James Vincent

A CALL TO ARMS: MORE WOMEN NEED TO ENGAGE WITH AI This week’s episode is with Whitney Wolfe Herd, Founder of @bumble . We talk about innovation... how to design AI for better, healthier human connections. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/can…

@hugomercierooo Pretty incredible momentum. Congrats @hugomercierooo

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝗻 — 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿. No setup. Secure. Infinitely scalable. We just raised a $𝟭𝟬𝗠 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱. After a beta with 𝟭𝟬𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬+ 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱, we’re now opening to everyone. RT and comment “Twin” — first agents on us. 👇

@lulumeservey Excellent piece Lulu. Founders taking control of their narrative, and crafting their own story!!

GO DIRECT: THE MANIFESTO I. TRADITIONAL PR IS DEAD. For too long, founders have yielded control over their narratives to media and middlemen. Before the internet, it was by necessity. The way to reach large audiences was through the media, and the way to get media coverage was through professional publicists. Today, most of the planet is directly reachable by social media or email. There’s no longer a need to go through traditional gatekeepers of information and brokers of reputation — especially as their own credibility has plummeted. The old PR playbook of relying on third parties with misaligned interests is obsolete. But while the world has changed, comms norms have not. Still encased in amber are the old habits: prioritizing media over social media, fishing for clicks instead of fostering communities, and avoiding risk by recycling worn-out tactics. “Corporate communications” itself is now an oxymoron, as nothing meaningful can be communicated by a faceless committee. If press releases read like they were written by a baker’s dozen of middle managers, that’s because they were. Their only discernible purpose seems to be to avoid upsetting anyone and jeopardizing the future job prospects of those middle managers. The resulting stories are bland and generic, with passion reduced to pablum. Traditional comms is an anachronism. II. COMMUNICATION IS THE FOUNDER’S JOB. For a decade, we’ve been told that tech founders are cartoon villains, venture-funded startups are grifts, and new technologies will destroy us all. Maybe there was a time when founders could just focus on building — they were seen by the media establishment as a curiosity, not a threat to the natural hierarchy who needed to be put in their place. But if that time ever existed, it is now long gone. You may not be interested in The Discourse, but it is interested in you. And if you bow out, you are forfeiting your license to build a movement and thus build a company. Building a movement is hard, but it must be done, and it must be done by founders. A founder’s passion, vision, and conviction can’t be simulated by others — least of all the press-release-enjoying middle managers already scouting for their next jobs. The best spokesperson for any endeavor is not the one who has the most polish, the longest tenure, or the “right” credentials. It’s the person who holds the secret knowledge upon which the enterprise is built, the person who can not only describe the idea but, in the face of inevitable opposition, fight for it and win. Founders need to take their narrative as seriously as they take the rockets or robots. They would never outsource their product — and when it comes to convincing others to support the mission, the story is the product. Outsourcing comms is as bad as outsourcing code. As evangelists, founders are irreplaceable. III. GO DIRECT OR GO HOME. Going direct to the people who matter is how founders retain control over their narratives and preserve their companies’ uniqueness. Those who are stubborn, unorthodox, and disagreeable should never have their edges filed down for fear of offending entrenched interests. But going direct doesn’t mean going it alone. It doesn’t mean refusing help or spurning others who can amplify your message. And it certainly doesn’t mean just poasting more. Going direct means crafting and telling your own story, without being dependent on intermediaries. Just as founders might have more natural talents at product, management, or engineering, some founders will be naturals at communicating while others have a harder time. The good news is that going direct and building a movement, while not easy, are skills that can be developed with discipline and time. The bad news is that, unlike with engineering or management, communications failures are immediately public and personally humiliating. It’s not surprising that many are loathe to take on this responsibility. At the same time, founders willing to pick up that gauntlet will find that it gives them a massive edge in recruiting, fundraising, selling, and shaping the information environment needed for their companies to thrive. IV. IT’S TIME TO REBUILD THE ROSTRA. At the center of Rome, as it transitioned from a Republic to an Empire, stood a speaker’s platform from which the city’s leaders would address the public directly. It was called the Rostra, so named because it stood atop the captured battle rams (or rostrums) of enemy warships. From here, speeches were given that would sway opinion, change regimes, and alter history. That physical structure has been lost to time, but we now have something much more powerful: a free and open internet with which to build a speaker’s platform of limitless scale. All we need is the will to build it. The conventional way of communicating has its allure. Outsource your message, let some removed third party go through the motions of getting “impressions,” and spare yourself the risks and discomfort that come with putting your own name on the line. But that way is incompatible with greatness. Reject convention — build your own platform, build your own audience, and build your own narrative. Go direct.

HOW DO WE INNOVATE TOWARDS A MORE INTELLIGENT FUTURE? My guess is that just a few years from now, we will look back at today and think how un-intelligent today was! .. a more intelligent future may simply be about removing all the massive amounts of waste and duplication that exist today! In an expansive manner, a more intelligent future, will be made up of Human Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence and Natural Intelligence, that will capture the opportunity of diversity, complex inter-relationships and build a new consciousness .. inventing a New Future! Listen to the conversation with my partners at FNDR: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3UAyAE… #AI #humanintelligence #naturalintelligence

HOW DO WE INNOVATE TOWARDS A MORE INTELLIGENT FUTURE? My guess is that just a few years from now, we will look back at today and think how un-intelligent today was! .. a more intelligent future may simply be about removing all the massive amounts of waste and duplication that exist today! In an expansive manner, a more intelligent future, will be made up of Human intelligence, Artificial intelligence and Natural Intelligence, that will capture the opportunity of diversity, complex inter-relationships and build a new consciousness .. inventing a New Future! Listen to our conversation to get a taste of the ongoing conversation within FNDR. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3UAyAE…

