Danielle Newnham Podcast

Today’s episode is a special one as it is my very first LIVE recording of the podcast which took place last month with the one and only Chris Anderson of TED.

Recorded at the stunning Kindred in London, it was such a special evening and a delight to have so many fans of the podcast and Chris in the audience.

In this episode, we discuss Chris’ childhood, growing up with missionary parents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the huge professional peaks and lows of running a publishing company through the dot com crash. We also discuss how he came to acquire TED and his new book Infectious Generosity – The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading?

The overriding question we try to answer is, Can we outweigh the overwhelming negativity online by making kindness go viral?

…But a quick word about today’s sponsor before we get into the conversation. This episode is sponsored by Youll - This platform revolutionises how you connect with your audience and secure recurring revenue, through a subscription-based app tailored just for you and your community.

If you use social media for work, you will know that this week, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn all went down for millions of users, which is a nightmare for anyone with a large community. That’s why I am looking at building a community on Youll – whether you’re a content creator, coach, trainer or entrepreneur, Youll makes it easy for you to build your all-in-one branded app, giving you direct access to your community and revenue via its subscription model.

Want to try it today? Sign up for a FREE demo here

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Chris on Twitter / Instagram

Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading - buy here

Infectious Generosity site here

Kindred website

Danielle on Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter / Sponsorship

Try Youll FREE today here

Today’s guest is Tamiko Thiel – lead product designer of The Connection Machine – a revolutionary massively parallel artificial intelligence supercomputer which was developed in the 1980s. Originally conceived by Danny Hillis from MIT’s artificial intelligence lab where he was studying under Marvin Minsky, Danny got an incredibly talented team together including Richard Feynman, Brewster Kale, Tamiko, and others to create what would become the fastest and most effective supercomputer of the time. And it’s this part of her career that we focus on today.

However, Tamiko went on to become a pioneering digital artist who has worked in the realm of virtual reality for the past thirty years, starting in 1994 when she worked with Steven Spielberg on the Starbright World project where they created an online interactive 3D virtual world for seriously ill children.

Tamiko also received a Bachelor of Science degree in Product Design Engineering, from Stanford University in 1979 and received a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 1983, with a focus on human-machine design and computer graphics, as well as a diploma from the Academy of fine arts in Munich, Germany. 

In today’s conversation we dig deep into that special time in history when all the so-called experts said what Danny, Tamiko and co. were working on at Thinking Machines couldn’t be done and where… they proved them all wrong.

Enjoy!

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Image of Tamiko copyright Tamiko Thiel

Tamiko website / LinkedIn /  Instagram

I am not on social media this year but stay in touch via my Newsletter / YouTube

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Tamiko in London March 2024

The Travels of Mariko Horo interactive virtual reality installation
By Tamiko Thiel, 2006/2017, with original music by Ping Jin

In "GLoW: ILLUMINATING INNOVATION"
Bush House Arcade, King's College, Strand, London
Exhibition: 08 March - 20 April 2024

Panel and opening event: 07 March, 6:30pm
Location: Great Hall, King's Building, Strand, King's College London

The CM-1 t-shirt and Tamiko's Travels of Mariko Horo mesh top will be shown in the following, with information on how to order them (from my web shops: http://tamikothiel.com/cm/cm-tshirt.html)

Curiosity Cabinet, King's College
171 Strand/Corner of Surrey St., London
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/curiosity-cabinet-showcases-antiquities-and-oddities-on-the-strand

Today’s guest is the one and only Stephen Wolfram - a physicist, mathematician, computer scientist and entrepreneur He is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, the creator of Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha and Wolfram Language, The Wolfram Physics Project and the author of bestselling A New Kind of Science among many other books.

A visionary polymath, Stephen published his first scientific paper at age 15, received his PhD in theoretical physics soon after his 20th birthday and became the youngest recipient of the Macarthur Fellowship Genius grant at age 21.

Over the course of his career which spans more than four decades, he has been a pioneer in the development and application of computational thinking, and has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions, and innovations in the fields of science and technology.

In this episode, we discuss his childhood, how he might reimagine education, the process of undertaking ambitious, long-term innovation projects, why he works in public and the surprising advice he would offer a younger Stephen.

I really enjoyed talking to Stephen and I think you will learn a lot from this episode. 

Enjoy!

Stephen Wolfram website / Twitter 

I am not on social media this year but stay in touch via my Newsletter / YouTube

Today’s guest is Riva Tez -  a philosopher, curious thinker, intellect, investor and one of my favourite people  on the internet. 

