"Can't Be Done"

As the blockchain ecosystem shifted from a Bitcoin-centric world to one that welcomed multiple coins, the demand for a hardware wallet that allows users to secure and manage crypto assets grew exponentially. Ledger became the go-to solution, and the startup scaled to sell 1M units in the last year. Thomas France is the co-founder of Ledger, the leading security and infrastructure solution for cryp...

The beauty of open-source software lies in its efficiency. If two companies, building different solutions, work together on the parts of the projects that overlap, they accomplish more in less time. The Hyperledger Project is an open-source collaboration working to build a set of blockchain technologies that can be used in a variety of industries and embedded in the emerging internet technology st...

VR is not just for gaming anymore. Other industries are starting to take advantage of immersive technologies for applications like product design and experiential marketing. Ford is using the technology to create virtual prototypes of new vehicles and Lionsgate is experimenting with VR experiences to promote movies. When Unity Technologies realized their platform was already being used by the auto...

What gets Kira Noodleman excited about her job as an investor with VC firm Bee Partners? The opportunity to paint a picture of what the future looks like—and then back it up with money and resources for startups in the early stages. Kira is a fan of tackling problems in disruptive industries and across cultures. With a background in product and program management, Kira has an appreciation of the s...

‘Who has the power of the internet? Does the power lie in the hands of a few centralized companies? Or does it lie in the hands of users and communities?’ We all know the answer here. Though the web initially gave authority to its users, the pendulum has swung the other way. Now there are four companies with all the data and all the power, and many would argue that they are using it in questionabl...

There are plenty of people who work full-time, yet still don’t make enough to get by. What if there was an app that would allow individuals to earn income in the form of cryptocurrency from anywhere, at any time, with any device? Simon Yu had to drop out of college when his parents declared bankruptcy. He got a full-time job as a bank teller but was still struggling to make ends meet. In fact, Sim...

“From my point of view, yes, we need to be multiplanetary, and one of the big motivators … is really the desire to spend the rest of my career to make whatever big or small contribution—but a contribution—towards advancing Earth-escape technology as a category.” Max Haot is the founder and CEO of Launcher, a team on a ten-year journey to advance launch technology and deliver small satellites to or...

The beauty of smart hardware lies in its agility. With a recurrent feedback loop and regular software updates, products can be improved over time. Ubiquity Ventures is focused on funding startups that pursue this continuous refinement, investing in a feature trajectory rather than physical product. Sunil Nagaraj is the managing partner of Ubiquity, a seed-stage venture capital firm interested in s...

Bitcoin mining is tough to explain to Muggles outside the ecosystem, but Chris Shepherd is up for the task. Chris was a part of Tribe 4 here at Boost, and he also happens to be the face of the illustrious Boost VC Mural. Who better to take us through the basics of mining? Chris is the co-founder and CEO of HashRabbit, a startup that builds software for large-scale mining facilities. Chris was intr...

VR is about immersion. Rather than simply witnessing an experience, we become a part of it. Imagine the advantage for brands and publishers if their content could leverage that same kind of engagement, creating ads that include us in an immersive media experience. OmniVirt is a VR and AR advertising platform for brands and publishers with the capacity to distribute 360° video content that audience...

How can the crypto community embrace design thinking? By thinking in terms of prototypes. Rather than waiting until a product is perfect, develop a test version and let it out into the wild. Allowing the community to engage is the best way to learn what works and what doesn’t—and work up to your vision. Dan Elitzer is the Blockchain and Digital Identity Lead at IDEO CoLab, IDEO’s research and desi...

Up until 18 months ago, there was ‘one drone to rule them all.’ But that stopped working as the consumer began to demand specialization. Different industries have different needs, and the drone market has begun to drill down and solve the problems specific to fields like construction and agriculture. Some problems remain unsolved, and that’s where Mothership Aeronautics comes in. Jonathan Nutzati...

What if you could talk directly to a VR experience, accessing the menu or a particular tool simply by asking for it? Michael Ludden argues that voice interaction makes sense for every virtual reality application as a method of control, and in his role as Director of Product with IBM Watson, he is committed to building a toolkit for developers that allows them to incorporate services like Speech to...

