next20: Recent Episodes
&why
20 unique perspectives on the drivers for successful digital brands and experiences and on what will shape our collective digital future.
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 2023
- Why learning form mistakes is good but picking yourself up after making them is vital
- What the most important factor in becoming a digital benchmark is and how to maintain it
- What the core business challenges that are worth solving in the future
Find out more about &why: why.de
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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 industry is important and how blockchain could help create a new benchmark of transparency the industry needs
- What the overall goal is when it comes to supply chains and how digital can help people succeed in this area
- How the integration of big data, digitalisation and personalised food consumption impacts production cycles
- How can deep tech startups in the food industry can create a better impact on the world through sustainable practices via innovation
Connect with Emma on Linkedin
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
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 fit
- The parallels between building and building software
- Why people buy niche products and choose experimental hardware like Bastl
- How to innovate: Customers, pioneering and the role of community in the ideation process
- What have been the seismic changes in the world of hardware
- Brand size and future direction: Is it important to break through or remaining underground?
- The process of growing and realising ideas: Artistic and functional design
Find out more about Bastl intruments here
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
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 their importance in talent acquisition.
- How Africa could fix the global tech talent shortage, with a focus on how technology and curated ecosystems play a role.
- What barriers to entry in emerging markets may face and the emphasis on distribution rather than training.
Find out more about Propel here
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
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 luxury fashion industry
- The history of the relationship between technology and fashion and why the fashion industry is interested in digital.
- How the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital distribution in the fashion industry
- Frictionless physical/digital experiences and how they relate to luxury fashion brands
- How luxury fashion brands leverage the metaverse and bridge the gap between the real and digital worlds.
- Why people are turning to traditional luxury brands for digital products
- How big data and machine learning is used to create seamless experiences in luxury fashion
- What exactly is liminal retail and will it be the future for shopping
Find out more about the Business of Fashion here
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
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 fit
- Iterate fast: How 3D printing and facial scanning tightened feedback loops in product design
- How to focus when there are so many opportunities to pursue
Find out more about Reframd & get 25% off here
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
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 by default
- What the future looks like for cycling and what part digital has to play
- Where brave decisions had to be made to reach their
- Community activations on and off line
Find out more about Ampler here
Check out their LCA report here
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
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 important to business leadership and setting future benchmarks - Why reporting what success looks like needs to change to mean that businesses are more inclusive.
Find out more about Google's Black Founder Fund: https://startup.google.com/blackfoundersfund/ Connect with Victoria: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriabrob/
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
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 effectively
Get in touch with Paola on Linkedin
Find out more about &why: why.de
Get in touch: next20@why.de || https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitimstephens/ Check out our bi-weekly newsletter
What we talked about...
- Why bravery and bravado are both important in creating the future
- Why failure is important
- Why the intersection of team culture and technology is vitally important
- Which companies are setting the new digital benchmarks
- Why you have to be transparent and honest as a company
We talked about...
- how the society around tech has changed dramatically
- How valuation is the only thing that’s stayed constant over Xeke’s 25 years
- Tech has flipped growing a business organically/naturally on it’s head over time
- Idolising the black swan monopolists Vs sustainable growth
- Do companies need a lightning rod founder to create a zeitgeist/benchmarks
- Institutions are larger than the individual
- Culture fosters great leadership
- Leadership vs management
- What hipsters and distractions have in common
- Why we can’t spot a digital transformation until it’s in the rear view mirror
- Why you should consider language changes in your code
- How do you define a career path in development
we talked about...
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What is a digital benchmark
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Why it matters when companies strive for a level of excellence
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How the connected world is pushing benchmarks forward
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What it means to be connected with people via digital possibilities
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We also introduce the podcast in detail and what we hope guests will have insight on
What we talked about...
- How the past informs the future: from steam engines to AI driven knowledge work
- Previous experience as a physist + 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