She studied Philosophy at UCL before digging deeper into technology and engineering and starting the Berlin Singularity.

She went on to co-found Permutation Ventures — an early stage VC fund which focused on AI startups and, she has also worked with Jim Keller at Intel as Senior Director for Strategic Technology Initiatives.

Whilst at university, Riva started a toy shop in Notting Hill where she encouraged her young clientele to become mini entrepreneurs and philosophers.

In this episode, Riva and I discuss how she got into crypto early, the link as she sees it, between mania and genius, cancel culture and what keeps her up at night. 

I really enjoyed talking to Riva and I think you will get a lot from this episode so here is my conversation with Riva Tez.

Enjoy!

Riva on Twitter / Instagram

I am not on social media this year but stay in touch via my Newsletter / YouTube

Mentioned in this episode:

The Madness of Genius

Riva essay on Pathogens here

Every Angel is Terrifying

Praxis

Balaji's Network State

My 2021 interview with Riva here

Today’s guest is Joe Macleod – designer, founder and author, former Head of Design at the award-winning digital product studio Ustwo, which brought the world the hit Monument Valley game.

At ustwo, Joe helped build a globally awarded team, working with the world’s favourite brands on the most pioneering of products but he now focuses his energy on product endings and improving that experience for consumers and has written two books on the subjects – Ends and Endineering which we discuss in today’s episode.

I have wanted to have Joe on the podcast for years now, after the first time I heard him talking about this concept of endings and how overlooked they are. In this conversation, we look at our rich history with endings starting with religion moving through to the plague, the industrial revolution, our over zealous consumerism and even cancel culture.

It seemed fitting to end 2023 with this episode for obvious reasons but I really enjoyed this conversation and think you will too. 

Joe on Twitter / LinkedIn / Ends site / Instagram / Endineering for Businesses website

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Substack Newsletter / YouTube

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Below are some links to Joe's courses and books including special 25% discount codes for Danielle Newnham Podcast listeners!

Course here Starts 30th Jan 2024
Discount Code: 25offendscohort

BOOKS

The Endineering book on Amazon

Endineering eBook
Discount code: RN25W

Ends book on Amazon
Ends eBook
Discount code: EB55V

Today’s episode is going to be a little bit different as it is actually a podcast episode where I appeared as a guest as opposed to a host and I am sharing it here because I think you will find it useful. 

The podcast is called Digital Europe: Now and Beyond which is about European tech entrepreneurship and innovation and is hosted by serial Spanish entrepreneur Pau Garcia-Mila. In the episode you’re about to listen Pau talks to myself and South American but Ireland-based founder Alejandro Gutierrez, co-founder and CEO of Defactor Labs, a blockchain-based credit marketplace that links financiers with investors seeking opportunities in DeFi, about what it’s like to start a startup in Europe vs the USA including access to funding and networks, as well as why I believe in founders seeking out communities and networks at the beginning of their startup journeys, why we should be highlighting more female founders, and what Europe has to offer founders today vs the landscape here just ten or even twenty years ago.

The episode has a lovely international flavour and isn’t focused on just silicon valley like many tech podcasts usually are and I think you will find some useful lessons in here so please do enjoy it.

This episode features host Pau Garcia-MilaPau Garcia-Mila and guest Alejandro Gutierrez.

Original episode and Digital Europe podcast can be found here.

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Substack Newsletter / YouTube

With special thanks to Hauwei

Today’s guest is Nicki Sprinz, co-founder of Ada’s List  (A digital global network of over 150,000+ women and non-binary in tech) and Group Managing Director of ustwo’s studios – London, Malmö, New York, Tokyo and Lisbon. For those who don’t know, ustwo is a digital product studio with top name clients such Google, Meta, DeepMind, Samsung, and Peloton to name a few. Ustwo games also created the Apple award-winning Monument Valley game.

But do you know what is really unique about ustwo which was founded by best friends Mills and Sinx almost twenty years ago now? I will tell you – it is employee-owned and B Corp certified. A hugely successful global studio that is completely independent and owned by its employees and one that puts its core values front and centre.

In this episode, Nicki and I discuss what those ustwo values are, what makes the studio special and how they look after their staff with mental health first aiders and more. But we also discuss Nicki’s childhood from attending the very same convent I did where the nuns thought nothing of hitting you for getting advanced work wrong and what that taught her about how she wants to lead to the two serious illnesses which impacted her formative years.