Relentless. When we met Sebastian Serrano in 2013, he was the quintessential tenacious founder, attending any and every industry event and becoming a part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem—before it was called the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Sebastian’s interest in the space began in 2012. Inflation in Argentina was on the rise, and the government was making it more and more difficult to move money. B...

"The first generation of headsets has proved that VR is going to be a thing, but it’s not going to be a thing on that generation of headsets." 2017 was a reality check for the VR industry. The market size continues to be limited by barriers like setup time and the fact that it’s a pain in the ass to take anywhere. So what is the key to mass adoption? Peter Le Bek argues that standalone w...

What is Taylor Monahans greatest challenge in managing a distributed team? They are TOO efficient! Technology has given rise to more and more distributed teams who work remotely from all over the world, especially in the cryptocurrency space. As the founder of a crypto technology startup, Taylor considers her ability to jump on a call and stir the pot—forcing the team to get to know each other and...

{Rebroadcast} Season 1, Ep. 19: Kathleen Breitman, Co-Founder of Tezos The people have spoken and they want more crypto! The rise of the prices in the industry have led us to interview someone who has an upcoming ICO, Kathleen Breitman with Tezos. We challenge other currencies and discuss governance structures. https://www.tezos.com/ https://twitter.com/tez0s

{Rebroadcast of our very first episode with Greg Castle from July 22, 2016} Part of what makes a good venture capitalist is a knack for predicting the future, and a big part of that future includes what we call frontier technologies like VR, AR, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. Truly visionary VCs will have a front row seat as these new industries emerge. Bay Area VC Greg Castle is the managing...

The data analytics benchmarks and standards for web and mobile applications simply cannot be applied to virtual reality; the linear tracking of clicks doesn’t give VR developers a clear understanding of how users are interacting with their product. Rather, a 3D data set that analyzes several metrics together affords developers with a clear picture of what features and functions users love and what...

“[The crypto space has] got its own special culture. The folks that populate our industry are free-thinkers and renegades, and they have interesting ideas about changing the financial system as we know it.” Bart Stephens has always been on the cutting edge of new technologies. He began his career with E*TRADE, pioneering online stock trading in the early 1990’s. Bart went on to become an entrepren...

‘There’s definitely some teams that are using [ICOs] and are able to fund their ideas better and more easily than the traditional VC way of doing things, but there’s just too many bad actors that just want a get rich quick scheme.’ Charlie Lee created Litecoin in 2011 while he was working as software engineer for Google. Litecoin is ‘the silver to Bitcoin’s gold,’ functioning as a peer-to-peer cry...

Most people don’t realize just how transparent the blockchain is, but every transaction that happens on Bitcoin is public. None of us wants to have our net worth on display, leaving us vulnerable to fishing attacks and allowing others to see what we spend our money on. So how do we approach privacy in the cryptocurrency space? Where should we be storing our Bitcoin to keep it safe? And how can we...

‘What’s crazy for me is that for the first time in history we can actually try out new governance mechanisms without people dying in the streets.’ The beauty of blockchain technology is in its ability to facilitate ‘bloodless wars’ in which opposing sides compete without bloodshed and ultimately build a borderless world that is fair and free. Luis Cuende’s interest in the blockchain began in 2011...

“Venture capital, to me, is a way that we can raise money to help entrepreneurs who can go out there and do something for the world that just opens it up. I am always pushing for freedom, and I think it’s great to see venture capital be able to support entrepreneurs—wherever they are—to go out there and do something extraordinary for freedom.” -- Tim Draper Tim Draper is the founding partner of Dr...

What happens when you marry a background in genetic engineering with extensive experience in design? A unique skill set that supports life scientists in becoming entrepreneurs, helping PhDs turn benchtop science into applied products with the potential to change lives. Arvind Gupta is the co-founder of IndieBio, the world’s largest seed biotech accelerator. He has over a decade of experience helpi...