If you could live forever, would you? Combining the forces of science and technology, a leader for the movement towards immortality has emerged. Zoltan was reporting frontline for National Geographic in war zones, even enduring a near-death experience with a landmine in Vietnam. This enlightened him to the value behind surpassing the limitations of terminal flesh and improving the human being and therefore the human experience. Zoltan Istvan is the American-Hungarian Owner and President of ZI Ventures, a former 2020 US Presidential Candidate for the Republican party, founder of the Transhumanist Party, and a Bestselling Author and Futurist. He currently serves as a media figure working towards publicizing transhumanism and accumulating funding for further research. Transhumanism is a social and psychological movement in which the proponents advocate and predict the enhancement of the human condition. Transhumanists are developing technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, mood, and cognitive abilities. ❗ What is the PROBLEM that transhumanism is solving?? About 150,000 people are dying per day. Transhumanists are in a race to overcome death. Moreover, inequality is worsening in the social sphere. With proper structure and basic income, our health care systems could support this movement of strengthening our mortal bodies. With a trillion dollars, death could be conquered in 10 to 20 years. Unfortunately, the National Institute of Health (NIH) is not funding research because aging is not viewed as a terminal disease. We currently only access less than one percent of the light and sounds that can be heard in the universe. Our perceptions of the vastness around us are extremely limited. 🛠️ What is transhumanism’s SOLUTION?? Augmenting our current human capabilities through technology. Transhumanism is both the application of radical technology to human beings and a social movement of surmounting beyond our physical restraints (think travelling space and merging with machines). Aging is a disease with a feasible cure. For example, transhumanism has developed prosthetics that tie to your neural system for soldiers’ crippling wounds. These robotic limbs are currently allowing wounded veterans, the handicapped, and disabled people to regain their strength. From brain implants to driverless cars and jet packs, technology bolsters us to be more than human. We have not yet tapped into 99 percent of the universe. Imagine having a hundred senses; it would revolutionize our human experience. The pursuit of indefinite lifespans is spurred on by the complexity of life and the desire to discover the vastness of our universe and exponentially improve our intellect. Machines will retain a sense of their humanity, mitigating the risk of conflict between humans and cyborgs. While establishing a universal basic income, accessibility to augmented healthcare will not be an issue. A positive cycle of investing into society will be reinforced. Zoltan Istvan’s LinkedIn Zoltan Istvan’s Website Zoltan Istvan’s Instagram ZI Ventures’ Website Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes, which includes a full transcription of the conversation, a link to the YouTube Video interview, the top 3 value bombs, people & resources mentioned, and more! This podcast is hosted by Julian Alvarez, the Co-Founder & CTO at Vize and a Software Engineer at Facebook.

At 13, she taught herself programming. And ever since the robotics club in middle school captured her interest, her vigor for driving pivotal change and solving hard technical problems, has been unstoppable. By 15, her technological bandwidth expanded to machine learning and blockchain. From developing platforms to track counterfeit medication in developing countries to reducing the cost of prosthetics, she was deservingly awarded the “Young Innovator to Watch” by the Consumer Technology Association. Today, Alisha Imran continues to invent the future at age 18. Her passion? Exploring the intersection between significant problems and the cutting edge technology that can solve them. She manifests this through three key roles: She is the Co-founder at Voltx, a developer at Hanson Robotics, and a Machine Learning Intern at Kindred.ai. Voltx is a machine learning company that is developing software to accelerate research and development testing of energy storage devices, including batteries and supercapacitors (SC). Hanson Robotics is an AI and robotics company dedicated to creating socially intelligent machines that enrich the quality of our lives. They are the creators of Sophia, the human-like robot. At Kindred.ai, she will be developing more intelligent machines using cutting-edge techniques in reinforcement learning (RL) and imitation learning. What is the PROBLEM that Voltx is solving? Innovations from electric and flying cars to solar panels are enabled by lithium ion batteries. In the development of these batteries and supercapacitors, testing is the primary bottleneck. For example, long duration manual testing for a lithium ion battery can take 3 months to a year to complete. Industry competitors are working towards the next best battery with the highest energy density output, but no one is optimizing the development process. Therefore, batteries are currently unscalable. Companies can’t increase their production and renewable energy can’t be sustained without these massive energy storage systems. What is Voltx’s SOLUTION and VISION? A software platform to reduce battery testing time. This will exponentially expedite the development process of batteries. Voltx aspires to collaborate with battery manufacturing companies to increase the number of devices they’re producing annually. Eventually, these applications will allow renewable energies to be more stable and reliable for widespread use and application. Electric vehicles will become more accessible to the masses, improving the environment through less carbon emissions. Alishba Imran’s LinkedIn Alishba Imran’s Twitter Alishba Imran’s Email Voltx’s Website Voltx’s LinkedIn Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes, which includes a full transcription of the conversation, a link to the YouTube Video interview, the top 3 value bombs, people & resources mentioned, and more! This podcast is hosted by Julian Alvarez, the Co-Founder & CTO at Vize and a Software Engineer at Facebook.

