 Hello, everyone it's great to be here So I I wanted to share something with you first and And then after that we can do a little Q&A. It's whatever whatever we want to talk about at that point. We'll do that so The theme today is around entrepreneurship and around how to create a better world and what beautiful world Specifically, so I wanted to try to solve this and share share share a perspective I have Within this realm to see what you think about it Just for fun. So I hope you like dry dry humor The disclaimer here is that this is this is simply a point of view. That's mine And I'm here to share it with you, and I hope you find your own point of view And if you want to take this one you take anything you want from it for whatever and value it however you'd like So let's start here I like this as a starting point. It's an interesting perspective. It's a concept that is That has infinite complexity, but also profound simplicity So let's just start from that just for our minds and then let's move into this perspective Which is for the sake of analysis, let's let's pretend that That we're separate from one another and separate from our environment just just to think about it in that way and Consider that the universe from this perspective is one in which We're experiencing a series of events That happened to us Just think about that as a framework for how we look at things as human beings. So within that lens humanity is It's somewhat like a ship that's left a port and it's sailing off out into out into the future and I brought up a point about this yesterday because it just came to mind yesterday So I built that the talk about about this metaphor this metaphor of the ship and humanity So the question is, you know, where is it heading and how does it go there? How does it work? And where do we where do we where do we end up? So we're on this journey and we're we're facing seemingly insurmountable challenges like storms that seem to be happening to us, right? And if it's not storms, it's creatures from the abyss that come up and and and come after us again events that occur that influence the path of our ship and Even if we get there, this is this is the part that you guys are not gonna like me when I say this, but Even when we get there We get to paradise. We only get to be there for about one to four billion years before the sun implodes. So anyway That's the framework. Just just start from that perspective of things happening to us and think about it for a second So where do we where do we start? Where do we where do we get back to square one? And I think what's interesting about this is that We always come back to square one and start over again. It's just part of what we do So, you know, what are we gonna do what we're gonna try this we're gonna try to go to Mars We're gonna try to to go on to other places and do other things Because that's what we do So when I step back and look at it It's a it's a challenging choice And and I think that a lot of us a lot of people in general feel a sense of shame that they have to make This choice no matter what choice they make or two choices. They make they had to give up something else And that's an awful hard thing to deal with So sometimes It feels as though our body is a cage for our ego and this is if you can't see it It's a picture of a brain that's cutting a piece of rope dropping a cage on on the body while it's asleep and I think You know the question I want to ask is is this okay? This is where I'm tining into to some of the stuff that's across the way out here What's interesting about this to me is that We have a choice and the choice is our viewpoint We can look at as a large pile of poop if we want And we can also look at it in This way and admire it for what it is and admire its beauty to some extent And in that case, maybe we do compostable toilets and we use it for some other purpose, but that's just an example So this raises the question of why do entrepreneurs exist and I don't know the answer to that So I hope you guys do What's interesting to me is just to observe that they do exist. There's something that we can observe and they happen So entrepreneurs happen So here's my my fundamental statement is that I believe entrepreneurs are inspired by the poo and are compelled to act That's what I can observe Yeah, so Actually, baby's poo doesn't smell and it's it's it's crazy Not until they get older But don't tell me that because my baby's only three months old. So I'm not aware of that yet. I'm not aware of that yet So it doesn't exist so We're endlessly persistent entrepreneurs and what I love about this audience is that Everyone in here is is part of this group and it's it's really exciting to be around so many of them We're endlessly persistent We're endlessly enterprising and I get back to this question, you know, why? Why do they exist? And I don't have a framework for understanding this other than something that I picked up on in a book that I read a while back From Arnold 20 and I mentioned it to you yesterday Which is the concept of the creative minority which is this small percentage of the population There's this great historian who studied this in the 1800s and wrote a very very long book about The rise and fall civilizations and the role that these these creative groups play and he sort of lumps together entrepreneurs activists Artists leaders academics philosophers So you guys basically into this group that ends up Actually Driving the future in an interesting way So I just want to leave you with a couple of interesting quotes from him around this. I like that one Here's another one an interesting thought here is around the suppression of the Of the creative minority actually is as an indicator of a dark age And I think that we're in a pretty awesome time right now because I think this group is growing and I think it's connecting more than ever So I'll tie it all