Tech Can't Save Us

Literal Humans
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Every week, hosts Paul David and Maya Dharampal-Hornby sit down with founders, CEOs, and innovators at mission-driven tech companies to discuss how tech can help solve the most pressing issues of our time— and how to avoid losing sight of the humans it affects.

  1. Solving the Data and AI Literacy Crisis with Greg Freeman, CEO of Data Literacy Academy

    1D AGO

    Solving the Data and AI Literacy Crisis with Greg Freeman, CEO of Data Literacy Academy

    This week on Tech Can’t Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Greg Freeman, founder and CEO of Data Literacy Academy, an organization dedicated to building data-confident cultures within the world’s top companies. They discuss the staggering reality that up to 83% of the workforce is data illiterate, leaving businesses unable to effectively monetize or act upon the billions of dollars they invest in AI platforms and data infrastructure. Greg explains why technology alone cannot solve business problems if the people using it lack the confidence and mindset to make data-led decisions. The conversation covers the critical role of leadership in driving change, the concept of "taught fear" in education, and how Data Literacy Academy uses live learning to transform anxious employees into confident data thinkers. Greg also shares insights on moving industry measurements from inputs and outputs to meaningful outcomes, treating data literacy as a multi-year cultural change rather than a one-off training session and the "champagne problem" of a data-literate workforce surfacing more business use cases than a data office can handle.Find more about Data Literacy Academy here: www.dl-academy.com Follow Greg Freeman here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregdata/

    40 min
  2. Winning B2B Software Sales in the Age of AI with Matthew Whyatt, Founder & Chief Strategist at TechTorque

    JAN 28

    Winning B2B Software Sales in the Age of AI with Matthew Whyatt, Founder & Chief Strategist at TechTorque

    This week on Tech Can't Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Matthew Whyatt, founder and chief strategist at TechTorque, a consultancy that helps B2B software and SaaS companies sharpen their go-to-market strategies, scale revenue, and build predictable sales systems. They discuss how AI is fundamentally reshaping B2B software sales while emphasizing that great selling isn't dying, it's evolving. With over 25 years in software sales and more than $100 million in tech sales across startups and global markets, Matthew shares why AI won't replace salespeople but will eliminate lazy approaches and amplify the performance of skilled reps. The conversation covers the critical importance of bio-led qualification over demos, why hyper-personalization is now essential even for lower-priced products, and how sales teams need to invest in empathy and structured frameworks rather than just adding more AI tools. Matthew also reveals his approach to selling diagnosis before solutions, the power of scripting in sales, and why the best salespeople will become even more valuable in the AI era. Find more about TechTorque here: https://techtorque.coFollow Matthew Whyatt here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewwhyatt

    41 min
  3. Weaving the Future of Sustainable Textiles with Mijke van Ballegooijen, CEO of BYBORRE

    JAN 21

    Weaving the Future of Sustainable Textiles with Mijke van Ballegooijen, CEO of BYBORRE

    This week on Tech Can't Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Mijke van Ballegooijen, CEO of BYBORRE, a pioneering textile innovation company based in Amsterdam that's redefining how fabrics are designed, produced, and valued through data-driven design and radical transparency. They discuss the fundamental problems plaguing the global textile industry, which accounts for up to 10% of global carbon emissions, including fragmented supply chains, overproduction, and greenwashing. Mijke explains how BYBORRE is tackling these challenges through true on-demand production, focusing on longevity over recyclability, and providing designers with digital tools that reveal the environmental impact of their design choices in real-time. The conversation covers BYBORRE's strategic pivot from fashion to the interior design market, their innovative software platform that translates any design into knit files for mattress-ticking machines worldwide, and their recent recognition as both an innovation and sustainability startup and the "coolest Dutch brand." Mijke also shares insights on leading through aligned autonomy, building mission-driven companies at scale, and why radical transparency, including their seven-year-old textile passport system, is essential for driving real change in the industry. Find more about BYBORRE here: https://byborre.comFollow Mijke van Ballegooijen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mijkevanballegooijen

    34 min
  4. Redefining Fertility Through Precision Medicine with Kirsten Karchmer, Founder & CEO of Conceivable

    JAN 15

    Redefining Fertility Through Precision Medicine with Kirsten Karchmer, Founder & CEO of Conceivable

