itself as the platform of choice for developers, enterprises, and end-users alike. Having launched its Mainnet in June 2018, Ontology has gone from strength to strength over the last three years, forging tangible partnerships across various industries. I invited Gloria Wu, Chief of Global Ecosystem Partnerships at Ontology Blockchain on to the podcast to discuss their recent partnerships, including: Daimler — In a move set to transform the experience of drivers all over the world, Ontology recently partnered with the Daimler Mobility AG Blockchain Factory, which was set up to bring the benefits of blockchain innovations and applications to the automotive finance and mobility industry. Microworkers — To further their mutual aim of empowering microworkers across the globe, Ontology is collaborating with global freelancing marketplace leader MicroWorkers (MW). Following the initial confirmation of the partnership in February 2020, Ontology recently confirmed the integration of its ONTO Wallet with the MicroWorkers platform, facilitating additional payment options for workers. Binance Smart Chain – In August 2020, Ontology partnered with Binance Smart Chain Adopting its Decentralized Identity Solution for Security Tokenization Offering Projects. OGQ — Ontology joined forces with social creator platform OGQ in a strategic partnership that allows OGQ to leverage the Ontology blockchain to increase copyright protection for its content creators, while also presenting users with a new opportunity to purchase digital asset content using OEP-4 tokens. About Ontology Ontology is a high-performance, public blockchain specializing in decentralized identity and data. Ontology's unique infrastructure supports robust cross-chain collaboration and Layer 2 scalability, offering businesses the flexibility to design a blockchain that suits their needs. With a suite of decentralized identity and data sharing protocols to enhance speed, security, and trust, Ontology's features include ONT ID, a mobile digital ID application and DID used throughout the ecosystem, and DDXF, a decentralized data exchange and collaboration framework.

Mimecast recently released their annual State of Email Security report, which reveals enterprises faced unprecedented cybersecurity risk, including increasing attack volume, the pandemic-driven digital transformation of work, and generally deficient cyber preparedness and training. The Mimecast report revealed that 61% of organizations were infected with ransomware in 2020. It also found that 79% suffered disruption or financial loss due to cyber preparedness shortcomings. Jeremy Ventura, Senior Security Engineer at Mimecast, discusses the report's findings and the current threat landscape along with the problems organizations face today. We also discuss what organizations can do to combat threats like ransomware. Jeremy also talks about the importance of email and web security and security awareness training, which the report highlights a lack of. About Mimecast Mimecast (NASDAQ: MIME) was born in 2003. Each day, they take on cyber disruption for tens of thousands of customers around the globe and never giving up on tackling their biggest security challenges together. The company built an intentional and scalable design ideology that solves the number one cyberattack vector – email. The company continuously invests to thoughtfully integrate brand protection, security awareness training, web security, compliance and other essential capabilities. Mimecast protects large and small organizations from malicious activity, human error and technology failure; and to lead the movement toward building a more resilient world.

For a long time, tech existed in the background. Now, Customers want to do business with innovative companies, making marketing new cutting-edge technology (whether it's for mobile orders, contactless payment or online banking) more important than ever before in order to deepen customer loyalty and get continued buy-in. Dominick Profico, CTO, Mobiquity discusses how technology adoption and the need for contactless tools has led companies to bring their digital offerings to the forefront. We also talk about why this advertising is necessary to see a positive ROI on digital transformation projects and how this tactic can keep brands on the cutting edge of innovation moving forward. Mobiquity is a global digital consulting firm that helps the world's leading brands understand, apply, and engage with technology in meaningful ways. We guide companies through the process of designing and building digital products and services that serve a purpose.

Robin Purohit returns to the podcast to talk about the Peritus Assistant. He reveals how it uses AI to source and rank over 25 million answers, tips, and published content on Stack Overflow, related community, and product vendor forums from previous conversations and reported GitHub issues. I learn how It provides DevOps professionals and application developers with recommendations to help them answer support questions on community and vendor sites. Peritus.ai is a patented cloud-based recommendation engine that provides technical advice when it's needed most. The company's current focus is transforming community forums from best effort to a best-in-class support experience by empowering community users to find and answer questions faster. The Peritus roadmap includes use cases for DevOps self-service and IT Support. The Peritus Assistant, which is available as a free Chrome extension on the Google Chrome Store, is pre-trained with machine learning to empower developers, DevOps engineers, and SREs to answer cloud-native questions.

Rohit Maheshwari, Head of Strategy and Product at Subex, joins me in a conversation about Augmented Analytics and the future of data analytics in enterprises. Augmented Analytics is one of the latest data and analytics trends that is gaining considerable traction. Many organizations have realized the importance of Big Data and its role in decision-making across the business. However, this sheer volume of data available to organizations is making effective interpretation a real challenge. According to Forrester Research, less than 0.5% of all data is ever analyzed and used. In contrast, a mere 12% of enterprise data is used to make decisions. According to IDC Forecast, this will only make it worse with the growth in IoT-connected devices, which is expected to generate 79.4 Zeta Bytes (ZB) of data across 41.6 billion devices. We talk about how leveraging augmented analytics will greatly accelerate transformation projects in enterprises and the typical roadblocks to AI adoption for decision analytics. We also discuss how organizations can adopt augmented analytics technology, including connecting disparate and live data sources, finding relationships within the data, creating visualizations, and helping human users effortlessly share their findings across the entire organization.

The "search engine wars" are heating up. But Google, Yahoo, and Bing are not the only players in the game. One of the fastest-growing search engines in the U.S. is Ecosia (Ecosia.org). Ecosia is an ethical tech and not-for-profit search engine that aims to tackle the climate crisis by planting and protecting trees around the world. As a certified B-Corp, Ecosia joins the ranks of companies like Patagonia, Ben & Jerrys, and Allbirds, who have met the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance. This "eco-friendly" alternative to other search engines can track the number of trees they are planting with their searches, which helps reduce CO2 and the impact of climate change. The company is founded on green principles and has built solar farms that produce enough renewable energy to power its searches twice over. The excess actively removes dirty energy from the grid. Ecosia is also currently the largest financier of native tree restoration in the world. Ecosia is now the fifth-largest search engine in the U.S. and is rapidly adding new users and planting trees. For every 45 searches, Ecosia plants a tree, and it has now planted over 120 million trees across 9,000 planting sites worldwide. Ruby Au (Head of Ecosia North America) shares the story behind Ecosia.

Avi Freedman is the co-founder and CEO of Kentik, a network observability company. He has decades of experience as a technologist, networking executive and is also a professional poker player. Before Kentik, he was at Akamai for over a decade, as VP Network Infrastructure and then Chief Network Scientist. Prior to that, Avi started Philadelphia's first ISP (netaxs) in 1992, later running the network at AboveNet and serving as CTO for ServerCentral. Avi discusses lessons learned throughout his career, including how his poker skills have helped him in the tech industry.

Jingming Li is the former vice president and CTO of Alipay, where he spent seven years helping to build the company which lifted millions of people out of poverty in China. He is now setting his sights on doing the same thing for creators through a new company and service, TrovaPage, Which has already been used by thousands of entrepreneurs to build, market, and bill for services, ranging from yoga instruction to guitar lessons, to small restaurants, to non-profits. While the market for e-commerce solutions for selling products is competitive and mature, it has failed to develop a comprehensive solution for creators that want to easily build, market, and monetize their own business. Current solutions such as Yelp or Fiverr are either too expensive, lack the necessary functionality, or are overly complex for creators to use, and trying to get a handle on all of the CRM, social media, invoicing and bill payment solutions needed to run a business is beyond most small businesses and creators. Jingming discusses why he is motivated to create millions of creator-driven businesses and what he learned at Alibaba and his time under Jack Ma. I also learn how it has helped him drive his innovation at TrovaPage.

Mike Lynch shares his startup story, the idea behind Darktrace, and how we still need to get better at turning ideas in university seminar rooms into saleable products. As an investor and technologist, Mike also shares what sort of ideas and pitches he would like most want to see and how AI will change the legal industry. Dr. Mike Lynch OBE FREng FRS is a celebrated technologist, entrepreneur, and investor. Having founded and lead some of the UK's most successful tech companies, including Autonomy, Blinkx, and Cambridge Neurodynamics, Mike then created Invoke Capital in 2012 to create and support world-leading fundamental tech businesses such as Darktrace and Luminance. Referred to as the UK's answer to Bill Gates, Mike read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, where he also gained a Ph.D. and held a research fellowship in adaptive pattern recognition. He was awarded an OBE for Services to Enterprise in 2006, is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was elected to the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology in 2011.

Dr. Shaka Bahadu, Harvard College, Cornell Medical and Stanford grad, who is the is the COO and co-founder of Cipher Skin. Cipher Skin: Cipher Skin is a data company founded in 2017, built on technology that translates the physical world into actionable insights. Cipher Skin's patented technology, Cipher Mesh, is a network of sensors that can be printed on any textile and wrapped around anything—a person, a pipe, a bridge. This technology captures gapless data and translates it through proprietary software to provide instantaneous, visualized data and diagnostics. Because of Cipher Skin's versatility, there are nearly unlimited applications, from physical therapy and training to continuous monitoring in pipeline management. The brainchild of combat veterans, Cipher Skin has also countless military applications. At its core, however, Cipher Skin melds next-gen hardware and software to help make sense of our complex world. Having recently scored Series A funding last month, Cipher Skin has found great success working with physical therapists, athletes, and in June 2020, the Department of Defense—in which they were awarded a $1.5M contract working directly with soldiers to further develop its product set and assess range of motion during field training. Shaka talks about the future of data technology, and its potential for a variety of industries, in addition to his entrepreneurial journey and what led him to start Cipher Skin with his co-founder and CEO, Philip Bogdanovich.

Varun Talwar, CEO of Tetrate joins me on today's episode in a discussion about advancements in the service mesh sector and the pros and cons of the next generation of cloud networking. I learn how Tetrate is an enterprise-ready service mesh company that is on a mission to connect the world's services and create the next generation of cloud networking. The company's roster includes clients such as, FICO and the DoD. As an industry leader and veteran, Varun has nearly two decades of global experience across the technology sector. Not only is he the co-founder of Tetrate, but he is also the co-creator of the gRPC and Istio projects -- he served as the PM on those projects during his tenure at Google. Varun is passionate about creating a safer and more responsible path to modernization for enterprises.

ART AI is the world's largest gallery of AI-generated art. Our gallery displays thousands of original designs authentically created by artificial intelligence. We embarked on this fascinating expedition to explore how artificial intelligence can generate art that people can emotionally connect with. Since the beginning of time, art has served as a tool for emotional expression. It was used to evoke feelings, inspire ideas, and offer new creative perspectives on the world around us. Following the rise in technological development, new age mediums started to form as extensions of the human mind, opening the gateway to new waves of arts that were never possible before. As passionate believers in both art and technology, the team was greatly intrigued by the idea of developing artificial intelligence that would be able to affect people emotionally while inspiring creativity and innovative thinking. Ben Kovalis, co-founder and CMO at ART AI, joins me on the podcast to discuss how they use artificial intelligence to create one-of-a-kind artworks generated entirely by computer algorithms. Even more incredible, it teaches itself to create more and more mesmerizing pieces over time. I learn how what started as a clever idea has grown past anyone's wildest expectations, captivating artists and art lovers around the world. We discuss how AI-generated art will affect our world and our homes and what it takes to train a computer to generate something that usually takes human artist months.

