Advertise on podcast: Thoughts in Between: exploring how technology collides with politics, culture and society

Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross are the authors of a new book, Talent: How to identify energisers, creatives and winners around the world. Tyler is an economist, who is perhaps best known for his daily blogging at Marginal Revolution (which I've been reading since 2003!) and as the founder of Emergent Ventures, a grant-making programme focused on ambitious young people. Daniel is a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and investor, perhaps best known as the founder of Cue, a search engine, and Pioneer, a global talent-focused startup tournament and investment programme. All three of us are talent obsessives, so this was a hugely fun conversation spanning every aspect of the topic, from why the market for talent is so inefficient to Tyler and Daniel answering their own favourite interview questions. I highly recommend their book, which you can buy here. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Kyla Scanlon is a creator and educator who focuses on explaining finance and economics through her newsletter, YouTube and TikTok videos. She has a unique perspective on how the internet continues to change everything around us. In this conversation we discuss social media and the authentic self; Elon Musk, Twitter and free speech; memes as an investment strategy; the future of the dollar as a global reserve currency and much more. Enjoy this conversation with Kyla Scanlon. You can subscribe to Kyla’s newsletter here; the edition we discuss on “F*** about and find out” is here. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Stuart Buck is the Executive Director of the Good Science Project, a new initiative to make science funding more effective, innovative, and robust. This mission has been the major theme of Stuart’s career; he was previously Vice President of Research at Arnold Ventures, a large philanthropic foundation. In this conversation, we discuss the twin problems of reproducibility and innovation in science, and whether they’re in tension. We talk about whether and why most published research findings are false; how to fix career incentives in science; and why science should embrace red teaming, among many other things. I recommend this essay by Stuart, which I reference during the conversation. The book I reference, The Enigma of Reason, is here and the review Stuart mentions is here. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Tanya is an academic and entrepreneur. She leads the Digital State project at Cambridge University's Bennett Institute and is the founder of StateUp, an advisory firm focused on innovation that serves a public purpose. In this conversation, we talk about the idea of "public purpose technology", the companies that are building it and the investors that are funding it. We talk through the challenges of building for the public sector - from procurement to fundraising - as well as the big opportunities for citizens, governments and entrepreneurs in more effective public purpose tech. Enjoy this conversation with Tanya Filer. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Nadia Eghbal is an independent researcher and writer. She’s the author of Working in Public, which is an ethnographic study of how Open Source Software is made and maintained. She recently won an Emergent Ventures grant to study and write about technology wealth and philanthropy. In this conversation, we discuss how and why technology entrepreneurs think differently about philanthropy, what this means for the funding of science, how crypto is changing this space and much more. Enjoy this conversation with Nadia Eghbal. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Shashank Joshi is defence editor at the Economist. Long-time listeners may remember our conversation last year on geopolitics and security. Shashank joins me again today for a special edition on the situation in Ukraine. Shashank talks us through how we got here, what Putin wants, and some of the possible endgames. I should emphasise that we recorded this first thing Friday morning UK time and it’s an extremely fast-moving situation, so we tried to focus on topics that wouldn’t be completely out of date by the time you’re hearing this. As usual, I learned a lot from Shashank. I have to say that his conclusions are quite sobering but very important to understand. Enjoy this conversation with Shashank Joshi. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Sam Arbesman is a complexity scientist and writer and is currently a scientist-in-residence at Lux Capital, a leading venture capital fund. Sam’s writing covers many topics that will be familiar to Thoughts in Between readers and listeners. In this conversation, we discuss the need for institutional innovation in science, the value of long-term thinking, the value of historical literacy in technology, and much more. Enjoy this conversation with Sam Arbesman. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Sebastian Mallaby is a journalist and author. His latest book, The Power Law, is an exploration of the history and impact of venture capital that seeks to explain how VCs see the world and why it matters. In this conversation, we discuss why VC is so different from any other asset class, why VC networks should be considered a third core institution of capitalism alongside firms and markets, and whether VC has a positive impact in the world. You can order the Power Law here. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Allister Furey is co-founder and CEO of Sylvera, a technology startup building a ratings agency for carbon markets. In this conversation, we discuss why evaluation and verification is so important for building a net-zero economy and the challenges that face innovators and investors in today's market. We talk through how Sylvera creates ratings for carbon projects and why this might be the key to unlocking trillions of dollars of investment for carbon offset and removal initiatives (Allister used to work at Entrepreneur First and I am a small investor in Sylvera). ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Rohit Krishna is a venture capitalist and the writer behind Strange Loop Canon, one of my favourite Substacks (and one that regular readers of the TiB newsletter may recognise). In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about how billionaires can be better at philanthropy, why identifying extreme talent is so challenging, new ways to invest in talent, why cities tend to last so much longer than companies, and much more. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Michelle You is co-founder and CEO of Supercritical, a startup that helps companies achieve Net Zero through carbon removal. Michelle is a serial entrepreneur (she was previously one of the founders of Songkick) and in this conversation, we dive into why she decided to focus on carbon removal for her next company. We also explore why the label Net Zero can be misleading, the challenges of creating new markets in carbon, and which carbon removal technologies she’s most excited about. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com

Christian Hernandez is one of the founding partners of 2150, a venture capital firm dedicated to backing startups that are reinventing how cities are built, run, and maintained - with a particular focus on sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. In this conversation, we talk about the role that venture capital and startups have to play in addressing the climate crisis. We discuss the most promising areas where startups can make a difference, why climate change is a national security issue, and much more. Enjoy this conversation with Christian Hernandez In the discussion, Christian recommends several books including: All Hell Breaking Loose, Uninhabitable Earth, and How to Avoid a Climate Disaster. You can read Christian’s blog posts here. ----------------- Thanks to Cofruition for consulting on and producing the show. You can learn more about Entrepreneur First at www.joinef.com and subscribe to my weekly newsletter at tib.matthewclifford.com