Herman Narula - Building the plumbing of the metaverse

When I started this podcast I wrote down a list of dream guests to come on the show. Today's guest is one of them. When asked about starting careers, another dream guest on this show, Pete Flint, gave the advice to "pick a sector, not a company'. Herman Narula is at the forefront of the sector of the future- The Metaverse. This might be a term fairly new to you but Herman has been working on this space for 9 years with his company Improbable, who are building the 'plumbing of the metaverse'. But what is it exactly? How can people interact with it? Will it really be as transformative as people imagine?Herman is writing a book about the Metaverse called "Virtual Society" which is coming later this year.  You can pre-order it here. This is the last episode in our 4th series - thank you all so much for listening. This has been a transformative series that has seen us reclaim our #1 spot in Apple Careers Podcasts and double our listenership. A huge thank you to this series' headline sponsors, The Octopus Group. The Octopus Group is a collection of 8 entrepreneurially minded businesses that look to back the people, ideas and industries that will change the world.We will see you all very soon...In this episode with Herman we talk about: Where did the name improbable come from what gave Herman this initial idea over 9 years ago What is the definition of the metaverse- and it’s why important we have one that works.  How the creation of environments is natural human behaviour. How the metaverse can be a catalyst to extraordinary experiences. The changes seen in the Metaverse since he started- and simply how hard it is to build the metaverse. Building the plumbing of the metaverse- the metaverse isn’t just about entertainment. Where we can see real-life examples of the metaverse helping everyday people. The big opportunities for the UK economy with the metaverse- and how the government can help. How the government could get ahead of the metaverse and recommendations for how the UK government can regulate it.  How can we drive more UK companies into this space Herman’s first job How does the metaverse benefit older generations Augmenting not replacing the real world How this world is closer than we think How do people engage with the metaverse How we learn from the mistakes of web 1 and web 2 The jobs of the future in the metaverse What roles Improbable are hiring for Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices