Tech Talks Daily
Neil C. Hughes
If every company is now a tech company and digital transformation is a journey rather than a destination, how do you keep up with the relentless pace of technological change?
Every day, Tech Talks Daily brings you insights from the brightest minds in tech, business, and innovation, breaking down complex ideas into clear, actionable takeaways.
Hosted by Neil C. Hughes, Tech Talks Daily explores how emerging technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, fintech, quantum computing, Web3, and more are shaping industries and solving real-world challenges in modern businesses.
Through candid conversations with industry leaders, CEOs, Fortune 500 executives, startup founders, and even the occasional celebrity, Tech Talks Daily uncovers the trends driving digital transformation and the strategies behind successful tech adoption. But this isn't just about buzzwords.
We go beyond the hype to demystify the biggest tech trends and determine their real-world impact. From cybersecurity and blockchain to AI sovereignty, robotics, and post-quantum cryptography, we explore the measurable difference these innovations can make.
Whether improving security, enhancing customer experiences, or driving business growth, we also investigate the ROI of cutting-edge tech projects, asking the tough questions about what works, what doesn't, and how businesses can maximize their investments.
Whether you're a business leader, IT professional, or simply curious about technology's role in our lives, you'll find engaging discussions that challenge perspectives, share diverse viewpoints, and spark new ideas.
New episodes are released daily, 365 days a year, breaking down complex ideas into clear, actionable takeaways around technology and the future of business.
Every day, Tech Talks Daily brings you insights from the brightest minds in tech, business, and innovation, breaking down complex ideas into clear, actionable takeaways.
Hosted by Neil C. Hughes, Tech Talks Daily explores how emerging technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, fintech, quantum computing, Web3, and more are shaping industries and solving real-world challenges in modern businesses.
Through candid conversations with industry leaders, CEOs, Fortune 500 executives, startup founders, and even the occasional celebrity, Tech Talks Daily uncovers the trends driving digital transformation and the strategies behind successful tech adoption. But this isn't just about buzzwords.
We go beyond the hype to demystify the biggest tech trends and determine their real-world impact. From cybersecurity and blockchain to AI sovereignty, robotics, and post-quantum cryptography, we explore the measurable difference these innovations can make.
Whether improving security, enhancing customer experiences, or driving business growth, we also investigate the ROI of cutting-edge tech projects, asking the tough questions about what works, what doesn't, and how businesses can maximize their investments.
Whether you're a business leader, IT professional, or simply curious about technology's role in our lives, you'll find engaging discussions that challenge perspectives, share diverse viewpoints, and spark new ideas.
New episodes are released daily, 365 days a year, breaking down complex ideas into clear, actionable takeaways around technology and the future of business.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 5, 2022 • 32min
1997: ID.Me Startup Story: From Army Ranger to Founder of an Identity Verification Unicorn
Blake Hall is a former Army ranger who turned his vision of helping veterans into ID.me, the leading digital identity verification company. Blake has grown his company from 21 employees into a $1.5 billion entity. I invited him on Tech Talks Daily to share his tech startup story and learn more about the innovative technology changing how Americans identify themselves online by: We discuss how they are eliminating identity fraud and the $56 billion consumers lost to it in 2020. We also discuss reducing bias and opening access to online services for Americans in underserved communities. Finally, Blake shares how he built ID.me into a unicorn from his initial VC pitch to passing the $1billion valuation mark and how his military background helped him navigate the business world.
Jun 4, 2022 • 19min
1996: Standardising IoT Technology to Make Smart Cities Scalable and Connected.
Wi‑SUN Alliance® is a global industry association devoted to seamless connectivity. They seek to promote certified standards that coordinate various wireless systems and standardize power levels, data rates, modulations, and frequency bands, among other variables. Through technology development, market building, and regulatory programs, Wi-SUN Alliance supports the worldwide development of Wireless Communications Networks for Utilities, Smart Cities, and IoT. Phil Beecher, President and CEO of Wi-SUN Alliance, joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his story and mission to accelerate the implementation of smart cities, smart utilities, smart grids and other large-scale outdoor Internet of Things (IoT) applications by enabling the global adoption of interoperable solutions based on open standards. Since 1997, Phil has played a key role in developing communications standards, including Bluetooth, WiFi, and IEEE, and the specification of test plans for many Smart Utilities Network standards. We discuss how IoT is transforming cities and the technology making it happen. We also talk about how smart networks enable other applications, such as smart traffic signals, public transit signs, parking spaces, and electric vehicle charging stations. Finally, we explore how smart cities benefit businesses and residents.
