Riding Shotgun by Techrides

Today on Riding Shotgun the Techrides Podcast, host Edwin Marcial rides with Shep Ogden, CEO and co-founder of Offbeat Media. Shep and Offbeat are pioneers in the Web3 and the virtual influencer space. Edwin and Shep are diving deep into Web3, NFTs and the Metaverse . They discuss the origins and principles of Web3, how NFTs play a valuable role in the new ownership economy, and what this means for brands navigating the evolving Metaverse. They also discuss virtual influencers. Come along for the ride in Edwin's 2015 Porsche 911 GTS.     

In this episode: 

• What is Web3
• The motivation for Web3 and the ownership economy
• What is an NFT and what is the role of an NFT in Web3
• How are NFTs are being leveraged in the Metaverse
• How are brands like Nike and McDonald's are using NFTs and staking out their own space in the Metaverse
• How the early evolution of the Internet led us to blockchain and the new Web3 world

You can watch the full video of this episode and the ride in Edwin Marcial's 2015 Porsche 911 GTS at https://techrides.io/episodes/41

Video highlight clips from this and all episodes now available at https://techrides.io/shorts

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Announcing Ticket to Ride NFTs. https://techrides.io/nft

Techrides NFTs give holders access to special digital content along with in person events, and will also support the continued development of Techrides content.        

Ever have a low battery on your cell phone and wish you could just swap it out for a fresh one with a full charge? Imagine if you could do that same thing with your car battery when it was running low? That's exactly what EV car maker NIO, Inc. has pioneered - battery swap technology that will replace a  depleted car battery with a fresh one. This is just one of the innovations that I'll talk about with Ganesh Iyer, Global Chief Information Officer (CIO) for NIO. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, NIO was started in 2014 by founder and CEO, William Li. NIO is a pioneer in China’s premium EV market driving innovation in connectivity, autonomous driving,  and charging solutions. 

So come along for the ride and get to know Ganesh and NIO, Inc. as we roll in a 2021 NIO ES8 and discuss:

• The future of EV driving
• Proprietary built in artificial intelligence (AI)
• Battery swap stations
• Battery as a Service (BAAS)
• The NIO ES8
• Autonomous Driving
• The NIO EP9 (featured in the Xbox game Forza Horizon 5 and now on display at the Peterson hypercar museum in Los Angeles)
• The EP9's autonomous world speed record set at COTA in Austin, TX

Go to https://techrides.io to watch the full episode, see pictures of our guests and cars, and watch short highlight clips.
 

Dr Ebbie Parsons is an Atlanta-based entrepreneur and the founder and managing partner of Managing Director of Yardstick Management. Ebbie started Yardstick Management, a management consulting firm with a goal of improving the opportunities for underserved minorities in corporate America. Today Yardstick is a leader in management consulting solutions for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as well as Executive Search. Yardstick clients include some of the largest names in business including Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, and LinkedIn.

Today on Riding Shotgun, Edwin and Ebbie discuss:

• Ebbie’s career path, and how his desire to make a difference in the lives of underserved minorities led to his founding Yardstick
• How corporate culture impacts diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
• How the killing of George Floyd and the Great Resignation have changed the DEI landscape in Corporate America
• Advice for minorities seeking to break into corporate leadership positions and corporate boards
• The biggest lessons Ebbie has learned as an entrepreneur 
• The launch of the Yardstick Management Institute

To see the images of our guests and featured cars, and become a techrides member, go to https://techrides.io

Techrides host Edwin Marcial rides along with serial entrepreneur and investor David Cummings. David is the founder of the Atlanta Tech Village (ATV) — the United States’ 4th largest tech hub. David built ATV after selling his marketing automation software company Pardot for $100 million dollars. He is also the founder of Atlanta Tech Ventures through which he has invested in several of Atlanta’s hottest startups including Calendly,  SalesLoft and Terminus.

Join Edwin and David as they ride in David’s 2017 Acura NSX and discuss

• David’s early career in entrepreneurship including starting a software business in High School and building another Hannon Hill while a student at Duke.
• Founding and selling Pardot for $100 Million
• Why he built the Atlanta Tech Village, one of the largest startup work spaces in the US
• What he looks for in the companies he is looking to invest in
• The characteristics he thinks make a successful founder
• Key mistakes that lead to startup failures
• How startups should think about raising money
• How Atlanta’s startup ecosystem has changed post pandemic
• Advice he has for those just getting started in entrepreneurship or thinking about getting started
• The Atlanta startups companies he is most excited about

To see the full video for this episode and other episodes, along with images of our guests and featured cars, go to https://techrides.io 