Sit back for an overdue reflection on Julian’s recent transition from college to Silicon Valley, where he recently moved to start his career at Facebook as a Software Engineer. Julian graduated from college in December 2020 and took 7 months off before he started working at Facebook. During this 7 month journey, he started this podcast, worked relentlessly on his startup, Vize, traveled to South America for a month (and did Ayahuasca), and invested a significant amount of time into building systems, networking, and learning. This episode is a reflection on his journey and his most valuable lessons from all of these experiences. Julian co-founded his startup Vize almost four years ago and even though there have been minor wins, the team has struggled tremendously to get paying customers and find product-market fit. The entrepreneurial journey has been nothing short of incredibly challenging but he’s not willing to give up until his mission-driven team has tried everything they possibly can. Six months into his podcast, Julian has been careful with measuring the right success metrics. Analogous to entrepreneurship, the initial results will be disproportionate to the amount of effort expended. Fortunately, he set a 100-episode goal before he would allow himself to consider giving up. Find out how he defines his core success metrics and hear about other valuable lessons Julian has learned from running the podcast for half a year. In South America, Julian discovered his immense privilege. South America is filled with poverty and in some countries like Venezuela, the minimum wage is $5 / month. Julian’s most profound experience was his 3-day ayahuasca retreat. He shares the most important lesson he took from this mystical experience in this episode. “The key to success is to demand more from yourself than anybody could possibly expect of you.” - Julian Alvarez Top Value Bomb With each ascending level of success, your ability to produce results will be increasingly contingent on “Whos” and now “Hows.” When doing anything, your first thought should be “Who can I ask to help me?” rather than “How can I do this?” Learning through traditional methods, such as books, is linear, while learning from others is nonlinear because you can get immediate answers to your specific problems and questions. Moreover, your network is your scope of opportunities. Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes, which includes a full transcription of the conversation, a link to the YouTube Video interview, the top 3 value bombs, people & resources mentioned, and more! This podcast is hosted by Julian Alvarez, the Co-Founder & CTO at Vize and a Software Engineer at Facebook.

Machines can replicate processes, but they can’t detect quality. Human beings are the mindful drivers that define meaning, and that is what sets us apart. Caitlin is an explorer in the worlds of technology, innovation, and well being. She is an author of two books named Designing Wonder and Mindful by Design, a professor at Stanford teaching classes such as “Digital Wellbeing: Healthy Relationships with Technology”.  After teaching for two decades, Caitlin founded MindWise, a storytelling and experience design studio and consultancy, in 2015. Their impressive client portfolio includes Google, Facebook, Oracle, Ted, Evernote, and the US State Department.  What is the PROBLEM that MindWise is solving? How do you incorporate technology into learning experiences? Educators and managers are eager to utilize technology to teach their students or train their teams, but they fear losing touch with their humanity or compromising their quality of life. An even more challenging task is taking the salient and meaningful takeaways from a VR experience and bringing it back to one’s reality. Moments of enlightenment are often too fleeting for long-term impact. Users are not expertly guided on how to apply their newfound concepts moving forward. What is MindWise’s SOLUTION? Utilizing a triangle of mindfulness, storytelling and design. By incorporating a design thinking mindset, Mindwise encourages deep inquiry and empathy through the expressive art of VR technology. Storytelling as a form of teaching is ten times more memorable than delivering random, abstract concepts. A story can be defined as a package of what we find meaningful. Once it’s transferred, the recipient will attach their own meaning to it and its lessons are now more deeply ingrained.  From coaching TED talks to advising at high schools and universities, MindWise delivers all forms of program support with their innovative methodology.  As a result, MindWise pioneers connection and freedom through artificial intelligence. Caitlin Krause’s Website Caitlin Krause’s LinkedIn Caitlin Krause’s Instagram Caitlin Krause’s Twitter MindWise’s Website MindWise’s LinkedIn “When you fear something it shows that you care; so how can we turn that care into an opportunity to thrive in that moment?” Value Bomb Fear is an indicator of how much you care about something. Therefore, the more fear you feel toward something, the more you care about the thing causing you fear. Rather than allowing this fear to cripple you into inaction, let it fuel your actions toward progress. Shift your mindset on fear and view it from a positive lens. Leverage this care as an opportunity to thrive in that moment. Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes, which includes a full transcription of the conversation, the top 3 value bombs, people & resources mentioned, and more! This podcast is hosted by Julian Alvarez, the Co-Founder & CTO at Vize and a Software Engineer at Facebook.