together with this one, which is part of what Evan was talking about earlier This concept of individualism and the importance of that for as a fuel for change And it's fuel for change. I think because it actually powers the ego and the ego is what does the changing? So the call to action is To find your own find your own truths however you you decide to find them Create your momentum and use that to steer the ship and don't apologize for it So that's it so we have some time for questions, which are a lot more fun than this so Pretty fun. That's a lot of fun Reflections having known you Adam for for a number of years. I know that you're One of the most sophisticated Thinkers that some of the edges of technology right now in terms of what's possible Especially as it relates to hardware and software kind of the intersection and various types of platforms And protocols that they can emerge there and I'm just curious if you can maybe you know any reflections and kind of Trends you're seeing in Silicon Valley that might inspire the New Zealand entrepreneurial ecosystem with Things to be out on the new frontiers of yeah Well, I think that the tools for innovation and creativity are are more accessible than ever and and it's in its trending exponentially in that direction, so and that makes I Think place matters less People matter more because people can do a lot more with the tools at a hand so I think that that's that's A sign that you know people in New Zealand are going to be relatively better off And if the culture fosters more of that kind of collaboration around innovation Then they have the tools at hand to go out and do interesting things with those tools I'm kind of in a my career has been focused on sort of smart machine technology and I worked in robotics worked in sensor technology both for industrial applications and quasi military applications and also for for home application, so I think that I Think the sky's the limit in terms of what we could try I don't know how it's going to play out if you know it let me know but but I think that in New Zealand I think they have a huge opportunity to take advantage of this proliferation of technology that's at their hands now it's available and This is not just New Zealand, but anybody actually like I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and so you know four generations back I would have been a farmer and My grandfather's a farmer before that before that you know hundred generations before I would have been a farmer and then now I'm here just strange and And so yeah, I think I think for anyone who's on the fringes the fringes of civilization and you know This is a far away place, but it's How fast is the internet connection here? It's you know, it's just as fast anywhere else It's it's right on the main pipeline right now for information flow. So that is That's it's a really unique time in history Yeah, and I think what really excites me is that intersection with technology and How we're able to export ourselves to a small little country on the edge of the earth and If you combine those things with a quote that was coming to mind from Margaret Mead Which I think she said never doubt that a group of a small group of Thoughtful committed citizens can change the world and date. It's the only thing that either has Oh, totally that that's the interesting thing. It's that yeah, very very small group of people actually create the future they create the movements that create the future and So they just keep just keep doing it. Why not and encourage others to do it and Take a breather when you when you're down too deep and you're just pushing away through that ego It's running you just take it take a take a moment to take space or create space and breathe Because you'll actually be able to go further and that's what creates the change Yeah further reflections here. I'm not sure I have a question here, but I'm wondering if you could riff on Burning man a little bit and its role and something for Kiwis to consider and being players And in the space of creating the future Hmm, I don't know. I don't know a lot about burning man. I mean I've been there twice, but It certainly seems like a place where people connect get they get together and they They have that breather. That's the purpose. I think at least that's the purpose for me when I've gone is just to have that breather to step back and Kind of reconsider where everything's at right now and then get back to what I'm doing afterwards And I think that's that's part of the sort of space creating space for people. I think Getting space and breathing and allowing that time. So a question here from Tyrone Just wanted to leverage a little bit of your experience in robotics and maybe have you speak a little bit about How you see the trend towards robotics versus human labor The future how that might work out really want to know I think so Okay Yeah, my take on all this and this is just a this is just What comes to mind is we're heading down this path of advancing technology and it started a long time ago and It's going to continue for quite a while and it's interesting that you know, I think we're just part of the way there and and it's it's gonna go a lot further before before we see how deep we are in the technology and And and then I think that it's going to be something that we we manage with social mechanisms much like we Deal with sociopathic killers neck and I think we're gonna deal with runaway eyes And we're gonna have a lot of interesting problems that pop up that we have to deal with as part of that But it's hard to predict exactly. It's just a general momentum. It's good and it's going to continue for a long period of time Other question here. Hey Adam. Yeah, what? Um You have experience both kind of on the software and the hardware side you'd seem to I'm gonna be one of those rare people that Gets the integration. What's