IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY! Today, Innovation Bay’s Open The Pod Bay Doors turns 5! To celebrate, we’ve taken it way back to our very first guest. Daniel Petre is the Godfather of the ecosystem and has arguably been around longer and had more success than anyone else in the sector. In 2014, Daniel founded Airtree alongside Craig Blair but a year ago, made the move out of VC and into the philanthropy space.

Daniel felt the need to step away from VC for a number of reasons - to make way for the next generation to shine, the business model of VC started to lose it’s shine for where he wanted to focus his energies, and he became a grandfather - a milestone that has seen him appreciate so clearly how short life is.

His move into philanthropy was initially driven by his time working with Bill Gates in the US whose mother’s greatest value has resonated with Daniel over the years - that if you’ve been fortunate in life, it’s your responsibility to give back, not your choice. Inspired, Daniel has founded StartupGiving - a concierge of sorts with a goal to inspire founders and tech execs (with upwards of $20m net wealth) to start up their own charitable foundations - to give back.

During their chat on this very special anniversary podcast, Ian and Daniel cover:

Quickfire Round: