The Times Tech Podcast

Headspace CEO Rich Pierson: ”This is my business partner, the ex-Buddhist monk.”

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Rich Pierson, co-founder of Headspace, the popular meditation app, to talk about how it started in London nine years ago (6:30), meeting his co-founder (8:00), quitting his job marketing deodorant (9:15), starting out with group meditation events (13:00), accidental focus groups (16:00), moving to California (16:45), going from 18 to 170 employees (19:30), layoffs and mistakes (20:00), convincing investors to put money into mindfulness (21:30), competing with 3,000 rival apps (25:00), struggling to manage people (30:00), helping nurses with “compassion fatigue’ (34:00), and signing up big companies (34:45). Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color:grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

As The Sunday Times’ West Coast Correspondent, Danny Fortson has witnessed the technological whirlwind coming from Silicon Valley first hand. The Times' Technology Business Editor Katie Prescott has reported on how digital technology is transforming businesses and society around the world. Now, 'Danny in the Valley' meets 'Katie in the City', with a podcast presented from San Francisco and London. Each week sees a fresh interview with pioneers in tech, from the brightest start-ups to the tech giants, as Katie and Danny chronicle the AI revolution. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color:grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.