This is a really human story of one woman who overcame the odds to lead one of the world’s leading studios.

So please enjoy my conversation with Nicki Sprinz.

Nicki Twitter /  Newsletter / ustwo / Ada's List

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Substack Newsletter / YouTube

Image of Nicki by Alex Cameron

Today’s guest is Sean Dadashi, co-founder of Rosebud. Born to Iranian parents who emigrated to the US after the revolution in 1979, Sean grew up in Los Angeles and was on a path of studying mechanical engineering before he switched courses after a year to study Cognitive Science with a minor in Computer Science.

He then became a CTO before starting his own company - Somatic Studios in 2016 – where he used his passion for both tech and wellbeing to experiment with ideas including a web app that provided a health and wellness index for over 160 cities across 6 continents.

The studio also developed VR experiences to teach pain management patients mindfulness and somatic therapy techniques. After Somatic, Sean then joined up with Chrys Bader, who you may have heard of because he previously co-founded several startups including Treehouse and Secret. Together, Sean and Chris have created Rosebud – the number one AI-powered journal for mental health and personal growth and a product I highly recommend. Try it yourself for FREE here.

In this conversation, Sean and I discuss the loneliness epidemic, the importance of good mental health, his passion for helping others, and how he has always leaned towards the marriage of psychology and the human mind with technology and his passion for creating things, which ultimately led to Rosebud.

I really enjoyed this discussion and think you will too.

Sean Dadashi / Rosebud

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Substack Newsletter / YouTube

Today, I wanted to close out Series 11 with a recap of the wonderful guests we have had on – from Mike Slade and James Vincent who both worked for many years with Steve Jobs, VC James Wise of Balderton Capital, Josh Dahn who set up a school with Elon Musk, pioneering tech entrepreneur Dame Stephanie Shirley, Kindred founder Anna Anderson, Google Developer Advocate Kelsey Hightower and Syreeta Challinger who taught us about the importance of storytelling and how to cope after trauma.

That’s something us founders don’t talk much about… how to cope better, whether it’s trauma, which drives so many of us, or the pain of simply building a startup with all the obstacles that comes with it.

One action I have found helpful is journaling – and I have just started using Rosebud which makes it easy for anyone to build and maintain an impactful journaling practice.

The number one AI-powered journaling app for mental health and personal growth, I have been using Rosebud for a week now and have already found clarity on some sticky situations, partly because instead of just writing my issues down in a physical journal, I am able to tell Rosebud what the issue is and then the app prompts me to go deeper which causes me to reflect more before offering some surprisingly good solutions which have helped me both in my personal and work life.

I now do this practice every day – setting my morning intention for the day and then an evening reflection, and I have found it has made me happier and more productive for four simple reasons. 1. I have to set my intentions by typing them into Rosebud at the beginning of the day which helps me to visualise my day – you’ll be surprised how useful that can be. 2. It forces me to set my priorities for the day and make them front and centre. 3. It urges me to note what obstacles I have to overcome that day which encourages me not to shy away from them and 4. Rosebud is able to take what I say are my priorities and my obstacles and then offer practical solutions with warm advice – like a friendly therapist guiding me through my day. In fact, due to the speed at which Rosebud responds to my issues with extremely wise and human-like advice, it’s hard to believe I don’t actually have a human therapist responding to me in real time!

Like I said, I am a big fan of Rosebud - I think it’s brilliant and I think you will like it too. So, if you want to try it out yourself, click the link here and try it for free.

Enjoy!

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Substack Newsletter

Original Episodes:

Mike Slade

Dame Stephanie Shirley

James Wise

Anna Anderson

Josh Dahn

Syreeta Challinger

Kelsey Hightower

James Vincent

Today’s guest is James Wise – a Partner at Balderton Capital and author of Start-Up Century: Why we're all becoming entrepreneurs - and how we can make it work for everyone, which we will discuss in today’s episode.

James grew up in Manchester among a community of business owners and inspired by them has spent his career surrounded by, helping and investing in entrepreneurs. 

Balderton Capital, where James is Partner, is a venture capital firm in London was one of the first to focus on investing in European startups and to date has raised over $4.5 billion and invested in over 250 European startups, many of which have gone on to do extremely well.

