Tech Talks

Former four-time British Champion pistol shooter Anna Rehfisch realised early in her athletic career that sports programming, nutrition, and coaching were entirely built on male defaults. When she set out to build Joyna (envisioned as the "Strava for women") her initial passion and primary goal was to integrate menstrual cycle analytics into training, helping women optimise their perform...

As AI reshapes the workplace, how do you prepare non-technical teams for the future?  David Savage sits down with Malgorzata Perfeniuk, Chief People Officer at Impress, to explore the real impact on people of AI integration. They discuss why critical thinking is now more valuable than traditional experience, how to overcome internal resistance to new tech, and the shift from fearing job replacemen...

AI is changing how we work, but what is it doing to how we hire? Josh Nesbitt, CTO at Genio, reveals the human cost of the AI-native developer boom. As we (Harvey Nash) gear up for the launch of our documentary looking at the impact the boom in clamour for 'AI skills' is having; we discuss the reality of entry-level tech roles, why 500 CV application pools are breaking recruitment, and his...

Medical aesthetics is a $95 billion industry, yet it remains shockingly under-regulated. Shirin Krall, founder of MARBL, set out to change this by building an AI-enabled marketplace that identifies safe, high-quality clinics. But doing the right thing for consumers sparked unexpected backlash and cease-and-desist letters from the industry. David Savage explores Shirin's pivot from Revolut, the...

Not every decision that shapes the future of technology happens in a coding sprint. Some unfold slowly, over years and years, and end up in the highest court. Today, we’re looking at a landmark moment for UK innovation. When Emotional Perception AI was told they couldn't patent their artificial neural network, it wasn't just a setback for one company, it threatened to stifle investment and...

For 200 years, a university diploma was enough to launch a 40-year career. Today, employers demand 40 new skills every four years. Anthony Salcito, Coursera VP and General Manager and former Microsoft executive joins David Savage to unpack the AI skills gap. We explore why critical thinking is surging in demand, how governments are rewriting workforce readiness, and why the human element is more c...

Many traditional enterprises mistakenly believe that simply adopting cloud tools internally means they have a working AI strategy. In reality, true AI readiness requires breaking down entrenched data silos to expose engines to diverse, multi-application datasets. In today's episode, MinIO co-CEO Garima Kapoor unpacks why scaling AI isn’t just a technical hurdle, it is a massive structural chal...

When the UK government rolled out COVID home testing, experts assumed 70-80% of people would return the kits. The reality? Only 30% did. So why do leaders consistently misjudge their audiences? David sits down with Alex Cooper, Electric Twin Co-Founder (ex-Army commander and former head of the UK’s testing program) to explore how his AI startup is using "synthetic humans" to eliminate market resea...

From Goldman Sachs traders to health-tech founders, sisters India and Portia O’Connor are proving that in the age of AI, specificity is everything. They explain why generalist models fail in complex workflows and how (and why) they "cloned" a real receptionist to solve the dental industry's efficiency crisis. David Savage explores the unique pressure of sibling co-founders and why the hardest part...

We are taught to be vertical specialists: stay in your lane, climb the ladder, and fit into a box. But Casey Woo, founder of the Operators Guild, argues that in high-growth tech, the "lane" is actually a trap. On today's show David and Casey decode the DNA of the "Horizontal Specialist", the executive who thrives by moving left and right, not just up. They discuss why a CFO...

We’ve accepted AI as a copilot, but Channing Ferrer (Chief Revenue Officer and CEO of the Americas at Brevo) argues we are rapidly approaching the era where software executes entire workflows without human intervention. In this episode, Channing details a future of "bots buying from bots, bots selling to bots" and explains why the US mid-market is the new battleground for scale-ups and u...

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro have changed the world, but they aren't a silver bullet. Napala Pratini, co-founder of Habitual, joins David to discuss the “hard stuff” behind the hype: behavior change, side effects, and the ethics of digital health. She reveals why her company turned down the chance to just “stack drugs high and sell them cheap” and opens up about the isolation of the...