If not me, then who? At an Uber Elevate Summit in 2018, JR realized that no one was taking initiative to bring flying cars to Canada. In a room filled with aviation experts, JR felt an overwhelming amount of imposter syndrome. Why would a 27 year old with almost no experience in aviation think he has what it takes to bring electric flying vehicles to Canada? While he grew up in Calgary’s energy hydrocarbon center, his wanderlust led him to live in Toronto, Barcelona, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. As the travel bug was solidified within him, his divergent side on sustainability was unveiled. He’ll never forget the morning he woke up to smog so thick, he felt the sting in his lungs. His visceral reaction to the pollution awakened him to the consequences of conventional aircraft. JR Hammond is the 29-year-old CEO and Founder of Canadian Air Mobility (CAM) and the Executive Director of the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium (CAAM). The consortium serves as the non-profit idea generator and CAM is the for-profit investment house that ensures these business opportunities evolve into revenue generating operations. ❗ What is the PROBLEM that CAAM is solving? The Problem regarding sustainability: Conventional systems are not sufficient anymore. The aviation sector is accelerating our global footprint at the fastest rate and aircraft emissions are exponentially more harmful than ground emissions. The Problem regarding city infrastructure: We can’t stack or expand highways anymore to facilitate the natural movement of people, goods and services. With the rapid urbanization of cities worldwide, we lack the ground space needed. Cities are growing at accelerated rates and space is running out. Our additional transportation needs are growing faster than bridges and tunnels can be built. HOW MUCH SPACE PARKING LOTS TAKE The Problem regarding traffic and human connectivity: The pandemic has proven that face-to-face interactions are irreplaceable in their value both for social and professional interactions. However, in the US, people that commute to work waste 54 extra hours a year in traffic delays. That's almost a week and a half of work. In LA, which is the most congested area, commuters waste an average of 119 hours per year. 🛠️ What are CAM and CAAM’s SOLUTION? The CAAM aims to mobilize an industry towards a shared vision: developing aviation as the next shared transportation service. For the first time in Canadian aviation history, the three levels of government, airports, operators, and new electric aircraft developers gathered to discuss expanding conventional routes through hydrocarbon powered aircraft. The goal of CAAM is to build the necessary infrastructure needed for electric flying vehicles to be possible. They prioritize public perception, dealing with regulations, and ensuring public safety.  JR Hammond’s LinkedIn Canadian Advanced Air Mobility’s Website Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium’s Website Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes, which includes a full transcription of the conversation, a link to the YouTube Video interview, the top 3 value bombs, people & resources mentioned, and more! This podcast is hosted by Julian Alvarez, the Co-Founder & CTO at Vize and a Software Engineer at Facebook.