Gabriel Engel is the CEO and co-founder of Rocket.Chat, the leading open-source team communication platform that allows users to chat securely on the web, desktop, or mobile and offers the choice of both Self-Managed and SaaS options. Rocket.Chat is used by companies and individuals from a variety of sectors ranging from education and technology to financial, non-profit, governmental and public services. Rocket.Chat Marketplace launched in September 2018, enabling users to build, browse and download apps on Rocket.Chat's newest app ecosystem, allowing for easy customization of the platform with a range of plugins, themes and integrations with other key software. Gabriel founded Rocket.Chat in 2015 and is passionate about collaboration tools, open-source and new tech. Prior to Rocket.Chat, Gabriel co-founded Konecty, and worked as Product Manager for Business Innovation and Mobile Applications at Vodafone Global Enterprise. Gabriel's long-term vision for Rocket.Chat is to replace email with a real-time federated communications platform. Watch this space! We discuss the death of email and the rise of chat platforms. We also explore what the future of work and the successes of a distributed workforce might look like. Finally, we tackle big topics around WFH, security, privacy, control, and the value of Open source communication.

Twenty years ago, fleet managers provided drivers with paper maps and driver scorecards and wished them well on their delivery. Today, fleet managers and drivers have taken on an entirely new role: technology professional. With advanced telematics tracking solutions and the development of AI and machine learning in recent years, those in the fleet world have become innovators and adapters in their own right, using new technology to optimize routes, IoT for preventative maintenance, and AI video monitoring technology to capture a driver's every move to keep them as safe as possible. IntelliShift, a connected vehicle, and asset management solution, has been around for two decades of this transformation through their parent company, VTS, and has seen first-hand how driver behavior monitoring solutions like their AI Video has led to fewer accidents and lives saved. John Cunningham, founder, and CEO of IntelliShift (and VTS), discusses how roles have drastically changed in fleet management over the last twenty years he's been CEO. He also shares how customer behaviors have shifted with this transformation and the futuristic tech he foresees taking center stage in fleet management – think virtual reality and electric vehicles.

E-commerce technology has never been hotter. Marcus Startzel can joins me on the podcast to discuss the future of the direct-to-consumer market, data-driven marketing for brands, and more. Marcus is a trusted and experienced executive leader with a track record of driving growth for several technology-centric organizations for more than 20 years. As CEO of Whitebox, a Baltimore-based company dedicated to being an end-to-end e-commerce technology partner, Marcus helps brands and manufacturers maneuver the challenges and find success within the modern-day marketplace. Under Marcus' leadership, Whitebox raised a Seed Round of $2.6 Million in 2017, a Series A investment of $7 Million in 2019, and a Series B funding round of $18 million in 2020. Marcus is no stranger to driving growth for companies, having been a senior leader with several organizations leading up to and during their IPO or acquisition. Before joining Whitebox, Marcus served in various senior leadership roles within AppNexus, a cloud-based software platform that enabled and optimized programmatic online advertising, ultimately helping lead efforts in their 2018 $1.6B acquisition by AT&T. Marcus joined AppNexus through its acquisition of MediaGlu, a cross-device technology company where he served as chairman and CEO. Through 2020 when the global pandemic had forced millions of people indoors, online shopping grew 44%, representing 21% of total retail sales - the highest growth ever recorded. This explosive industry growth has helped Whitebox see impressive growth of their own: revenue in 2020 grew more than 300% year-over-year; the company also reports that direct-to-consumer shipments grew more than 300% over the first half of 2020 and had 141% growth year-over-year from 2018 to 2019. Additionally, as a partner in brands' entire e-commerce journey - from factory floor to customers' front door - Whitebox has invested in expanding its warehouse real estate; in 2020 the company moved its headquarters to a larger space in Baltimore, taking over a 365,000-square-foot space that previously served as an Under Armour distribution center. With this move and expansive growth in Las Vegas and Memphis, Whitebox now occupies nearly 900,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space. As a technology and fulfillment partner within the e-commerce marketplace, Whitebox works with large established brands such as McCormick & Company, Ricola, and French's, as well as challenger and established digital-native brands such as Super Coffee, Roar Organics, Made Good, and ChicoBag. Whitebox's growth has helped the company of 125 employees secure several industry awards, including being named "Best in Tech" 2020 by the Baltimore Business Journal and "Growth Company of the Year" by Technical.ly. Marcus was also recognized by E-Commerce Weekly as a 2020 Top 100 Influencer in E-Commerce.

