Why did you create Playground?
Every ten years or so we see shifts in ecosystems and how they develop. Our investments are planting the seeds for the next tech ecosystem.
What invention will be ubiquitous when your kids are your age?
The holodeck will be used for “in-person” meetings making the daily commute unnecessary. Decoupling where we live from where we work will obviate the need for many office buildings and transit systems.
Why did you create Playground?
We wanted to create the kind of place we wish existed when we were building our companies. One of the greatest benefits we can provide to entrepreneurs is making sure they don't make the same mistakes we made.
What's your favorite thing about Playground?
I learn something new here everyday working with our team at the boundaries of hardware, software and AI. I'm inspired by entrepreneurs building watershed technologies that are challenging but consequential.
What invention will be ubiquitous when your kids are your age?
The wheel. Most else is prone to obsolescence.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"Enlightenment Now" by Steven Pinker
What's the most valuable life skill you learned as a kid on the playground?
Play on, player.
What's the most valuable life skill you learned as a kid on the playground?
How to create something out of nothing.
What's the most valuable life skill you learned as a kid on the playground?
Imagination.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz & Hill
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Keep on digging until you understand the core essence of the problem. You can only control things that you really, truly understand.
If you weren't working at Playground, right now you'd be ...
... figuring out how to help fight plastic pollution.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Perfection to the fringe of a deadline.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by Luo Guanzhong, but the English translation may lose some cultural meaning.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"Oh, The Places You'll Go" by Dr Seuss. We often get caught up by logic & reason and don't take shots at the unusual. Try new things. Love the journey, not the destination.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Ideas are cheap and often easy, execution is hard and is what deserves the reward.
If you weren't working at Playground, right now you'd be ...
... moving from city to city to open restaurants, wine bars, and speakeasies.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain .. Gives you a glimpse into the Hospitality world.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"Tetrascroll" by Buckminster Fuller
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
I want to learn about anything and everything!
If you weren't working at Playground, right now you'd be ...
... working with Playground!
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Honesty, integrity, hard work and the desire to have fun and make a difference every day.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
"You can’t do the same things others do and expect to outperform" --Howard Marks
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"Furiously Happy" by Jenny Lawson
Say there are 3 people in the world who are the experts on a certain technology, well all of them are sitting here at Playground.Alex Teichman CEO & Co-founder, Lighthouse AI
What's the most valuable life skill you learned as a kid on the playground?
Walking up the spider monkey bars without hands. Falling just teaches you how not to fall the same way next time.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Henry David Thoreau’s mantra “Simplify, simplify, simplify!” Applying to product design (paring down to bare essence) drives precision and elegance.
What invention will be ubiquitous when your kids are your age?
Transportation v2.0. Flying cars and Hyperloop.
What invention will be ubiquitous when your kids are your age?
Lab grown organs.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Whatever the problem, be part of the solution.
What's the most valuable life skill you learned as a kid on the playground?
Capitalism...I solved Rubik's cubes for lunch money.
What's the most valuable life skill you learned as a kid on the playground?
Always bring appropriate footwear.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"Mindset" by Carol Dweck. I also highly recommend "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari.
What invention will be ubiquitous when your kids are your age?
Print at home clothes with reusable filament. Bespoke clothes - style, fit and color - that are benign to the environment.
What's the most valuable life skill you learned as a kid on the playground?
Just have fun!
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Embrace new challenges, stay curious, wear cool shoes.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
It is what it is, be adaptable, live in the moment, and have no expectations.
What's your "must read" book recommendation?
"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho
What invention will be ubiquitous when your kids are your age?
Technologies that enable society to be far more nomadic. People will no longer need to live and work in close proximity, or in a fixed location.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Forging an idea into a successful company is hard. Focus is essential, but the real fuel is the team of people that you build around your vision.
If you weren't working at Playground, right now you'd be ...
... a writer for Comedy Central.
If you weren't working at Playground, right now you'd be ...
... spending time with kids/family/loved ones and beach bumming.
What philosophy or vision guides your work?
Digitize the physical world at scale and make the data accessible and useful.