Most employees don’t value themselves enough to put in the work they need to achieve their goals. In fact, 80% of employees experience work-related stress and anxiety and depression costs companies over $1T globally every year. But what if you could solve these problems by going to the gym for your mindset? After a degree in commerce with a focus on Human Resources & Organizational Behaviour, Lucy Born hopped on the self-development train. She has also studied Organizational Leadership and Economics. One master’s degree in counseling psychology later, she became a registered psychotherapist and began coaching founders and CEOs. After coaching founders and CEOs for several years, Lucy noticed that many of the people that needed coaching the most were not getting it because it was not accessible or familiar to them. Learning about the problems confronted in corporate environments among employees and understanding the value of coaching, Lucy took the entrepreneurial leap and decided to start Inward to provide accessible coaching services to companies. Lucy is the Founder and CEO of Inward, a one-on-one virtual coaching service that hires the top three percent of coaches with organizational experience. She took something that already exists—coaching—and created a system around it to fit the personalized needs of each company. What is the PROBLEM that Inward is solving? 80% of employees experience work-related stress or burnout. Anxiety and stress cost the global economy one trillion dollars annually. 1 in 6 people cried to a colleague this year. COVID-19 has aggravated this issue, but benefit programs still remain underutilized in the background. The Problem for Employees: The fear of failure and lack of worthiness are two main areas where employees struggle mentally. When a company’s employees fail to value themselves, own who they are, and believe they are worthy of being helped, it generates a vicious cycle of beating oneself down to force unsustainable growth. The Problem for Companies: Employee engagement is declining and turnover rates are increasing, which means skyrocketing costs for companies. When unassisted, many employees quit and leave, requiring companies to invest excessive capital on hiring and training programs. Moreover, when one employee is What is Inward’s SOLUTION? Accessible, affordable, and high utility of coaching services provided to companies that they can offer to their employees as a benefit. Inward works with all employees by having them identify their goals & needs (e.g. burnout, healthy habits, role transition, leadership skills, etc.) and then scheduling coaching calls with highly vetted and qualified coaches to help accomplish those goals. Lucy Born’s LinkedIn Lucy Born’s Instagram Inward’s LinkedIn Inward’s Website Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes, which includes a full transcription of the conversation, a link to the YouTube Video interview, the top 3 value bombs, people & resources mentioned, and more! This podcast is hosted by Julian Alvarez, the Co-Founder & CTO at Vize and a Software Engineer at Facebook.

When his Professor presented a $10,000 dollar award for the best entrepreneurial robotic solution, Francois was all ears. Inspired by a frustrating Airbnb experience where the key for the home was frozen under the mat, the host was unresponsive, and he was fined five thousand dollars for leaving a window open, Francois used his frustration to fuel his inspiration for what is now Enso Connect. In studying computer and cognitive science, he drove his idea to completion in his University of Toronto classroom. Francois Gouelo is the 25-year-old CEO and Co-founder of Enso Connect, a revolutionary guest management platform for the short term rental industry. His futuristic vision is accredited to his passion for smart homes. The power of sensors and devices existent today are underserved or underleveraged in many ways. Consider your Alexa, for example. Its potential hasn’t nearly been unlocked yet. What is the PROBLEM that Enso Connect is solving? Time equals money. Too much time is spent managing short term rentals. On average, an account manager can only manage up to 7-10 listings, with each listing exhausting ten hours per week. Amid the thousands of problems in the short term rental ecosystem, the impact of ineffective communication on the guest experience is massive. This is a particular vertical many have not touched. The Problem for Hosts: Hosts need to reap the benefits of placing their rentals on marketplaces like Airbnb. Unfortunately, manpower is costly and requires high maintenance when delivering a quality guest experience. During the pandemic, cancellations wreaked havoc as operational costs rose and profits plummeted. Hosts further struggled to ensure their properties were leveraged in a safe and profitable