Kyle Vogt is the President and CTO of Cruise Automation, leading an effort in trying to solve one of the biggest robotics challenges of our time: vehicle autonomy. He is the co-founder of 2 successful companies (Cruise and Twitch) that were each acquired for 1 billion dollars.Video version is available on YouTube. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations.
Co-founder and Co-MD of Secha Capital Rushil Vallabh joins Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga for the very first in-studio taping of 2019. Andile, Musa and Rushil chat through some notable signals and trends they've observed in Africa’s digital, tech and innovation ecosystem over the last month or so, then unpack issues raised by a New York Times (NYT) article entitled, More Start-Ups Have an Unfamiliar Message for Venture Capitalists: Get Lost - penned by Erin Griffith - which caused quite a stir on social media.
The NYT piece raises some contentious issues currently being debated within Africa's early-stage startup investment scene— some of which were tackled on episode 124 entitled, Is Venture Capital a Ponzi Scheme? feat. Grant Phillips of PhilTech Consulting, which, incidentally, featured Rushil as guest host.
Listen to hear why African startup founders might do well to embrace the "joy of missing out" aka JOMO by rejecting investment doctrine that prioritises raising ever increasing rounds of capital and pursuing growth at all costs over building sustainable/profitable ventures. To skip straight to that discussion, head to [55:12].
Topics discussed in this episode:
AMA.ZING, part of the Zing Group, withdraws from Zimbabwe [4:52]
The Econet Group is beasting right now [12:46]
Econet Group Chairman Strive Masiyiwa vs Minority Shareholders [16:25]
Vodacom's #PleaseCallMe PR Nightmare [20:51]
Naspers now controls Russia’s largest classified advertising platform [30:50]
Andela closes $100 million funding round [34:52]
Cairo Angels claims to have invested $2.3 million in 24 startups [36:36]
Egyptian bus-sharing startup Swvl is expanding to Kenya [38:37]
Xiaomi plans to establish a formal presence in Africa [48:27]
Facebook and Google compromise Apple's privacy regime [49:47]
Image credit: Erwan Hesry