Kathy Hannun is the co-founder and President of Dandelion Energy, the largest residential geothermal company in the United States. Dandelion transitions homeowners from fossil-fueled to geothermal heating and cooling using their custom geothermal drilling suite and Dandelion Air heat pump. Before founding Dandelion, Hannun was a Rapid Evaluator at X, Alphabet's innovation lab, where she focused on finding "Moonshots," i.e business opportunities to harness technology for large-scale positive impact. She initiated Dandelion as an X project and then launched it into an independent startup company in May 2017. Dandelion has since raised millions in funding from top venture capitalists, set a new standard for geothermal quality and cost- effectiveness, and empowered homeowners to avoid over 100 million pounds of carbon emissions and counting. In February 2021, Dandelion announced a $30M Series B funding round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The company has partnered with Con Edison utility to promote heat pumps as an alternative to natural gas heating and successfully advocated for increased policy support for heat pumps throughout the Northeast. In addition, Dandelion has increased public awareness of the benefits of ground source heat pumps through stories in publications media such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fast Company, WIRED, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch and many others. Hannun has been recognized as a TED Fellow, a DOE C2E Award recipient, one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business, and as one of MIT Technology Review's "35 under 35." She graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an M.S. in Computer Science.

BandLab is where musicians and music fans worldwide can come together to make, collaborate on, and share music. The platform offers an easy, all-in-one solution for the modern social musician. It is wholly owned by BandLab Technologies and is the flagship digital product in the organization's portfolio of music experience brands. BandLab combines music-making and collaboration tools, like the world's first cross-platform DAW with social features like video sharing, messaging, and discovery. In 2017 it launched a hardware division dedicated to producing affordable, high-quality audio hardware. Since 2015, BandLab's mission has been to break down the technical, geographic, and creative barriers between creators, collaborators and the music community. BandLab has empowered more than 30 million registered users to date. Meng Ru Kuok and his team of elite music tech aficionados have continued to bring innovative ideas to BandLab, and will continue to see growth over the next few quarters, and beyond. After hearing that BandLab is currently matching established player GarageBand in new mobile downloads, I invited him onto the podcast to find out more.

Jonathon Hensley is CEO & chief creative officer of Emerge. His passion for designing and developing digital products and services and gaining support from the critical audiences involved in their inception and growth led to the authoring of his latest book entitled, Alignment. Growing up in Silicon Valley at the onset of the digital evolution transformed his life. Jonathon's fascination with the digital world and how people engage with technology led him to pursue his passion in the industry for over 20 years. Over the last two years, he met with over 50 industry insiders, organizational leaders, product managers, designers, and engineers as he delved into my work, research, and writing on Alignment. Alignment in product transformation encompasses four levels; individual, team, organizational, and market. Understanding these levels is paramount to moving your organization through product transformation. Part one of the book focuses on what Alignment is, and why it's so critical to the success of digital product and business transformation. Part two provides a straightforward, honest look at why so many digital product and transformation initiatives fail or underperform. Part three explores what leading with Alignment looks like today. It sheds light on the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary to build teams to navigate the digital product life cycle and transformation. Part four reveals the baseline from which every successful digital product initiative must start and the elements and guiding forces that make up a strategic foundation. Finally, part five explores the connection between your digital product strategy and team performance, rapidly accelerating the delivery of results.

Craig Lawrence and Neal Dikeman recently founded Energy Transition Ventures. Backed by two operating companies from the GS Group of Korea, the new fund Energy Transition Ventures (ETV) will focus on investing in renewable energy with a focus on network, computing, and intelligence technologies impacting and enabling the energy sector as it works towards decarbonization. Craig Lawrence joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his story and Energy Transition Ventures mission. I learn how they are focussing on how network, computing, and intelligence technologies can enable the energy sector as it works towards decarbonization. Craig previously held venture capital roles at Accel Partners and senior executive positions at leading companies driving the energy transition. Roles included Vice President of Products at energy analytics software startup Treverity, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at SolarBridge Technologies - one of the leading residential solar inverter manufacturers (acquired by NASDAQ:SPWR), and General Manager of Residential Solar at SunEdison, one of the pioneers in solar project development and financing.