James’ focus as an investor is on artificial intelligence, sustainability and health tech and he is a board member and observer on multiple portfolio companies, including Sophia Genetics (which is listed on the Nasdaq), Depop which was acquired by Etsy for $1.6 billion, and many other including some which went on to be sold to Amazon and Epic Games.

Prior to joining Balderton, James also helped to launch and run one of the UK’s first social venture funds and he is also a member of the UK Government’s Industrial Development Advisory Board.

In this episode, we learn more about James’ background, how his future path was unknown and why he believes in the rise of entrepreneurship as a power for good. We discuss what he looks for in a founder and why Balderton set up its Founder Wellbeing and Performance Platform - treating its founders like elite athletes who benefit from keeping an eye on health and wellness whilst undertaking an often gruelling entrepreneurial life.

We also talk about his book Start-Up Century and thanks to our friends at Bloomsbury Publishing, we have a special discount for listeners - you can buy the book at a discount here by adding discount code DANIELLE30 at checkout.

Enjoy!

James on Twitter / Start-Up Century / Balderton

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

Today’s guest is Kelsey Hightower, a distinguished engineer and developer advocate at Google and speaker known for his work with Kubernetes, open source software and cloud computing.

As a curious and motivated self-learner, Kelsey dropped out of College and taught himself the skills required to start his career as an independent contractor for BellSouth – a telecoms company in Atlanta helping the community to get online. From there, Kelsey set up his own business – an electronics store before becoming involved in the open source world, working at New Relic, CoreOS, Puppet Labs, and most recently at Google.

A self-taught developer, Kelsey’s work on Kubernetes and at Google, from which he just retired, is well-known* so I wanted to focus our conversation on his life - how he got into tech, his love of learning, what drives him, what it means to be hopeful and the one piece of advice he would offer a younger Kelsey.

I know I am not meant to have favourites – these conversations are like children - but I have to say this is up there with one of my most loved conversations. I learned so much from Kelsey and I think you will too.

Enjoy!

Kelsey on Twitter

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

Photo of Kelsey is part of the Faces of Open Source Project by Peter Adams

*If you want to learn more about Kelsey's work history, give this episode  from Ardan Labs a listen.

What does the future of education look like? This is a question I have pondered for the last ten years or so and today’s guest - Josh Dahn – has the answer. 

Eight years ago, Josh Dahn was teaching Elon Musk’s kids at Mirman – a private school for highly gifted children in LA when Elon approached him about rethinking the traditional education model. Josh jumped at the opportunity and in today’s episode, Josh talks me through that first meeting with Elon and how they worked together to found the Ad Astra school based at SpaceX. 

Based at the SpaceX site, it was a school where the children weren’t separated out by year group or grades as you say in the US, but instead, the education matched the aptitude of the children, and the education was focused around problem solving and teaching to the problem, as opposed teaching to the tools.

Josh went on to co-found Synthesis which is an innovative online school, helping students to prepare for the future by getting them engaged and excited about complexity and solving for the unknown. 

Josh is Founder and Executive Director of Astra Nova School (previously Ad Astra) in Los Angeles.

Enjoy!

NB This interview was recorded in August of last year and first appeared in Series 4 of the podcast.

Josh  Twitter 

Synthesis website / Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

Episode edited by Jolin Cheng

Today’s guest is James Vincent who spent eleven years working directly with Steve Jobs to help build Apple’s narrative for some of its hugely ground-breaking products including the iPod, iPhone, iTunes, App Store and iPad.

He also founded and was CEO of Media Arts Lab which was a bespoke agency working exclusively for Apple and is host of Fast Company's Innovation in Leaders Podcast.

A master storyteller, James is now Founder and CEO of FNDR - an agency which works with game changing entrepreneurs such as Brian Chesky of Airbnb and Evan Spiegel of Snap to help them harness the immense power of an intentional narrative to bring voice to their vision. 

In this episode, James and I discuss what he was like growing up and how he felt like an outsider to getting the call to come and work with Steve and what was the greatest lesson he learned from him.

I found this to be a really insightful conversation and a first-hand glimpse into what it was like working at Apple with both Steve and legends like Jony Ive on campaigns for some of the most iconic products of recent times. I think you will really enjoy it too.

James Vincent on Twitter / FNDR / Leaders in Innovation Podcast 

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Substack Newsletter
 

Mentioned in this episode:

Apple's Mother Nature ad

Apple's iPod Silhouette campaign

Leaders in Innovation Podcast 

Today’s guest is Anna Anderson, founder of Kindred – a co-working and events space in West London, beloved by founders and creatives alike.

