Last week (28 May) seven global winners of the 2017 Unleashed Awards, which included early stage startup founders, innovators and digital leaders, were given a taste of life in the world’s largest technology hub, Silicon Valley.

The trip included sightseeing at some of San Francisco’s famous landmarks, a tesla test drive and several company visits at the likes of Airbnb, Uber, Adobe and Amazon to uncover the recipe behind their success, as well as discovering how they plan to position themselves in the future landscape.

One of the many highlights of the trip, included attending a VIP lunch with Apple Co-founder, Steve Wozniak, where the group had the unique opportunity of discussing everything from his early success with Apple and designing, to his more recent work and his view on the modern-day technology landscape.

Nathan Williams, Founder of blockchain based startup Minespider and winner of ‘One to Watch’ in EMEA, got to spend 3 hours with the legendary inventor: “We talked about his old stories, as well as about blockchain and I got feedback on Minespider. What an amazing opportunity. A huge thank you to Talent for organizing this” he said.

Dr Raghav Murali-Ganesh, co-founder of Cancer Aid, who picked-up the award for Best Start-up Creating Social Impact in APAC, found inspiration in meetings with the Silicon Canal tech giants. He said: “The whole trip has been fantastic, we feel like we’ve learnt a lot from the other entrepreneurs. In every single business that we visited we were inspired and have ideas that we can take back to our startup.”

Richard Earl, founder of award organisers Talent, is excited about what the future holds for both the winners and the awards programme.

“It’s been a pleasure to spend the week with such an amazing group of entrepreneurs from across the world. I look forward to seeing how they use this experience to help drive their ideas forward and we hope to continue to support them along this journey.

“As for the awards, we have some exciting plans on how we can continue to develop the programme to champion, showcase and celebrate innovation worldwide. We look forward to sharing these plans in the coming months.”

For further information about the Talent Unleashed Awards and the winners trip visit www.talentunleashedawards.com or follow @UnleashedAwards on Twitter.

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Our Winners at the Mercedes-Benz Labs

Next we were off to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View to really “geek out”! A comprehensive display summarising the evolution of computing from Lovelace to Hollerith, Turing to Jobs, Gates to Brin which included models of the DEC PDP-1, the game-changing IBM 360, early Apples up to the latest Autonomous vehicles. Many perhaps don’t realise that IBM’s Tom Watson bet the company in 1961 to the tune of $5billion to develop the IBM 360 which revolutionised the corporate world in 1964. You can spend hours in this place!

The IBM 360 Computer

It seemed only natural after this to visit one of the legends of the tech sector – Steve Wozniak. We headed back to San Francisco to John’s Grill for a late lunch with the Woz, co-founder of Apple and a hero for so many tech enthusiasts including our Unleashed winners. Steve was in great form for the rest of the afternoon as he fielded questions and shared stories and opinions around Social Media, Blockchain, AI, and Quantum Computing and of course his days at Apple with Steve Jobs and his many ground-breaking inventions. It was incredible to see that a man that has achieved so much be so humble and dedicated to his great love – first rate engineering and the people who work in this field. This was vintage and unbridled Woz!

The IBM 360 Computer

The team had one last dinner at Scoma’s on Fisherman’s Wharf to contemplate an incredible week of activities. We’d like to congratulate Layne Fortenberry of Grainster, Dr Jonathan Hall of Life Whisperer, Nathan Williams of Minespider, Max ter Horst of E-Kite, Nikhil Pooviah and Raghav Murali-Ganesh of CancerAid, Greg Reed of HomeServe and Nick Whitehouse of McCarthy Finch for their achievements and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. They are a collection of great minds and ideas and it was an absolute pleasure to spend time with them. We look forward to seeing their dreams come true!

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With the Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in morning fog we headed for Sonoma and it’s beautiful town square where the Republic of California was declared in 1846 from Mexican rule before quickly becoming part of the United States. Lunch was next door to the historic Sonoma Barracks at The Girl and the Fig. This is the place to visit if cheese is your thing – what a selection!

Then it was time to get down to business – wineries! First we stopped at the famous Napa Valley sign where we nearly got cleaned up by the Napa vintage tour train before heading to Silverado with its fascinating history and unbeatable views. A winery started by Diane Miller, the only daughter of Walt Disney, Silverado is one of the more established wineries in Napa with an impressive selection of reds which naturally we sampled. It was great to hear that the family had invested money into the UC Davies school to promote research on wine harvesting. From what we tasted, the science is working!

Next up was Domaine Carneros. Jean Claude, our French wine connoisseur, gave a comprehensive and interesting tutorial on the Taittinger champagne making process which has been very successfully transported to Napa from France. Of course this involved more sampling.

A very relaxed bus pulled over at the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back to witness a beautiful sunset.

A relaxed Day 3 reflecting on history and tradition. Back to the future for Day 4!

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Touring around the fabulous Amazon head office

From there we took a drive down to San Mateo to hear Andrew Lee explain the meteoric rise of FinTech specialist RobinHood which has seriously disrupted the online trading space through abolishing brokerage fees and building an unprecedented level of trust for the industry. Recent funding values them at $5 billion!

Andrew Lee talking to us about all things FinTech

Followed by a quick lunch it was time to test drive a couple of Teslas. One of which had been customised for Elon Musk to synchronise it’s gull wings and other electronic features to music – bizarre!

