What's Your Problem?
What's Your Problem?
Every week on What’s Your Problem, entrepreneurs and engineers talk about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there. How do you take a drone delivery service you’ve built in Rwanda and make it work in North Carolina? How do you convince people to buy a house on the Internet? How do you sell thousands of dog ramps to weiner dogs all across America when…
Can You Fix Insurance?
Sid Jha is the CEO of an insurance company called Arbol. Sid's problem is this: Can you make insurance cheaper and more accessible by using new technology, new sources of capital, and new ways of thinking about risk? In this episode, Sid explains: How climate change is affecting the risks Arbol c…
31:06Clean
Can a Cancer Gene Keep Muscles Young?
Kevin Murach is a professor who studies muscle cells at the University of Missouri. Kevin's problem is this: Can we understand what's going on in our cells when we lift weights – and can we use that knowledge to help people stay healthier as they age? In this episode, Kevin explains: The technolo…
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Every Cell in Your Body Has a Clock
Circadian rhythm isn’t just controlled by your brain. Every cell in your body runs on a 24-hour cycle, including your muscle cells. Karyn Esser is the chair of the department of physiology and aging at the University of Florida, and she’s a leading expert on circadian rhythm in muscle cells. Kary…
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How a Bad Boss Kickstarted Silicon Valley... from Business History
Throughout the next few weeks, every Monday we'll be sharing some of our favorite episodes from Jacob's other show Business History. We hope you enjoy them and if you want to hear more, subscriber to Business History on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. William Shockley was an elec…
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Solving the Trust Problem in AI Shopping
Note: Today’s show is sponsored by PayPal. Kartik Hosanagar is a professor at the Wharton School. The problems he studies include: What will it take for people to trust AI agents to buy stuff for them? And how should businesses prepare for a world where their customers include AI agents? In this …
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Can a Robot Build Better, Cheaper Houses?
Jason Ballard is the co-founder and CEO of ICON. Jason's problem is this: Can you use 3-D printing to build houses that are cheaper, better and more interesting than the houses we build now? In this episode, Jason explains: Why construction methods are so slow to change How 3D printing opens up …
50:34
Did AI Write This?
Celebrated novelists, countless students and at least one billionaire have recently been accused of using AI in their writing. The most commonly cited AI detector in these cases is called Pangram. Max Spero is the co-founder and CEO of Pangram. His problem is this: Can you build tools that reliab…
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Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook
I'm here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public service—until the Department of Government Efficiency decided they w…
50:20
Can We Defeat Deepfakes?
We’ve all heard that nothing ever gets deleted from the internet. Luke Arrigoni says that just isn’t true. His company deletes thousands of deepfakes every day. Luke is the founder and CEO of Loti, and his problem is this: How do you turn the Internet into a place where people have more control ov…
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The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin… from Business History
Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended. For example, the Catholic …
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