The "silent" revolution is getting louder, and faster. Beth Paretta, VP of Sporting at Formula E, joins David Savage to reveal the Gen 4 car. A monster hitting 0-60 in 1.8 seconds. We explore why the "soulless EV" myth is dead, how software manages range anxiety at 200mph, and how the track is reshaping the road. Discover the visceral reality of electric racing’s next step, and...

Matt Austin and Ryan Lovelock left the Bank of England to solve a modern problem: subscription fatigue. In this episode, the SPORTL co-founders reveal why they are betting on a "no ties" pay-as-you-go model for London’s fitness scene. We discuss the pivot from finance to tech, the impact of hybrid work on gym habits, and why they believe the future of fitness technology is commitment-fre...

NordVPN CTO Marijus Briedis argues that while the tech world sprints toward AI, we have forgotten the basics of cyber hygiene. He reveals why the "human firewall" is his biggest headache. From users voluntarily pasting medical records into ChatGPT to the constant battle against phishing. In the episode David and Marijus explore why he rejects "shiny" new coding languages like Z...

Today we speak to Sadia Dhorat, an entrepreneur who swapped the safety-net of consulting career for the gritty reality of New York’s health tech scene during the pandemic. Now she's in London helping others grow with the experience she's gained. In conversation with David, Sadia breaks down the stark differences between London and US risk appetites, reveals why the jump from Series A to Se...

We spend billions on climate tech, yet we know more about space than the soil beneath our feet. Robin Saluoks (CEO, eAgronom) reveals why dirt is actually the world's most advanced carbon capture technology, holding more CO2 than all living plants combined. He talks to David about the need to promote "climate pragmatism," why emissions should be treated as waste to be recycled rather...

On today's show we're diving into wellness and mental health. We are told AI is the future of healthcare, but can algorithms truly handle mental health? Georgie Spurling, founder of Arvra, argues they can't. After a childhood heart operation defined her limitations, Georgie built a platform that defies the industry’s obsession with pure scalability. She joins David Savage to discuss why "hustle cu...

Why do we hesitate to use government digital IDs but happily hand over our data to social media giants? Jarek Sygitowicz, co-founder of Authologic, joins David Savage to decode the future of identity. They discuss the "Stripe-ification" of verification, why taking photos of your driver's license is actually a security nightmare, and how "Zero Knowledge Proofs" might finally...

Danyl Bosomworth didn’t set out to be a tech founder; he just wanted a better ice bath. In this episode, the Brass Monkey founder reveals how a "scratch your own itch" project evolved into a sophisticated business. We explore why a physical wellness product required a custom tech stack to survive, the science of retraining your nervous system against corporate stress, and why building a...

We often measure AI innovation by press releases, but what does the hard data say? In today's show David sits down with Ed White (Clarivate) to analyze the "current patented knowledge of humanity." They discuss why Japan is quietly dominating the hardware layer, why AI deployment is outpacing technological maturity (creating a potential "risk bubble"), and why the era of th...

We are living in an era of "environmental mismatch". Our bodies have evolved over millions of years, and they are now fighting (or running from) 'tigers' in a world of constant digital pings. Waldi Hoon, CEO of yōjō, joins David to decode the Vagus nerve and the autonomic nervous system. She discusses why raw health data often leads to "wellness shame," the science of p...

On today's edition of 'Tech Talks' David talks to Vincent Cook, the founder of Cyb3r Operations, to talk about a critical blind spot in cybersecurity: third-party risk. From leaving school at 16 to raising $5.4 million, Vincent shares how he is bridging the gap between perceived risk and real exposure. Discover why most organizations underestimate their external ecosystem by up to 30x...

With childrens' literacy (in the United Kingdom) in crisis, Michael Nakan CEO of Comixit! is using technology to fight back. Today he joins David to discuss how his platform uses AI to transform the legendary Beano into frictionless, digital-native webtoons. We explore the cross-generational power of storytelling, the danger of "addictive" vs. "additive" technology, and why...

In an era of rapid AI transformation, Kasia Hayward argues that the secret to success is actually moving slower. Drawing on twenty years of experience with global leaders like JP Morgan and UBS, Kasia explores the "human data" organizations often ignore. We discuss the shift from AI hype to practical context, the reality of neurodiversity in tech, and why leaders must stop asking why peo...