Listen as Edwin discusses:

• Dropping out of college and going back to focus on his passion - Computer Science
• Navigating through rejection early in his career
• Why he left a large engineering company, and chose to work for a startup
• Transitioning away from an individual contributor to a manager/leader and CTO
• How ICE built a culture of high performance including
  • Setting big goals
  • The importance of giving employees equity in a young company
  • Emotional intelligence - understanding the people you manage.
  • Getting the ‘right people on the bus’, motivating them and removing your worst performers
  • Managing your culture, not your people
  • Innovating by thinking differently
  • Developing a process to identify and recruit the very best people
  • Competing as a team vs competing against each other
  • Building a diverse team through a focus on skills
• Emerging tech industries he is most excited about
• Competing with Enron
• Leadership in one word

Hear how:

• The nursing shortage inspired the origin story of SnapNurse
• SnapNurse answered the bell of the COVID-19 battle, and put its business into hyperdrive in the process
• How SnapMedTech has pivoted to offer payments and a SaaS platform to it's offerings
• Technology has enabled SnapNurse to leverage its growth
• A nurse strike in California led to a tremendous opportunity and response
• SnapNurse grew their business despite being turned down by just about every VC they spoke to
• The tenacity of the founders has put SnapNurse into a position to succeed
• Their journey has led to key entrepreneurship lessons

Host Edwin Marcial goes back in time to learn about the Delorean DMC-12 and then interviews Pull-A-Part CEO, Ross Kogon, about his company’s culture and success. Join us as Ross and Edwin ride in a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 and discuss a few topics including:

• The history of the DeLorean DMC-12
• The trouble and mistakes of founder John DeLorean that led to the demise of his company
• How Pull-A-Part got its start as a side business that grew into 25 locations across 12 U.S. states
• What makes the Pull-A-Part business model so unique
• How Ross got his start in the business, how he handles company culture, and his vision for leadership for the company
• How Ross sees his company playing a vital part in the self-repair industry even after electric cars overtake traditional combustion engines
• And more!

Adam Ghetti is the Founder and CEO of Ionic Security, a data security firm that uses a holistic approach to prevent information silos and backdoor hacks. Join us as Adam and Edwin ride in a 1965 Ford Mustang Convertible and discuss a few topics including:

• How Adam got his start in Tech
• Why Adam dropped out of high school and how that helped him launch his company
• Opinions on Tesla and the future of EVs and self-driving trucks
• How ridesharing is changing travel as we know it
• The importance of data security and the Equifax Data Breach
• How AI could eventually write and build its own software
• What brain data backup could mean for the future of humanity and consciousness as we know it
• And more! 

Five million young adults in the U.S. do not have a stable career pathway to well-paid jobs. Meanwhile, 12 million jobs that require post-secondary education will go unfilled in the next decade. Year Up is a non-profit organization that enables underrepresented young adults ages 18-24 to move from minimum wage to meaningful careers in just one year. 

In this podcast episode, host Edwin Marcial interviews three alumni from Year Up Atlanta: Carmen Buezo, Emanuel Romero, and Kevin Ngunjiri. Learn their background, their challenges, and obstacles within the traditional education system, and how Year Up Atlanta was able to provide them incredible opportunity for the future of their careers!

Come along for the ride as Edwin and the gang discuss a few topics including:

• The importance of Year Up as it prepares students to enter corporate environments and empowers them to effect change in their own lives 
• How companies like Aaron’s, Autotrader, Cox Automotive, and more are investing in Year Up through in corporate partnerships and are offering internships to alumni

You’ll also get to hear specifics about each of the three alumni: 

• Carmen: left Honduras after political unrest and is starting college soon. 
• What Carmen is learning through Year Up:
  • Impact of working in a corporate environment
  • Improving consumers’ ability to obtain products through data analysis and automation
  • Building reports to send to partner companies 
• Emanuel: learning how to code and develop software as a DACA recipient from Mexico
• What Emanuel is learning through Year Up:
  • Learning how to project confidence when speaking in front of other people 
  • Can now speak in front of larger groups in business settings
• Kevin: an immigrant from Kenya is driven by a desire to understand web development
• What Kevin is learning through Year Up:
  • Learning how to build and maintain websites and has a knack for accomplishing the features that customers request
  • Understanding how to work with teams when conflict arises

Gil West is the Chief Operations Officer (COO) at Delta Air Lines and has been with the company for 12 years. His background in engineering led him to an early career at Boeing but now he oversees the day-to-day operations at Delta, ensuring the airline is safe and reliable.