Anna Anderson spent her career in social work before founding Kindred in 2019 to help forge human connection between founders. Her goal with Kindred is to create a space that feels inclusive and provides fellow founders and small businesses with the community they need to thrive.

In this conversation, we discuss all things community from how communities have evolved over time to what is needed in a post-pandemic world, how Kindred survived the pandemic and Anna also opens up about her childhood, religion and losing her sister tragically as well as how she sought joy following that grave loss. This is the post I mention in the episode from father Chris Anderson after Zoe's passing.

Anna believes very much in the power of community and is optimistic about our ability as founders to shape the future for the better and it’s this level of optimism and heart that we need right now.

So, please enjoy my conversation with Anna Anderson.

Kindred website / Instagram / Anna on LinkedIn

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Substack Newsletter

Today, we’re doing things a little bit differently because I felt it was the right time to bring on Syreeta Challinger, a founder, a coach,  podcaster and an incredible human whom who I first interviewed five years ago when I had a company called F= which was all about empowering women and Syreeta had started MOSS – Moments of Sense and Style where she sold her beautiful products such as notebooks and candles, all heavily influenced by her story which she so graciously shares today.

Syreeta grew up in South East London and as a child of mixed heritage, experienced regular racism from people on the streets to teachers in the classroom. A creative and sensitive soul like so many of us, Syreeta went on to forge a career in design and product development before meeting the love of her life in Hong Kong.

However, this wonderful love story had a very difficult obstacle to overcome when her then-boyfriend Rob had a catastrophic brain haemorrhage and stroke in 2014 when he was just 37 and Syreeta was 32. It left him paralysed and unable to speak.

Rob and Syreeta’s story is one of hope and love and resilience and strength and I can’t think of a better time than now to release it. Because I think we could all do with a little bit of hope right now.

It’s an emotional conversation so I hope you will forgive me for choking up. But I think it’s a necessary one. Syreeta is a life coach now and when you hear her story, you will understand why this is the perfect role for her.

Syreeta website /  Instagram/ Podcast

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

Mentioned in this episode:

Stephen Lawrence

BNP

Syreeta and Rob TED talk

Today’s guest is Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley - a hugely successful tech entrepreneur and now philanthropist as well as author of her memoir, Let It Go. I actually recorded this interview back in 2016 for my book Female Innovators at Work and you can find the full interview on my YouTube channel, thanks to my friends at Bullet Media who filmed it.

But now feels like a good time to release this episode on the podcast for several reasons, not least because Dame Stephanie turned 90 last month and it was Ada Lovelace day this week – which is a celebration of all the incredible achievements by women in STEM.

And Dame Stephanie is an incredible woman. Having escaped the Nazi regime as an unaccompanied five year old child on the Kindertransport, Dame Stephanie settled in the UK and went on to huge success as a technology and entrepreneurial pioneer when she founded an all-woman software company called F International that pioneered remote working and redefined the expectations and opportunities for working women at that time. It was ultimately valued at almost $3 billion and made 70 of her staff millionaires - but this was against many odds as she describes in this interview – from being a child refugee to dealing with sexism and knockbacks in the industry to the heartbreak of losing her beloved autistic son, Giles. 

Dame Stephanie Shirley is a huge inspiration to me and after you have listened to her story today, I know she will inspire you too.

So please do enjoy my conversation with the amazing Dame Stephanie Shirley.

Dame Stephanie Shirley website / book / Twitter

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

PS Another quick shout out to Wave coaching app - the sponsor of last week's episode. Check them out here

You can watch this interview on YouTube here

Image via TED 

Today's guest is Mike Slade of Second Avenue Partners – an investor, advisor and seasoned storyteller who worked with Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Jobs.

Mike started his career at Microsoft in 1983 and spent seven years in a variety of product marketing roles launching hugely successful products including Excel, Works and Microsoft Office. He then went to work at NeXT as VP of Marketing, reporting directly to Steve Jobs.

Paul Allen (Microsoft co-founder) then hired Mike as CEO of Starwave which was his trailblazing venture into the Internet and multimedia space. While building Starwave, Mike launched ESPN.com, NBA.com, NFL.com, and many other huge sites. Following the company’s sale to Disney, Mike went back to Steve Jobs and joined Apple’s executive team, as Steve’s strategic advisor.

As I said before, Mike is an incredible storyteller so expect to hear some wonderfully funny, insightful and even touching stories about his time with these three innovators.