technology going to be able to do in the next three to five years? That most of us don't realize that it's going to be able to do Three to five years. I mean I think I'm probably a little more pessimistic than a lot of people about the timelines because I think they're hard to predict but What it's able to do And and how it's in and how far it's employed. I think are two different things There are a lot of things out there that that are able to be done like autonomous cars and such Right, but are they going to be employed or deployed or employed in use and say three to five years? That's hard to say But able to do that's a tough question I guess, you know, I don't know because I'm so focused on the space that I'm in that I don't know But in the area that I'm working right now in three to five years We'll be able to model out a lot of a lot of energy consumption in the home Understand exactly what's what's driving that Tie that to behavior and then influence people's behaviors around energy consumption. That's one thing we're working on Really effectively what so we'll build tools to not only directly automate heating and cooling in the home and other things like that other device use and energy use but actually build that into frameworks for encouraging people to change behavior that has an impact It's an interesting fusion impact where it's you know, for example on the energy side It's it's reducing their energy consumption, but it's widening margins for the energy provider Right, so it's there's a business motive there and that's that's that's one area. We're working on the other is around safety and security and other things like that just knowing knowing about things that that will affect the way that insurance is is Is done as well and calculated, but there's a lag I think so what we can do now is we can we can We can do a lot with satellite imaging and with with sensors in the very simple sensors in the home They're very inexpensive. We could prevent house fires We could prevent security break-ins and that kind of thing or know exactly what's happening But then you have this other thing which is privacy and that's going to be another area that We have to deal with yeah, it's gonna deciding what what what our boundaries are and Yeah, that's one of the that's one of the parts where they keep keeps me up at night actually Um Hey Adam, just over here. Oh Just riffing off the last two questions just a bit of a fun question to throw at you it seems that Whether there's a school thought I guess that technology is essentially evolving And with your experience in robotics and the hardware software side of things Do you see technology is undergoing its own sort of evolution's own sort of natural evolution? And if so, do you see it being something that is able to be controlled or do you see that? Yeah Well, here's my takeaway of this. I think that We are convinced that we can control everything and so we're gonna keep building it and I think that a Lot of a lot of like AI is gonna end up being a simplification of what we already do And and so in some ways, it's maybe less advanced than us But that doesn't necessarily matter for survival purposes I guess you separate Consciousness and you separate you separate that from survival. Those are two separate things Do you do you see it being able to enhance the human experience by us being able to sort of push our sensory organs to have a wider? sort of like the the merging of robotics with That's a tough it depends on what you think enhancing is and so that's a hard one to answer but it was certainly It was it'll take a form of its own over time and will become less Less conscious eventually and it may out survive us if we don't keep our keep our planet healthy Or if we can't sustain human life in space then Technology will out survive us Which is bizarre so it'll be like a devolved version of us. Cool. Thanks final reflection So Adam, we just had a chance to speak outside But I wanted to ask you something because I this kind of comes off of scots presentation. So Your relationship with investors who've you chosen and why did you choose them? That's a good question Well, we work with founders fun. Where's Scott? Oh, it's over there. I was So in our first business, we worked with founders fund and then a lot of other entrepreneurs a lot of friends And how do we go about doing that? I think it's personal connections. That's a big part of it We bootstrapped the first company my brother and I bootstrapped it in a garage got it going funded led all the rounds actually and Then you know my brother knew Peter pretty well So Peter came into that round and then we just a lot of friends came in and as well and then founders fun came into so it was kind of a progression over time, but The way I like to approach is I like I like to focus on the mission and the vision first and use that as a filter for anybody who wants to get involved and That doesn't always work over time it changes and things things change and the vision a little bend and twist and turn But the right investors will stay with that over time and I think that's that's that's a big filtering mechanism for me personally, but I think for For other people in the management team that I work with they may have other filters that they personally employ around pricing or other Relationships that they've got but I don't know I like Peter a lot and I like founders on a lot And the second business we worked with the two other BC firms And I don't know them quite as well So we're getting to know each other over the process of working together. I've been working there about two years But it takes a long time, you know with the first business we started it in 2007 and then I think founders fun came in in 2009 or 10 I think so so we've been working together for about five six years So it takes it takes years to develop those relationships Yeah, thanks very much