manner. The Problem for Guests: Everyone has had one negative Airbnb check-in experience. Whether it’s being locked out of the Airbnb, not being able to find the wifi password, or having an unresponsive host, there is no systematic solution that currently exists. In many countries, short term rentals are banned due to complaints around bad property management. What is Enso Connect’s SOLUTION? A guest experience management platform that unifies communication across multiple channels. Enso Connect uses a chat AI named Jarvis that is connected to all the smart home devices. Jarvis uses these smart home devices and other data to automate the entire process from pre-boarding to arranging the cleaning. The goal is to automate up to 80% of the communication through scheduled messages, welcoming instructions, restaurant recommendations, sending the wifi password, etc. Since guests repeatedly ask the same questions, these answers are automated for maximum efficiency. As a result, Enso Connect lowers operational costs so managers of short-term rentals can scale quicker. Enso Connect’s mission is to “revolutionize the travel industry by providing guests with the comfort and convenience of a hotel, while receiving the community experience of a home.” Francois Gouelo’s LinkedIn Francois Gouelo’s Instagram Enso Connect’s Website Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes! Learn more about Julian, your host, at www.julianalvarez.me

A few months after he joined a startup out of college, the dotcom bubble burst in April of 2000. Thereafter, Tanvir set aside his stockbroker dreams to found two companies as his entrepreneurial career took flight. In a world of uncertainty, Tanvir thrived as an entrepreneur. Tanvir Aman is a lifelong serial entrepreneur and is currently the Founder and CEO of Dunyha. He came up with the idea for Dunyha while he was managing his own Airbnb and realized that customer satisfaction from guests and his level of involvement were positively correlated. After this epiphany, Tanvir started Dunyha, a startup that is revolutionizing the housing crisis by empowering real estate ownership through an operate to own model. This means that you have a host that lives at a property and in exchange for providing hospitality to the guests, they get to stay at the home for free. What is the PROBLEM that Dunyha is solving? Where people want to stay looks starkly different from ten years ago. Moreover, real estate ownership is becoming increasingly inaccessible for young people, particularly in urban districts and cities. Generation by generation, real estate prices are accelerating while wages are stagnating. The Problem for Homeowners: Most college graduates are burdened by college debt. Additionally, despite the extra costs, the majority of Generation Z individuals want to live in urban districts or the center of “buzz.” However, 44% of Millenials lack a down payment for a traditional mortgage. Lastly, there is an increasing need for buildings to be built sustainably as a long-term asset that is both efficient and technologically modern. The Problem for Travelers: Today, more people are attracted to booking Airbnbs or alternative lodging than hotels. Hotels are simply stale, with no element of excitement that can satisfy the adventurous zeal of Generation Z. Even though Airbnbs are great, they tend to have limited property management, security, and service layers in the average lodging experience. Hosts are often faceless and do not provide guidance to travelers. What is Dunyha’s SOLUTION? A purpose built and curated Airbnb experience. First, they design sustainable homes that resemble micro hotels. These combine the appeal of Airbnbs with the consistency and hospitality of hotels. Second, they bring in young people (Generation Z and Millenials) who are passionate about the hospitality industry. These individuals are the ideal operators of the micro-hotels due to their focus on enhancing the service aspect of a guest stay. They’re incentivized by free rent and profit sharing income. After three years, they’re able to purchase the property and business by securing financing. Typically, you would either pay for rent or if you had enough money, you would make a downpayment to purchase a home. Dunyha gives you a third option with their operate-to-own model. Straying from the traditional rent-to-own or own model, their operating model has the power to transform and improve the entire travel lodging industry. Travelers can now control their experience and the design of it. As a result, Dunyha harnesses the entrepreneurial spirits of young people and provides them with the income producing assets of real estate. Dunyha’s mission is to “empower real estate ownership serving travelers.” Tanvir Aman’s LinkedIn Dunyha’s Website Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes!

At 18, Jay Olenicz decided to break a world record. Four years later, Jay and his brother embarked on the 48-day journey across the Atlantic that would earn them three Guinness World Records. After several near-death experiences and countless hours of reflection, Jay conducted a reassessment of his life. This profound experience inspired him to quit his management consulting job in Bristol, UK, and start a travel tech startup in early 2020.  Jay is the CEO and Co-founder of Staze, a travel app that allows you to book last-minute “holiday” rentals for discounted prices and provides travel recommendations so that you don’t have to worry about deciding where to go. What is the PROBLEM that Staze is solving? When Jay was a management consultant, he traveled and stayed at Airbnb’s so often that he realized that he could get significant discounts on luxurious Airbnb accommodations if he contacted the owners last-minute and asked for a discount. He and his Co-founder, Henry, realized there was no marketplace for discounted rentals. The Problem for Travelers: The process of traveling and booking last-minute vacations is fundamentally broken. On average, it takes fours hours of research for someone to find a place to travel. Travel, in its current archaic state, is like Blockbuster 20 years ago, where you would have to choose what movie to rent out of a selection of 100s of options. Additionally, without a market for discounted rentals, most travelers will spend a lot of money unnecessarily. The Problem for Hosts: In the UK, holiday rentals are unoccupied 45% percent of the time throughout the year, which amounts to about about 50 million nights per year. But this isn’t just a problem in the UK, it is a global problem. Across the world, there are 1.2 billion nights per year of holiday rentals that are unoccupied. This is a massive amount of money that is being lost. What is Staze’s SOLUTION? Staze saves travelers money by giving them access to last minute holiday rental deals and they save hosts money by maximizing the utility of their properties. Like Netflix recommends shows, Staze personalizes your travel search based on your preferences. By using travel preferences (such as cost and distance) and leveraging an AI engine, they save “thinking” time for their consumers by reducing the four hours it usually takes to book a trip down to four minutes. As a result, Staze helps people travel more for less and also helps property managers to maximise their revenue. Staze’s mission is to “enable people to live fun, free, and fulfilled lives through experiential exploration.” 2 Value Bombs When you’re able to disconnect from the world, you’re able to reconnect with yourself on a deep level. Devoid your environment of external stimuli, and you will have no choice but to go deeply within yourself. When you have a two-sided marketplace, target the acute pain points for those on both sides of the equation. In Staze’s case, they increased travel demand by minimizing the cost and time it takes to travel, which incentivizes hosts to offer up more rental properties. Jay Olenicz’s LinkedIn Jay Olenicz’s Twitter Staze’s Website You can visit https://inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes.

Swish Goswami is a 23-year-old Canadian Entrepreneur, Speaker, and Investor. He is the CEO and Founder of Trufan, a social intelligence platform that empowers brands and Influencers to make smarter marketing decisions through the power of data. Trufan has made two acquisitions, raised over $4.1 million, and their clients range from Samsung, Netflix, NBA, and NFL to a plethora of small to medium-sized businesses. Swish is an advisor and investor for social media companies and he has amassed notable accolades within Canadian Entrepreneurship. ❗ What is the PROBLEM that Trufan is solving? The old channels through which brands collect data are dying. Slowly but surely, the third-party data (data owned by companies like Facebook) market is deprecating in front of our eyes. Here are some examples that highlight the severity of the problem... By the end of 2022, trillions of dollars worth of data across Firefox, Chrome, and Safari will cease to exist because 3rd party cookies across these browsers is going away With the release of Apple’s iOS 14 update, the new privacy rules are going to wipe out an 80-billion-dollar mobile ad tracking market overnight. The GDPR and CCPA (data privacy laws) are wreaking havoc on marketers that are looking to advertise with Instagram and Facebook. Therefore, first-party data is increasingly important. People need true ownership over their audience data, for use whenever and wherever they please. Dependency on companies like Facebook and Google are not viable long-term solutions. 🛠️ What is Trufan’s SOLUTION? Trufan is a social intelligence platform that empowers businesses of any size to make smarter marketing decisions. Trufan enables brands and influencers to identify their most engaged and valuable followers so that they can better understand their audience and therefore market their products/services more effectively. Trufan has built a platform that democratizes data so that brands and influencers get true ownership of their data. This means that the brands do not have to rely on Facebook or Instagram every time they want to reach their audience. With this data, brands and influencers can generate segments of their followers on a granular level, based on a criterion of interest. Trufan organizes data in such a user-friendly way so that anyone (not just data scientists) can use this data in a meaningful way. Trufan’s mission is to “democratize social data and to give SMBs access to data only big brands previously had access to.” 5 Value Bombs In navigating your product roadmap, offer a listening ear to your customers directly. What is on their mind, what are they concerned with, and what other problems can you solve for them? 3 Value Bombsomponent is essential. Many people enter entrepreneurship with the hopes of realizing dreams of fame or wealth. It's easier to overcome failure when you relish the process A network is a modern-day safety net. You can fall back on your network to protect you. Vulnerability is so relatable and can function as a gateway for audience growth. Swish Goswami’s LinkedIn Trufan’s Website Trufan’s Instagram Visit inventingthefuture.ai for the full show notes and for a transcript of this conversation.