Jun 3, 2022 • 22min
1995: F5 - How Hybrid Work is Driving a Shift to Identity-Centric Security
When it comes to hybrid work, debates continue to rage about who should decide where employees work on any given day and how many days they should be in the office. But, the notion of a fully hybrid workforce has been accepted across those industries that can support it. However, the implementation details of a hybrid work model aren't as important as a result: there will be employees working from home and from the office every day of the week. Hybrid work is the new default. And this promises to have a profound impact on the future of access strategies. F5 application services ensure that applications are secure and perform the way they should—in any environment and on any device. But in today's episode, Lori MacVittie from F5 joins me in a conversation about how hybrid work is driving a shift to identity-centric security. Lori MacVittie is a Principal Technical Evangelist at the Office of the CTO at F5. She has extensive development and technical architecture experience in both high-tech and enterprise organizations. She also serves on the Board of Regents for the DevOps Institute and CloudNOW, and has been named one of the top influential women in DevOps. We discuss IP-based access and how traditional IP-based technologies rely primarily on a fixed set of network ranges and addresses, but why identity is the way and how the security challenges associated with hybrid work are accretive to those arising from the rapid pace of digitization. We also talk about the importance of expanding our understanding of identity beyond people to the workloads, applications, and devices we increasingly rely on.
Jun 2, 2022 • 38min
1994: Recruitment Tech - Securing Business-Critical Talent in Technology
Giancarlo Hirsch from Phaidon International's Glocomms brand joins me in a conversation around securing business-critical talent in technology. We discuss the intricacies of recruiting in the tech space right now, including the most lucrative positions and insights from both the candidates and companies on what they are looking for. We also talk about bringing humanity back into recruiting and why it's more than just a numbers game while also busting a few myths and misconceptions of recruiting in the tech industry.
Jun 1, 2022 • 28min
1993: The Creator of Creator of PowerDirector, PhotoDirector, PowerDVD, and FaceMe AI solutions.
Seamlessly monitoring people's temperatures in real time was essential during the height of the pandemic, so Jau Huang took his award-winning photo editing AI tools and adapted them into a COVID health monitoring solution deployed in hotels, malls, and workplaces across the US. Jau Huang is the Founder and CEO of CyberLink, a company that's grown from a small startup into an international powerhouse for multimedia products and facial recognition tools for private businesses. Originally, Huang developed a popular virtual makeup applicator called YouCam, and then transformed it into a facial recognition software called FaceMe that could pair with temperature cameras for accurate identification and health monitoring of subjects, even when masked. The solution consistently ranks as one of the most accurate in the world. On the podcast, Jau shares his journey to adapting his tech for health monitoring and discusses how AI is transforming industries including banking, retail, and employee management.
May 31, 2022 • 30min
1992: Peter Wang - Co-Founder and CEO of Anaconda
Peter Wang is a veteran software developer turned co-founder and CEO of Anaconda, which brought the programming language Python to the mainstream for business data analysis. Anaconda's open-source data science solution helps organizations mitigate bias, deploy deep learning models using neural networks, and predict numerous current business challenges, such as customer churn, consumer demand levels, stock prices, maintenance needs and outage probabilities. Anaconda also partners with some of the world's largest tech organizations, including IBM, Red Hat, Snowflake, AWS, and Intel. Peter shares his story on Tech Talks Daily and discusses why bias in data, AI and ML should be an enterprise priority right now. I also learn how Anaconda and the open-source community is responding to the Russian-Ukraine crisis and the importance of mentorship in an ever-changing field like data science.
May 30, 2022 • 32min
1991: Meet Infobip, The First Croatian Company to Reach Unicorn Status.
Ivan Ostojic was recently named Chief Business Officer of Infobip, the Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) which, in 2020, became the first Croatian company to reach unicorn status. In the past 12 months alone, over 5 billion people have used Infobip solutions and services. Ivan joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share the story behind the company. We discuss the new Adobe partnership and how the company introduced SMS and WhatsApp messaging for Adobe Commerce customers. This means customers can get real-time alerts via texts or WhatsApp with information related to stock levels, personalized special offers, and order tracking, adding value to the Adobe Commerce experience. We also discuss how Infobip recently secured funding of $500m, advised by Morgan Stanley and led by funds managed by the Credit Group of Ares Management Corporation and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. We also explore several macro trends in the API market, the rise of CPaaS, the unicorn effect, and more.
May 29, 2022 • 29min
1990: John Reeves, Managing Director of Viasat UK
Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything can be connected. That's why they are building the ultimate communications network, to enable great, global connectivity to be brought to where it's needed and wanted most: to homes all over the world, to faraway communities, to warfighters on the battlefield, and to people in the air or at sea — to name a few. John Reeves, Managing Director of Viasat UK joins me on Tech Talks Daily. John discusses the need for better technology development using third parties within the public sector and connectivity. More specifically, we explore a fresh approach to technology development. With MI6 recently outlining plans to use technology developed by outside companies for the first time, John shares why the Government and bodies such as the MoD need to perform the same cultural shift. John also expands on how and why using commercial technology can, with the right approach and controls in place, offer more opportunities to innovate, adapt and develop the best capabilities against the rise of increasingly advanced and sophisticated adversaries. After all, ultimately it's all about getting tech into the hands of people in the field. John also outlines the importance of a hybrid approach, using a combination of technologies to deliver end users the connectivity and services they need. After all, the person on the ground – whether armed personnel, paramedics, or someone living in a remote village – doesn't care how their service arrives. They just care that it arrives.
May 28, 2022 • 42min
1989: How Tech is Elevating People, Companies, and Communities.
Anthony Hughes is the co-founder and CEO of Tech Elevator, a 14 to 30-weeks coding bootcamp that teaches students in-demand tech skills that can lead to meaningful careers in the tech industry. After reading that 2,300 students have graduated from Tech Elevator, with 90% of whom secured tech positions at companies within 6 months, I felt compelled to find out more about the story behind the company. Anthony has been nominated twice for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2020 and 2021). Before starting Tech Elevator, he was the President of the Software Craftsmanship Guild, another fast-paced program that teaches the skills required for a tech career which Learning House acquired in April 2015. In today's episode of Tech Talks Daily, Anthony shares his story. He discusses how Covid-19 has accelerated the need for a digital workforce and why anyone thinking of joining the tech industry should do it now as the career leap will be worth it. We also talk about how the modern-day coding bootcamps are helping companies meet the enormous demand for tech talent.
May 27, 2022 • 35min
1988: The VC firm Supporting Exceptional Founders on their Extraordinary Journeys
Itxaso Del Palacio, Partner of VC fund Notion Capital joins me on Tech Talks Daily. Notion is a European VC fund in the B2B SaaS and Cloud space with more than $700m in assets under management. Having made 80+ investments to date, the Notion team founded, built, and exited two highly successful SaaS businesses – Star and MessageLabs – and today invests exclusively in exceptional founders with the ambition to build global category leaders. The fund's investments include Go-Cardless, Paddle, Currencycloud, and Tradeshift. Notion is also the founding fund of Included VC, the venture capital fellowship for individuals from diverse and overlooked communities from around the world. But I wanted to learn more about Itxaso's unconventional journey to the VC world, which includes a decade of classical ballet, working on the assembly line at DaimlerChrysler, a Masters in Engineering, and, ultimately, a PhD in Entrepreneurship. Once she turned her hand fully to VC investing, since 2010, she moved to London and has invested in more than a dozen businesses in the last 12 years. She has also taught entrepreneurship to around 2,000 students at University College London and Imperial College. And before joining Notion, she spearheaded the European launch of Microsoft Ventures and led investments in Onfido, Beamery, and Unbabel. In the episode, we discuss why there is no one route to entering the VC industry and how product-led growth will be the key to the expansion, explosion, and even domination of European software companies globally. Itxaso also shares what traits she looks for in founders and what the best founders do to blow away investors beyond their entrepreneurial vision.
