Deep Tech Founders Podcast!
We'll talk with founders and innovators about their journey into deep tech, their work, and what they've learned along the way.
I ...
Ep 55 | Just keep on building and you’ll figure out what you want. (w/ Frédéric Legrand)
My newest guest is Frédéric Legrand, a founding engineer at Phospho (YC W24), an AI company based in Paris focused on making AI robotics more accessible.Frédéric grew up in France but spent nearly a decade in Hong Kong before returning for his higher education. With a passion for building (both in software and hardware), he’s now working on helping machine learning engineers get started with AI in robotics.At Phospho, he’s building SDKs, tutorials, and dev kits to make real-world robotics more approachable, all in Python.We discuss his journey into AI robotics, how Phospho is simplifying robotics development, and why lowering the entry barrier is crucial for the next wave of intelligent automation.Hope you enjoy this one!
--------
50:06
Ep 54 | Work hard, make it fail less and get better (w/ Sankaet Pathak)
In this episode, I talk with Sankaet Pathak, founder of Foundation. Their first product? A humanoid robot built for real-world tasks:Foundation is an advanced technology company developing autonomous machines. Why start with humanoids?To automate labour across manufacturing, logistics, and defence. Sankaet shares his journey from computer engineering and physics at the University of Memphis to leading AI and robotics innovation.We discuss why current AI models struggle with real-world physics, why Foundation is taking a different approach to autonomy, and what it will take to bring humanoid robots from labs to everyday work.This episode is packed with bold ideas and hard tech insights; hope you enjoy it!
--------
57:00
Ep 53 | Make Bionic Limbs Accessible To Humans & Robots (w/Aadeel Akhtar)
This week, I talked with Aadeel Akhtar, PhD Akhtar, CEO and Founder of PSYONIC, a company redefining prosthetics with AI-powered bionic limbs: You might have seen him on Shark Tank or heard about PSYONIC’s Ability Hand, an advanced prosthetic that’s setting new standards for accessibility and performance.Aadeel’s story is fascinating. He started out studying neuroscience and medicine and then pivoted to building next-generation bionics.We discuss his journey from academia to entrepreneurship, what it takes to scale deep tech hardware, and why the future of prosthetics isn’t just for humans, but also for robots.It’s an inspiring convo packed with insights on deep tech, AI, and building a real-world impact startup, its low lows and high highs and how to make it through!
--------
47:04
Ep 52 | Building Autonomous Household Robots (w/ Usman Roshan)
In this episode, I talk with Usman Roshan, founder of 7Xrobotics and Associate Professor in AI and Machine Learning at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Usman and his co-founder are building autonomous household robots designed to tackle everyday tasks like dishwashing and laundry folding; turning AI into real, practical solutions for the home.We discuss his journey from academia to robotics entrepreneurship, his research on deep learning models for video understanding, and how he’s developing affordable, AI-powered robots with a total cost of around $7,000.Usman shares insights on the challenges of building a working product, what it takes to bridge AI research with real-world applications, his passion for art and what things to consider from a business point of view.It was a fascinating conversation... hope you enjoy today’s episode!
--------
1:09:19
Ep 51 | Don't Found a Startup Without Decade-Long Passion (w/ Adrian Macneil)
In today's 51st episode, I talk to Adrian Macneil, Co-Founder and CEO of Foxglove:
Adrian Macneil is the Co-Founder & CEO of Foxglove, a purpose-built robotics development platform to increase the GDP of robotics.
Coming from New Zealand with a degree in Computer Science, Adrian knew early on that his home country wasn’t big enough for his ambitions. He moved to San Francisco, the center of entrepreneurship and tech startups.
He was an early employee at Coinbase, working long hours through its highs and lows, before joining Cruise, where he built large-scale infrastructure for autonomous vehicles.
In this episode, he shares his experience as a deep tech founder, the challenges of building a platform for robotics development tools, why he sees Rust as the future of robotics, and why starting a company means committing at least 10 years to solving a real problem.
This episode is for you if you're a founder, or engineer working in AI, robotics or deep tech.
Deep Tech Founders Podcast!
We'll talk with founders and innovators about their journey into deep tech, their work, and what they've learned along the way.
I work for a robotic software company with a background in mechanical & aerospace engineering, but this is a people's podcast. If you know about robotics, great, if you don't, just as good, lay back and enjoy listening!
Portugal