Invent

Tara Lemméy

Invent is a podcast about how to make things that don't exist yet. Hosted by Tara Lemméy—inventor, entrepreneur, and CEO of LENS—each episode explores the real patterns behind breakthrough innovation. Not theories. Not frameworks. The actual process of inventing technologies, building companies, and solving problems that seem impossible. Tara designed the post-9/11 intelligence sharing system, founded one of the first internet advertising companies, and has spent decades creating technologies that others said couldn't be done. She knows what it takes to invent when there's no roadmap. Whether you're a founder, engineer, or maker, you'll learn how invention actually works—especially when everything is falling apart. New episodes every other week.

  1. 1D AGO

    Playing Bridge with Warren Buffett

    I won breakfast with Warren Buffett at a bridge tournament. Hadn’t played in years. He told me: “Your expression changes so much you have no tell. All noise, no signal.” He was right. I was figuring it out hand by hand. Before Buffett, annual reports were legal documents. Dense. Nobody read them. He wrote like he was talking to his sister. Plain English. Admitted mistakes. Taught how to think, not just what happened. Every CEO copied it. Buffett stepped down January 1, 2026. The 60-year run of annual letters ends. Truth as the standard? That stays.

    9 min

  2. 12/23/2025

    Japan’s Hometown Tax: Weird Wins

    Give you 30 seconds: How would you solve rural decline? Japan’s answer: Mystery boxes of premium beef and sake. Sounds insane. But 7.4 million people are doing it, moving $6.3 billion annually. You browse towns online like shopping. Pick one. They send you stuff. Your tax money goes there instead of to your city. Tokyo’s losing billions. Rural towns reviving. Country more connected. All because someone in 2008 made tax allocation delightful instead of dutiful. Tara Lemméy breaks down the weirdest policy invention that actually works—and why weird always wins.

    9 min

  3. TRAILER

    Trailer

    I’m Tara Lemméy. I invent things that don’t exist. Edison tested six thousand materials for the lightbulb filament. That’s not persistence—that’s method. I talk about the actual work of invention. How you know what to test. When structure is the problem. Why despair kills invention before it starts. Fifteen minutes. Real stuff. Subscribe to hear when episodes drop.

    1 min

  4. 12/15/2025

    Whale or Cheetah?

    Whale or cheetah? Before you build your “AI strategy,” answer that. Whales swim. Cheetahs run. Different physics. Different solutions. LLMs generate. Machine learning classifies. Call them both “AI” and you can’t see which one you need—or what comes next. The blur isn’t an accident. AI evangelists push it. Some academics amplify it. Society thinks they’re missing out. They aren’t. They’re being sold a bubble. The first act of invention is naming. When you can’t name something precisely, you can’t invent it. 15 minutes on why the blur kills breakthrough—and what to do about it.

    12 min

  5. 12/05/2025

    Despair is the Enemy of Invention

    Everyone’s in despair about climate. I looked at the data. We bent the curve. Solar’s 41% cheaper than fossil fuels. Wind’s 53% cheaper. 91% of new renewable projects beat fossil alternatives on cost. Clean energy got $2 trillion in investment—$800 billion more than fossil fuels. In China, fossil electricity use dropped 2%. Fossil fuel growth stopped in industry, buildings, and transport. Not solved. But measurably different. So why the despair? Because we set an impossible target, didn’t hit it, and declared failure. Here’s what I’ve learned inventing impossible things: despair blinds you to progress. When you can’t see what’s working, you can’t see what to invent next. We need to invent the last 25% of energy. Storage for weeks, not hours. Economic transitions for fossil fuel communities. Grid infrastructure. The economics work. But only if we keep inventing. Despair is the enemy of invention. Sources: IRENA, UN, Ember

    16 min

  6. 11/27/2025

    The Meter Problem

    Pearl Street Station opened September 4, 1882. The lights worked. Edison lost money for two years. Why? No way to charge customers. He invented an electric meter, but it didn't work reliably. So he gave electricity away for free for 16 months. J.P. Morgan ran 106 light bulbs from 3pm to 6am every single night. Why turn them off? He was paying a flat rate. The technology worked on day one. The business took two years to fix. System problems are harder than technology problems. That's what Edison learned. That's what everyone building complex systems learns. 13 minutes.

    13 min

  7. 11/05/2025

    Invent. Why Bamboo Beat Platinum

    Edison tested 6,000 materials for his lightbulb filament. He picked carbonized bamboo. Not because it was perfect. Because it lasted 1,200 hours AND he could source it at scale. Early experiments with platinum failed—burned out in hours. Cotton thread worked better but wasn't consistent. Bamboo solved both problems: performance and production. That's the pattern. The lab question and the scale question are different questions. This matters now. Everyone asks "what's the best material?" Better question: "What can we actually build with?" 10 minutes.

    10 min

  8. 05/06/2025

    Inventing in Turbulent Times

    How are you feeling out there innovators and inventors? Did you know this is the best time to be inventing. This episode is for everyone leading through turbulence. When markets collapse, when budgets shrink, when everyone around you is pulling back… what if that’s precisely when you should push forward? What if economic instability isn’t your enemy, but your greatest opportunity for transformation? The most significant market advantages are often created during periods of economic turmoil. Not despite the chaos, but because of it. On Invent, your host Tara Lemméy will tell you how.

    19 min
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Trailer

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Invent is a podcast about how to make things that don't exist yet. Hosted by Tara Lemméy—inventor, entrepreneur, and CEO of LENS—each episode explores the real patterns behind breakthrough innovation. Not theories. Not frameworks. The actual process of inventing technologies, building companies, and solving problems that seem impossible. Tara designed the post-9/11 intelligence sharing system, founded one of the first internet advertising companies, and has spent decades creating technologies that others said couldn't be done. She knows what it takes to invent when there's no roadmap. Whether you're a founder, engineer, or maker, you'll learn how invention actually works—especially when everything is falling apart. New episodes every other week.

Information

  • Creator
    Tara Lemméy
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Copyright
    © Tara Lemméy
  • Show Website
    Invent