Posted on

A Conversation With Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson On The Evolution Of Communication

There is no better person to talk with about the evolution and future of communication then Jeff Lawson. We have known each other since 2008 when we met outside a Starbucks—the same year he co-founded Twilio. He was one of the original product managers for Amazon Web Services (AWS), heavily involved in Versity, the founder of NineStar, and CTO of StubHub. He could be described as a serial inventor and early on recognized the need for communication systems.

I believe Jeff truly embodies the best of Silicon Valley. His goal with his work is to help bring out the full span of human potential and allowing people to be innovators. An Application Programming Interface (API) allows developers to enable their ideas to see the light of day. Listen to our conversation as we cover Jeff’s beginnings and company, our innate need as humans to communicate, and the future of connectedness.

(more…)
Posted on

Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on the future of software engineering and the better world ahead

My friend Kevin Scott has a unique vantage point from which to speak about the future of software engineering. He is a very gifted and accomplished man who serves as CTO at Microsoft, but his career as a software engineer spans several years and a variety of different roles in companies both large and small.

If you take the time to listen in to this conversation, you’ll hear his story — which began in a tiny town in Virginia. From his first personal computer (from Radio Shack), of his interest in technology and aspirations to become a university professor to that time when he applied at a company called Google. Please, take the time to listen.

Outline of This Episode

(more…)

Posted on

Kevin Rose on the next wave of consumer apps and what’s happening in the podcast industry

Kevin Rose is someone I’ve known for quite a while. I think it was 11 years ago we first worked together when he was starting out as an intern. The promise I saw in him at that time has undoubtedly blossomed into an amazing set of skills, insights, and passions that have contributed to the world in truly meaningful ways.

Kevin is a serial entrepreneur. He’s best known for founding Digg and Revision3. He also serves on the True Ventures team with me and many others, funding startups that capture the imagination. These days, Kevin is no small player – he’s been featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine, Bloomberg, Businessweek, RedHerring, and lots more.

Since it had been a while between conversations, I invited Kevin on the show to talk about the future wave of exciting consumer apps, what it will take to see them come about AND the buzz that’s happening around podcasting these days. The podcast industry has grown leaps and bounds in recent days and both of us are excited about the potential we see.

Join me for this fun conversation with a good friend.

Outline of This Episode

(more…)

Posted on

[The OmShow Podcast] What will 2019 bring?

After a bit of a hiatus, I am back with a new episode of my occasional podcast series, The Om Show. In this first episode for 2019, I chat with Primer CEO Sean Gourley and MetaMarkets founder Michael Driscoll about what comes in 2019. We discuss everything from machine learning to data to privacy and what’s next for artificial intelligence. Of course, there is some Facebook thrown in for good measure.

You can download this on the iTunes Podcasts or simply listen to it here. Here is a link to download it directly to your device. It is also available on Spotify, though I can’t find it on shit they call search.

Posted on

[Podcast] Eran Shir, Founder of DashCam Maker Nexar

A conversation with Eran Shir, Founder, and CEO of Nexar, to talk about his company’s connected dash cam, how it works to improve safe driving, and what a world full of cameras + intelligence means for our future. Eran explains why computer vision matters and why it also can go wrong pretty fast.

Disclosure: Nexar is part of the True Ventures portfolio of startups.

Posted on

[Podcast] Audeze CEO Sankar Thiagasamudram

Sankar Thiagasamudram is the co-founder and CEO of Audeze, a maker of high-quality headphones, which are all the rage with audiophiles and music professionals. Sankar, who started his life working for a high-end 3D graphics company, is an engineer by training and audiophile in real life. He co-founded the company with Alexander Rosson. They were pioneers in putting (a proprietary) planar magnetic designs with extremely thin-film driver materials and powerful custom magnets inside their headphones. I experienced the Audeze magic when I got EL-8 as a gift from a friend.

I recently caught up with Sankar to talk about their new gaming headphone, Mobius, and more importantly about Apple’s HomePod, computational audio, the headphone boom and how head-fi changing our expectations of music. He shared his tips on how to buy headphones, his thoughts on other headphone brands including fashion/luxury headphones such as Master & Dynamic.

You can listen to the podcast on Soundcloud or download it from the iTunes.

Posted on

The OmShow Podcast: A conversation w/Chris Michel, Entrepreneur & Photographer

Chris Michel, the founder of Military.com and Affinity Labs, is a well-known entrepreneur and investor. He is also an accomplished photographer and someone whom I call my photography guru. He is one of the quiet success stories in Silicon Valley, and his journey is chock-a-block of lessons. Michel sits on the boards of Dale Carnegie, Catchlight, Kixeye, and 3D Robotics.

His photos have appeared in the National Geographic, the Smithsonian, the New York Times, the BBC, Outside Magazine and others. His “Flying Emperor” photograph was the 2nd place finisher in the 2014 Wikipedia Picture of the Year. We share a love for Leica and its beautiful lenses and often go out to make photos. 

After months of arm-twisting, I finally convinced Chris to sit down and tell me his story — his journey in life, his time in the U.S. Navy, his move to Silicon Valley and why he loves photography. We dig deeper into the meaning of life, accomplishment and how to reframe ourselves in a world that is framed by false proxies of success — money and fame.

There is so much I learned about him during this conversation, even though we meet for coffee every two weeks. I was moved to tears, and so inspired by our tête-à-tête. Have a listen –you will be glad you did.

March 2nd, 2018, San Francisco

You can subscriber to my occasional podcast on iTunes or listen to the show on the SoundCloud.

Posted on

The OmShow Podcast Dropbox like its hot

In the new podcast, Chris and I talk about Dropbox, its amazing story and its challenges ahead as a public company. The company filed for an IPO recently. We discuss how not all storage is equal, and the best way to extract premium dollars from a storage operation is to combine it with more useful applications. Dropbox, so far, hasn’t succeeded in its ability to get its 500+ million registered users to buy into its app attempts so far.

Some previous posts that I refer to in this podcast:

Posted on

What’s (really) wrong with Facebook

Chris Albrecht (a former colleague) and I had a conversation about Facebook, why both of us were off the service and what is wrong with Facebook and its corporate moral compass. And then it got caught in a media kerfuffle, thanks to one of its advertising executives made light of Facebook’s role in the ongoing investigation of the Russian interference in the US elections.

You can listen to this on the SoundCloud or subscribe on iTunes.