The Future of Living

Joe Blair (@joseph_blair, TW) believes that a business does not have to sacrifice profit for purpose. As a venture capital investor with Obvious Ventures (Twitter, Medium, etc.), Joe is focused on companies with a world positive approach to business. That is to say, he's focused on companies with a high potential for profit and a positive impact on the way we live and work.

It should come as no surprise that someone obsessed with data, analytics, and food would figure out how to put them all together and create something truly extraordinary. After achieving tremendous success with Exact Target - acquired by Salesforce - and Compendium Software - acquired by Oracle - Chris Baggott (@chrisbaggott) started Tyner Pond Farm and that's when a new idea was born. What if someone could create amazing, fresh food from scratch and deliver it to customers in minutes without a storefront?

Andrew Dickson (@bennettdickson, TW) believes the way homes are built is fundamentally flawed. The idea that we're still constructing homes from the ground up, board by board, home by home is, in his opinion, inefficient and old-fashioned. He sees a future of turnkey homes built using pre-fabricated segments, extremely automated, and able to go seamlessly move on and off the electrical grid. Andrew Dickson is the CEO & Founder of Acre Designs, a home construction startup re-imagining the American Home.

We've covered a lot of ground in our first season. We've spoken with experts in real estate tech, autonomous mobility, smart city technology, and more. In this episode, we wanted to revisit a few segments from some standout guests.

Each episode of The Future of Living features a fascinating conversation with experts in smart living and smart city technology. These conversations generally go much deeper than what makes the final cut. As we round out season 1 and 2018 we wanted to share a few of our favorite segments that were cut for time.

Tim Smith (@mypoorbraindesign, IG) refers to himself as a "human-to-whatever" designer. It’s a description stems from his belief that human-centered design principles can be applied to every situation. He even once designed a machine for more efficiently milking cows. In his current role as Global Auto & Mobility Director at ustwo, he is focused on the in-car autonomous car experience.

Matt Wilson (@mattwilsontv, IG) takes working remotely to the next level. Wilson works nomadically. Most recently, he set up shop in a Costa Rican jungle, surrounded by monkeys, a laptop and a 100mb Internet connection. Wilson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Under30Experiences, a travel company focused on people aged 21 to 35. You might think, "Ah, no wonder! Working nomadically is his job," and you'd only be partly right.

Scott Harkins is one of those people you just expect to have all the really cool gadgets you could imagine and the capability to make them all work together. This comes in handy in his role as VP & GM of Resideo Connected Home where he oversees the future of Resideo products and their interoperability within the home. Resideo spun out of Honeywell and recently went public (NYSE: REZI).

Rhonda Dirvin (@RADirvin, TW) is passionate about the Internet of Things and it's potential for improving all aspects of our lives. More than little boxes that talk to us and spout the time and temperature, Dirvin sees a future where IoT aids with conservation, building maintenance, and actually making our lives more secure, rather than being a security risk.

Before Postmates, before GrubHub, before Door Dash, before food delivery from any restaurant around you was ubiquitous there was Fastbite. Aman Manik (@amanik, TW) was at the center of Fastbite as Co-Founder and Head of Product and Operations all the way up until Square acquired the company in February of 2015.

Katy Lynch (@thekatylynch) dreams of teaching 1 billion kids to code. Yeah, 1 BILLION! Big dreams call for big plans and as the Co-Founder and CMO of Codeverse, she might just get it done. Codeverse is the world's first fully interactive coding school and educational technology platform for kids. They created a programming language specifically for kids! Additionally, Codeverse is transforming ordinary spaces into irresistible centers of learning for kids.

We are social creatures that crave community. David Brain knows this and it is at the core of his developments. Over a decade ago he was presented with an opportunity that others questioned, but he knew that the human desire for community would make this opportunity a sensation: the megaplex movie theater. Obviously, he was right.

The debate over the next big platform is one we love to have on this podcast. Neto Marin (@netomarin, TW) believes Voice just might have the upper hand. Neto works at Google on Google Assistant, Google Home and other devices that rely on our voice. As Actions on Google Developer Advocate, he spends his time educating people on what is possible and thinking beyond what is current.

In high school, two of Vignesh "Viggy" Ganapathy's (@vigneshr4m, TW) friends were incarcerated and thus begun Viggy's quest for social justice.  It's a quest that's taken him through law school at UC Santa Cruz, into politics, into community organization and now technology as the Sr. Government Relations Lead at Postmates. It's a role that fits his personal mission to positively impact neighborhoods through community engagement and innovative technology solutions to combat complex, pervasive issues.

Most people lament that government doesn't truly work for the people. Jason Kander (@jasonkander, TW) thinks about this a lot and he believes he's got a good solution. The government needs to reimagine itself as Customer Service. This might include simple solutions like a voting holiday, streamlining practices so that people don't wait on hold for hours or wait months for services, or simply installing sidewalks where they don't exist.