Come along for the ride as Edwin and Gil West discuss a few topics including:

• Gil's passion for cars particularly the spectacular 2020 Ford GT
• Delta’s industry-leading response to the COVID-19 pandemic
• The safety of current aircrafts and how Delta has led the charge to make airplanes as safe and sanitary as a hospital operating room
• Gil's thoughts on Boeing’s issues with the 737 Max
• Innovative startups working with Delta to transform the flight experience
• The future of aviation including electric planes and hypersonic flight
• Keys to Gil's tremendously successful career
• And more!

Ed Bolian is the founder and creator of the VINwiki App and the VINwiki Car Stories YouTube channel which has over 1 million subscribers. He also set the Cannonball Run Record in 2013, an epic cross-country time trial from NYC to LA in a single drive (Watch our Part 1 YouTube discussion with Ed for more on that incredible story!).

Come along for the ride as Edwin and Ed Bolian discuss a few topics including:

• What makes the Ferrari 430 Scuderia so unique
• Ed’s crazy story of being put in handcuffs during a rally race
• How Ed launched his first business from his college dorm
• How Ed’s first company made a killing by renting Lamborghinis and Ferraris during the 2008 financial crisis
• What prompted Ed’s idea to crowd-source vehicle history and how that led to the birth of the VINwiki app
• How the VINwiki app doubled the value of every Lamborghini Murciélago on the market
• How the power of stories helped launch Ed’s wildly successful YouTube channel

In this episode we revisit Edwin's 2018 conversation with legendary entrepreneur Don Panoz.  Don Panoz had an amazing career as an entrepreneur and innovator. He started out in pharmaceuticals and is credited with inventing the technology behind the nicotine patch.

After retiring from pharmaceuticals, Don took his innovative mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to the automotive world.   Along with his son Dan, Don created Panoz cars which makes limited edition custom sports cars. Don also got into motor sports racing, and founded the American Le Mans series. He founded the 10 hours petit Le Mans race in 1998 which is a major even held every fall at Road Atlanta in  Braselton, GA. His race cars have won the 24 hours of Le Mans, Sebring and the petite Le Mans . At one time Don owned race tracks including Road Atlanta and Sebring. 

In this episode we talk to Don about his start in pharmaceuticals, his transition to motorsports racing, getting the 1960 World Series champs to invest in his first company, the time he thought he killed Mario Andretti and his philosophy with regards to business and entrepreneurship.  You can watch the video, and get more information about this and other episodes at https://techrides.io. Subscribe to our member list to stay in touch with all of our content. 

Don Panoz passed away a few months after the recording of this episode. On the day we filmed he said he was not feeling well, but gave us no indication of his battle with pancreatic cancer at the time. Don Panoz was a family man, a true innovator and a kind and remarkable person. Don will be remembered for leaving this world much better than he found it.
 

With the beautiful Spaceport America as the backdrop, Edwin continues his conversation with  George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. George is the former Chief of Staff for NASA, and today leads Richard Branson’s company working to bring about commercial spaceflight. George and Edwin discuss the Virgin Galactic spaceflight experience, Virgin Galactic’s journey to this point, George’s predictions for the next big milestones in space travel, and what George is most looking forward to as Virgin Galactic prepares to send every day people into space. 

Edwin takes a ride with George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company.  George is the former Chief of Staff for NASA, and today leads Richard Branson’s company working to bring commercial spaceflight to everyday people. We ride in a Range Rover V8 Supercharged from Las Cruces, New Mexico to beautiful Spaceport America and discuss the future of space travel.

Come along for the ride as Edwin and George discuss a few topics including: 

• George's tenure as the Chief of Staff for NASA
• The united States move to privatize low earth orbit travel which gave rise to companies like Virgin Galactic, Elon Musk's SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin
• Spaceport America, the White Sands Missile Range and New Mexico's history and role in today's commercial space program
• The potential for life on other planets

Edwin talks with Dr. Cammy Abernathy, Dean of the University of Florida’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. Dr. Abernathy became UF’s first female dean in its 150+ year history when she accepted the position in 2009. Having graduated from MIT in 1980, she went on to obtain her master’s and Ph.D. in Materials Science from Stanford University.

Come along for the ride as Edwin and Dean Abernathy discuss a few topics including: 

• The University of Florida’s (UF) response to COVID-19 and their plans for the fall semester
• Research that UF is doing in the battle against  COVID-19
• How the university is adapting to more online distance learning
• UF’s move up the national rankings of top public universities
• The college of engineering's new Artificial Intelligence Initiative
• The work UF is doing to improve diversity in engineering
• The challenge traditional universities face from skills based training platforms and bootcamps
• How students can best prepare to study and be successful in engineering
• Gator Football!