WHY WOULD YOU GO TO A UNI-VERSITY IN A MULTI-VERSAL WORLD? This week I had an excellent conversation with Euan Blair, founder of Multiverse, and son of ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. We talk about how he is tackling the fundamental mismatch between the types of talent and education that the system provides .. and the talent that companies actually need today. His philosophy is in the name… we are moving away from a simple Uni- verse world - to a new complex Multi - verse world where you don't just study one thing, at one time in your life. Where new skills (like AI) are constantly built throughout your life .. so why go to Uni-versity at all? From only being ‘qualified in theory’..to ongoing training on the job - and being ‘qualified in practice’. Its learning through working and working through learning! Listen to our conversation on innovating education, work, learning and practice. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4gXHUh… #leadersininnovation #education #work #AI

AI DOESN’T PREDICT THE FUTURE - BUT ALLOWS US TO PEAK AROUND THE CORNER. This week I sat down with UN Vanguard award winner, @SaraMenker, Founder of @GroIntel, a leader in climate and agriculture, illuminating the inter-relationships between the two sets of complex data, using AI. In this case it's Climate Change data and Food Supply data.. " .. what could be more existential for the human race as we pass 8 billion people on the planet, and as the climate becomes less hospitable, helping us figure out how to 'peek around the corner' and plan better to ensure we have enough food.” So .. if AI can illuminate these interrelationships of two totally unrelated complex data sets like this .. then what's next? Will AI connect things we simply do not have the human capability to understand now, that are indeed powerfully connected .. and in so doing better understand our world ? Can we build a more Intelligent Future .. where human intelligence utilizes artificial intelligence to empower nature's intelligence ? Read more about our conversation. fastcompany.com/90994982/how-t… #leadersininnovation #AI #climatechange #foodsecurity

BY CONNECTING VERTICAL AI WITH HORIZONTAL AI .. CAN WE STOP AI FROM HALLUCINATING .. ? What interrelationships will be illuminated? This week’s episode of Leaders in Innovation features the incredible @SaraMenker , Founder of @GroIntel and winner of the UN Vanguard award. She brings her brilliance and deep understanding of the applications of AI to climate and agricultural data, to imagine what next innovation is coming around the corner like.. ChatGPT is a horizontal AI. Gro Intelligence is a deep vertical AI. A reasoning engine with deep knowledge (vertical AI) with a human-friendly interface (horizontal AI).. Looking into the future, what is really exciting.. what will we see when we combine horizontal + vertical AI? And a big thank you to Sara for talking through being under the weather 🦾☂️ Listen to the conversation, like and subscribe. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bri… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7GFdQV… #leadersininnovation #climatetech #ai

As we look ahead at 2024, at the existential questions we face and the role technology plays in these questions.. I came out of my conversation with @wolfejosh, a technologist and Co-founder of @Lux_Capital, with some big takeaways we can apply to the critical challenges facing us. There is a moral valence for technology ⚖ 📱 Technology itself is not necessarily good or bad - but depends on the business model 📈 💾  Technology needs to come from a company we trust - one that is virtuously competitive 💪 👤  Human nature is consistent. Science compounds. 🔬 Listen to the episode and subscribe for more great conversations. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4cwqHV… #leadersininnovation #ai #technology

HUMAN NATURE IS A CONSTANT. SCIENCE COMPOUNDS. As @wolfejosh (Co-Founder and Managing Partner at @Lux_Capital) put it human nature is unchanging and constant. We have to relearn all the lessons through our past but by comparison, science compounds - building on top of the shoulders of giants. We find ourselves right now in a promethean moment in an Age of Reimagination as we say at FNDR and who better to navigate such profound implications than with the visionary and future optimist, Josh Wolfe? Our conversation was nothing short of mind-blowing! Check out the below to read and/or listen further. fastcompany.com/90990210/why-t… #leadersininnovation #biotech #science #AI

This week on the Leaders In Innovation Podcast, I had the pleasure of chatting with polymath @wolfejosh (Co-Founder & Managing Partner of @Lux_Capital). Josh is a truly visionary VC, with his ethics still firmly intact. Our conversation explored the vast landscape of innovation and felt like gazing into a crystal ball. One thought that's stuck with me is the moral valence of technology. As Josh put it "technology itself is not necessarily good or bad - it depends on the business model." Is the technology designed to sow discord or foster connection? The answer lies in the business models and incentives that power them. In the fast lane of AI, such critical questions arise. What virtues will propel these tools forward? As Josh believes it’s crucial that technology emerges from companies we trust — ones that are virtuously competitive. Loved having you on my friend @wolfejosh 👊 Thank you for sharing such nuggets of wisdom 🧠 I just about kept up with your mad scientist brain! Hope you enjoy and please rate and subscribe if you’d like to hear more. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4cwqHV… #leadersininnovation #ai #technology

I hope you enjoy and if so, please rate and subscribe below for more insights and remarkable stories to come. Apple:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lea… Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/0t9r9MvR2…

🌐 "Creating a 'Third Space'" - @jasoncitron (@discord): Organize the internet for human connection. Build a space for togetherness. 🌐

I’m so excited to share the next episode of Leaders in Innovation (out next Tuesday) - with my good friend and renaissance polymath @wolfejosh (Co-Founder and Managing Director of @Lux_Capital). It’s pure gold!