But before we get into the episode, I wanted to tell you about today’s sponsor – Wave – the coaching app used by leaders at all the top tech companies from Google, to Amazon and Stripe. Check it out here. And for less than 20 euros a month, you too can access your very own executive coach and reach your work and life goals using the power of AI combined with actual human coaches.

It’s funny because we expect to see elite athletes using coaches but just imgagine what applying that same support could do to your life and work?

Whether you’re struggling with work challenges such as leadership, time management or problem solving, Wave is the app to use. I signed up last week and I am already looking forward to my first session next week.

I know lots of founders and CEOs who need and want outside help but don’t know where to go or don’t have the time or money to get that help. And whilst many current apps and methodologies for professional growth are outdated, I think Wave is doing something completely different and innovative and is one of THE most time and cost effective ways I have seen to help you set, measure and achieve your goals. 

So what are you waiting for? Hit the link here to try Wave for under 20 Euros a month. It’s a bargain!

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Mike Slade Twitter / Second Avenue 

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

Episode image: Mike Slade

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Shlender and Rick Tetzeli

Today’s guest is Simon Peyton Jones – a hugely influential computer scientist who has spent his career researching the implementation and applications of functional programming languages, particularly lazy functional programming. After a stint in academia, he joined Microsoft Research Cambridge (1998-2022) where he spent more than 20 years before becoming an Engineering Fellow at Epic Games last year.

Simon’s main research interest is in functional programming languages, their implementation, and their application. He was a key contributor to the design of the now-standard functional language Haskell, and was the lead designer of the widely-used Glasgow Haskell Compiler.

He is also the Chair of Computing at School, the grass-roots organisation which helped lead to the reform in our English computing curriculum in 2014, now making the subject compulsory in all schools.

In this conversation, we discuss how he fell in love with programming, how he approaches complex problems, what Epic’s Tim Sweeny’s vision is for the metaverse and why he believes all kids should code.

Simon’s enthusiasm for the field of computer science is hugely infectious and whether you know of him already or not, I think you will really enjoy this episode.

Simon Peyton Jones Website / Twitter / GitHub / Computing at School

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

This is a REPLAY of last year's episode with Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen – serial entrepreneur, inventor, pioneer in VR, medical imaging and telepathic technology, former professor at MIT Media Lab and currently, founder of Openwater.

Mary Lou spent many of her childhood years unwell before she was finally diagnosed with a brain tumour in her twenties. And going through that had a huge impact on her life as you might expect. For the many years she was quite literally dying, she decided she only wanted to work on really interesting projects - as she says to me in this interview, “I never really thought I would live very long and so I wanted to find really interesting things to do with my life for however long I might live.”

Mary Lou became fascinated with holography and optics whilst at school and spent her career pioneering in VR and in the optics space as an engineering executive at Intuit, Google, Facebook, Oculus, and with her own four startups which included multi-billion dollar non-profit One Laptop Per Child.

She is now using her decades long experience in this space and her experience with a brain tumour to spearhead Openwater where the goal is to create the technology to be able to see deep into the body with the detail of a 3D camera. The implications of this technology will make critical diagnostics healthcare far more affordable and accessible for millions but it could also mean we achieve telepathy which is hugely exciting. 

Mary Lou website / Openwater / Twitter 

Danielle Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

Mentioned in this episode:

I Know What You're Thinking: Brain Imaging and Mental Privacy

Hello and welcome to the Danielle Newnham Podcast where I interview tech founders and innovators to learn the inspiring, human stories behind their work.

Today’s guest is Nir Eyal - best-selling author, entrepreneur, investor and business consultant teaching about the intersection of psychology, technology and business.

An American-Israeli immigrant, Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies before he started sharing the tricks of habit forming products that he had researched in his book, Hooked in 2013. Six years later and his second book - Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life became another bestseller.

Nir also previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.

In this conversation, Nir and I discuss the fallacy that tech companies hold more agency over our habits than we do, how he learned to hack back his time and become indistractable and why school children have 10 times more restrictions placed on them than convicted felons in prison.

This is a truly fascinating episode with someone I have long-admired and which I think you will really enjoy.

Nir on Twitter / Instagram  / Website

Danielle on Twitter @daniellenewnham and  Instagram @daniellenewnham   / Newsletter 

Mentioned in this episode:

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

 Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

Why The Social Dilemma Is Wrong by Danielle Newnham