I was joined by Matthias Laug, seasoned CTO and co-founder of Tier Mobility to discuss the future of mobility and how to successfully create engineering teams that can create and maintain benchmarks. Through this lens, we dived into the world of Tier, how Tier has grown internationally and the broader digital landscape: How to approach building a scalable platform in 2023Why learning form mistakes is good but picking yourself up after making them is vital What the most importa...

I was joined by Emma Sheppard, a food innovator and investor based in Berlin. With extensive experience of the industry both in Europe and in the UK Emma helped me take a close look at digital benchmarks in the food industry and why digital will help solve the food industries biggest challenges when it comes to climate change + accountability. We spoke about... Customers vs pace: why big and small food partner with tech start ups to innovate Why the digitalisation of the food indust...

I was joined by Bastl Instrument's head of marketing, Patrik Veltrusky. Bastl is a is a synthesiser maker based in Brno, Czech Republic. Since 2013, they've been helping people develop their unique sound and build up their DIY electronic music communities. We talked about... How Bastl became experimental with products. Why operating in an niche within a niche is crucial for setting benchmarks + finding product market fitThe parallels between building and building softwar...

I was joined by Propel's CEO and founder Sunkanmi Ola. Propel is a Community-as-a-Service) platform that is powering the international tech talent ecosystem and connecting it to the global workforce. A taste of the topics discussed... What the future of work looks like and the concept of the open talent economy, along with how Propel disrupts the current benchmarks in the field.Why it's important to build supply lines for tech talent, the significance of community as a service and...

In this episode I spoke with Robin Mellery-Pratt, Head of Content Strategy at the Business of Fashion. The Business of Fashion is recognised around the world for its authoritative, analytical point of view on the global fashion industry and their mission is to build an open community that informs and connects the industry. Here's some highlights from our conversation: How the luxury fashion industry is utilising AI + how the AI creative process might clash with the luxur...

In this episode I spoke with Ackeem Ngwenya and Shariff Vreugd, the co-founders of Reframd. Reframd is using modern technological advancements in data processing and machine learning to create inclusive eyewear products for our diverse world.We dived into the following topics (and more): How pioneering on a hunch became a fully fledged fashion benchmark The innate biases in social media and crowd funding and how exploiting these helped find product market fitIterate fast: How 3D pri...

In this episode I spoke with Rhys Howell (Chief Marketing Manager) and Tanja Tanskanen (sustainibility manager) from Ampler bikes: The e-bike manufacturer with a hidden battery. We took a deep dive into Ampler's manufacturing process and discussed how they have become a benchmark in this space. We spoke about... The part digital has to play in Ampler's story and success A deep dive into Ampler's life cycle analysis report"Emissions free by 2025" and why bikes aren't green...

In this episode I spoke with Victoria Toney-Robinson, a senior programme manager at Google including Google's Black Founders Fund in Europe . We discussed... - What challenges do minority founders and CEOs face compared with ‘traditional’ founders.- Why products need to be built by everyone if we want them to work for everyone. How you can remain an activist + still work in the corporate sector- Why are companies resistant to discussions around diversity- How diversity is im...

Paola Miani is an expert on sustainable design thinking. She's built design systems for the likes of Lloyds banking group and discussed the following in the episode: - Why it's important for focus changing from people to planet - What design thinking is + how it ties in with sustainability - Why a pivot away from human centric design is important for the benchmarks of the near future- Why success needs metrics to ensure longevity - Design teams and how important it is to scale effective...

In this episode I spoke with Christina Heller, the CEO and founder of Metastage . We discussed... - Why bravery and bravado are both important in creating the future - Why failure is important - How important the intersection of team culture and technology is - Which companies are setting the new digital benchmarks - Why you have to be transparent and honest as a company Find out more about Metastage: https://metastage.com/ Find out more about &why: why.deGet in touch: next20@w...

This week I spoke to Tim Wegner, the CEO and co-founder of Workist. We discussed (amongst a lot of other topics)...- How the past informs the future: from steam engines to AI driven knowledge work - Previous experience as a physicist + consultant and the lessons learnt- Projects never being fully formed or finished - How the end user and customer is the most important element for creating a benchmark product- Why Ready Player One is the real benchmark of the near futureFind out more about Wor...

This week I spoke with Zeke Arany-Lucas, a software generalist with a passion for building browsers with experience at Microsoft, Amazon + Forto. I spoke with Zeke about... how the society around tech has changed dramatically How valuation is the only thing that’s stayed constant over Zeke’s 25 yearsTech has flipped growing a business organically/naturally on it’s head over timeIdolising the black swan monopolists Vs sustainable growth Do companies need a lightning rod fo...

This week I spoke to Alex Dohr. Alex is the CCO and a Partner at &why and talked about the following... - What is a digital benchmark - Why it matters when companies strive for a level of excellence - How the connected world is pushing benchmarks forward- What it means to be connected with people via digital possibilities- We also introduce the podcast in detail and what we hope guests will have insight on Find out more about &why: why.deGet in touch: next20@...