    This week on Tech Can't Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Kirsten Karchmer, CEO of Conceivable, a pioneering digital health company that is revolutionizing precision medicine for fertility and women's wellness. Kirsten's career spans more than two decades transforming how women approach their reproductive health. After running one of North America's largest fertility wellness clinics as the first board-certified reproductive acupuncturist in North America, she founded Conceivable to bring clinical expertise to scale through data science, personalized nutraceuticals, and lifestyle interventions. Kirsten explains why the current fertility care system is fundamentally broken—pushing women toward expensive IVF and IUI treatments without addressing the underlying health issues that impact their ability to conceive and stay pregnant. She argues that 75-80% of fertility challenges stem from lifestyle factors like sleep, nutrition, stress, and behavioral health, which can be addressed for a fraction of the cost of traditional treatments. Rather than using fertility interventions to override the body's warning signals, Conceivable helps women understand and resolve root causes, improving not just fertility outcomes but long-term health. The conversation explores Conceivable's innovative approach: an AI-powered "operating system for women's health" featuring a virtual care team that includes therapists, nutritionists, chefs, and formulators who provide daily, personalized support. Using predictive analytics, wearable data, and individualized supplement formulations, the platform addresses each woman's unique health profile rather than offering generic fertility advice. Kirsten shares insights from building the company, including a previous failed attempt in 2016, her breakthrough growth on TikTok after advice from investor Gary Vaynerchuk, and why authentic customer connection through daily live Q&A sessions shaped the product's development. Paul and Kirsten dig into women's health innovation, the dangers of tracking apps that provide data without actionable guidance, the importance of building products people genuinely love, and why behavioral health interventions are more effective than supplements alone. They also discuss Kirsten's book Seeing Red, which tackles how menstrual health became stigmatized, and her vision for an operating system that supports women across their entire reproductive lifecycle.Find more about Conceivable here: https://www.conceivable.com/Follow Kirsten Karchmer here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-karchmer-0139808/

    30 min
  5. Reimagining brand strategy for the AI era, with Gary Bonilla, Co-Founder of GoodMora

    JAN 7

    Reimagining brand strategy for the AI era, with Gary Bonilla, Co-Founder of GoodMora

    This week on Tech Can’t Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Gary Bonilla, Co-Founder of GoodMora, a company pioneering structural intelligence. AI-driven tools that make the hidden architecture of a business visible, measurable, and adaptable. Gary’s career spans newsroom reporting, global brand strategy, and creative leadership at Nickelodeon, where he helped revive icons like SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, and later at Interpublic Group, where he led strategy across multinational portfolios including Nestlé and Unilever. Gary explains why most organisations still treat AI as an add-on (automating content or workflows) while ignoring the structural systems that shape decisions, incentives, creativity, and trust. At GoodMora, he and his team use AI, ontology, and graph technology to map how a business truly functions: where alignment breaks down, where workstreams become “orphaned,” and where strategy fails long before execution. This structural visibility enables leaders to simulate transformations before they spend, turning strategy from guesswork into science. The conversation explores how adaptability has become the defining competitive advantage, why creativity and data must work together (not in opposition), and how brands can evolve from static assets to living systems that sense and respond to real-time signals. Gary also shares insights from GoodMora’s early pilots, including how mapping organisational trust and decision flows uncovered strategic blind spots for a major healthcare group pursuing AI at scale. Paul and Gary dig into leadership, transformation failure rates, the future of brand building, and the role AI will play in collapsing the traditional gap between strategy and execution, enabling leaders to “play” again, rather than manage from the sidelines. Find more about GoodMora here: https://www.goodmora.ai/Read Gary’s white paper on Structural Intelligence: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-driven-talent-augmentation-empowering-future-edgardo-bonilla-guuie/Follow Gary Bonilla here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garybonilla1/

    40 min
  6. Wearable headsets for treating depression with Erin Lee, CEO of Flow Neuroscience

    12/18/2025

    Wearable headsets for treating depression with Erin Lee, CEO of Flow Neuroscience

