Tech Talks Daily

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.