    This week on Tech Can’t Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Erin Lee, CEO of Flow Neuroscience, the Swedish health-tech company behind a breakthrough in depression treatment: a wearable brain-stimulation headset that offers a safe, evidence-based alternative to traditional antidepressants.Flow’s device uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to gently activate brain regions responsible for mood regulation. In a landmark 2023 double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, Flow outperformed 21 frontline antidepressants, earning a feature in Nature’s “Future of Medicine” edition, an unprecedented milestone for at-home neuroscience technology. Today, Flow has 50,000+ users, is available across 200 clinics and multiple NHS trusts, and has raised nearly $20M to bring new forms of treatment to those who need it most.Erin shares how the Flow experience works day-to-day, why users often see improvements within the first two weeks, and how pairing brain stimulation with an app-driven behavioral toolkit increases neuroplasticity and supports long-term recovery. She also speaks candidly about public perception, clinician adoption, and why Flow chose the harder, highly regulated path to build trust and clinical credibility from day one.The conversation expands into Flow’s growth strategy, upcoming global expansion, and Erin’s transition from leadership roles at Google, Uber, and Babylon Health into one of the most personal and emotionally charged spaces in healthcare. She reflects on the influence of her own family’s mental health history, the importance of scientific rigor, and what it means to build a startup where the mission is literally life-changing.Find more about Flow Neuroscience here: https://www.flowneuroscience.comFollow Erin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinslee/

    29 min
  7. Reimagining groceries for the everyday shopper, with Andy Ellwood, Founder & CEO of Stretch

    12/11/2025

    Reimagining groceries for the everyday shopper, with Andy Ellwood, Founder & CEO of Stretch

    This week on Tech Can’t Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Andy Ellwood, founder and CEO of Stretch, the first shopping intelligence platform built to help families save money and make smarter grocery decisions. Andy’s career spans private aviation, startups acquired by Facebook and Google, business development at Waze, and years spent coaching top founders and now he’s bringing that eclectic experience to one of the most universal, everyday challenges: buying groceries.Andy explains why the grocery industry is overdue for reinvention. Despite rising prices and endless choices, shoppers still lack the information parity they now expect in categories like travel, real estate, and healthcare. Stretch solves this by turning individual shopping lists into collective intelligence: shoppers enter their weekly items, and the app instantly shows which nearby retailers offer the best total basket price, often saving families $20–$40 per week.The conversation explores Stretch’s early traction, from thousands joining the waitlist to viral TikTok growth, and how the team is building a massive data moat by connecting cross-retailer pricing in ways the industry never had to before. Andy shares how AI and “agentic commerce” will transform shopping, why Stretch centers dignity and agency for families navigating rising costs, and how his background at Waze shaped his approach to scaling community-driven products.Find more about Stretch here: https://stretchformore.com Download Stretch on iOS or Android by clicking here. Follow Andy Ellwood here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyellwood/

    38 min
  8. Rethinking SME Finance with Dr. Serge Santos, Founder & CEO of Funding Alternative Group

    12/04/2025

    Rethinking SME Finance with Dr. Serge Santos, Founder & CEO of Funding Alternative Group

    This week on Tech Can’t Save Us, host Paul David is joined by Dr. Serge Santos, entrepreneur, investor, and award-winning leader known as The Business Physicist. After deploying over $1 billion in capital during his investment banking and hedge fund career and achieving a multi-million-dollar exit with his previous company, Serge is now tackling one of the UK’s most persistent economic challenges: SME access to finance.Through Funding Alternative Group, Serge and his team are reimagining how small businesses secure funding when traditional banks say no. Since 2022, the platform has deployed £8M in SME loans and £18M in invoice finance, offering fast, flexible, and human-centred lending for businesses often shut out of conventional systems. Serge explains how open banking allows Funding Alternative to assess risk using real-time data rather than outdated statements, enabling decisions in hours instead of weeks when clients face challenges.The conversation explores the company’s biggest growth opportunities, the complexities of raising institutional capital responsibly, and how Serge applies his “business physicist” mindset to simplify complexity through rational, systems-based thinking. He also shares why culture is his “ultimate multiplier of success,” and why discipline, transparency, and trust sit at the heart of every funding decision.Find more about Funding Alternative here: https://fundingalternative.co.ukFollow Dr. Serge Santos here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/santosserge/

    35 min
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Every week, hosts Paul David and Maya Dharampal-Hornby sit down with founders, CEOs, and innovators at mission-driven tech companies to discuss how tech can help solve the most pressing issues of our time— and how to avoid losing sight of the humans it affects.

Information

  • Creator
    Literal Humans
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    185
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Literal Humans
  • Show Website
    Tech Can't Save Us

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