Taking out the Tesla’s for a spin

Back on the team bus and over to Stanford for a thought-provoking session with resident experts Vince McPhilip and Ben El-Baz on blockchain and its potential to completely disrupt industries through the removal of traditional intermediaries and it’s 100% watertight security (wait for Quantum Computing!)

Talking about Blockchain at Stanford

We all then returned to The Silicon Valley Innovation Centre for a session with highly accomplished VC specialist Peter Loukianoff from Strawberry Creek Ventures. Peter provided our group some invaluable advice around pitching, fundraising and timing.

Having some fun with our new electronic glasses

To round up the day with some real fun, we were all being pitched to by a collection of diverse and brilliant local start-ups from Menlo Ventures around AI, CX automation and portable projection units.

Cruise pitching to us all

A late but massively rewarding day ended with a trip back to San Francisco’s Chinatown and a well deserved feast at the amazing China Live.

Wrapping up the day with a feast!

What a totally exhilarating Day 2!

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Early rise in San Francisco for the day one winner’s trip

First stop was Adobe where we were provided with an intriguing overview of a company that has reinvented itself in recent years through a series of very clever strategic acquisitions. This has enabled Adobe to provide a full end to end digital offering. If you think of Adobe in terms of PDF’s and Illustrator then think again as these guys have repositioned themselves with a very powerful offering.

Touring around the Adobe head office

From there we headed over to Airbnb who are truly unique in many ways. Their motto of ‘Belong Anywhere’ is perfectly exemplified in their highly creative workspace that has reproduced the Airbnb experience. In any company that grows quickly, there will always be growing pain. We enjoyed listening to their Head of Coaching about their expansive program of mentoring and development that ensures the company’s culture and values are maintained through the process of encouraging self-management.

Visting the Airbnb head office

After sampling the amazing ‘Impossible Burger’ at Cockscomb (check it out Vegans!) we made our way over to DocuSign to listen to their plans around the complete digital management of contracts, from initiation to signature and beyond. The success of their recent float suggests the market has high expectations of how far this company can go. With most major corporates adopting their technology I’d be keeping an eye on them. This is much more than ‘Sign here’!

We wrapped up the day enjoying a session with one of Uber‘s Data Scientists who provided a great overview of the various directions their product development is taking which is essentially driven by the new CEO’s vision of focusing on everything related to transportation including freight and health. Uber is also clearly committed to autonomous vehicles but interestingly only on a selective basis.

The Impossible Burger

After a long but inspiring day the group had dinner at the local favourite The House of Prime Rib where they were joined by Talent’s local US Execs to cap off a fantastic Day 1.

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The Grand Prize includes a bespoke two-day tour of some of the region’s leading tech companies to get first hand insights into the innovation culture of Silicon Valley and some of the emerging technologies that are set to disrupt and dominate the sector. The group will then take in some of the best sights that San Francisco has to offer, including Napa Valley, Golden Gate Bridge and Sonoma Square, before attending a VIP lunch with Apple Co-founder, Steve Wozniak, at one of his favourite San Francisco restaurants.

For more details, see the full Talent Unleashed Awards Winners Trip itinerary below:

In the meantime, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see all of our updates. For more information about the Talent Unleashed Awards, visit www.talentunleashedawards.com, and be sure to keep your eye out for entries opening for the 2018 Talent Unleashed Awards here.

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In our final spotlight piece on our 2017 winners we catch-up with the winners of our leadership categories.

Greg Reed collects his Global Award in London

In December 2017, Homeserve Membership CEO, Greg Reed picked up the EMEA regional winners prize for ‘Most Progressive Workplace Leader’ he then went on to pick up a global leadership award, securing his place on the winners trip in the process. Upon joining Homeserve, they had just come through a regulatory, reputational and commercial near-death experience. Since then Greg has helped a new HomeServe emerge; a commercially powerful business built on strong principles with the right culture of committed People delivering effortless service to customers.

Reflecting on his award win in December Greg said: “It is an absolute privilege to have been recognised with the award for Most Progressive Leader. I am really fortunate to lead a company that is commercially powerful, built on strong principles and a culture we are proud of. This award is a recognition of the efforts of all our People – a leader simply can’t be progressive without an amazing team who have all been instrumental in building the special culture we have at HomeServe.

“On a personal note, this award means a great deal to me. Always learning and developing as a leader is something that’s really important to me and spending time with some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs is a unique opportunity.”

Unleashed Awards Best Leader award winner Nick Whitehouse

Nick Whitehouse, Chief Digital Officer at McCarthyFinch & MinterEllisonRuddWatts will be joining Greg in Silicon Valley after picking up the award for global Most Disruptive Technology or Digital Leader at our awards ceremony in Melbourne.

Over the last two years Nick has led McCarthyFinch & MinterEllisonRuddWatts digital transformation, implementing wholesale technology change. This change programme resulted in the spawning of a world-leading Legal AI joint venture with Goat Ventures. Awarded Emerging ICT Leader of the Year and the youngest top ranked CIO in the annual CIO innovation awards, Nick has a unique history leading businesses through disruption and technology firsts.

You can keep up-to-date with our winners during their tour of Silicon Valley by searching for #UnleashedWinners across social media or following @UnleashedAwards on Twitter.

If you would like to stay up to date with the latest Talent Unleashed Awards news, visit our homepage and enter your details on the form.

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Cancer Aid accepting their award from global judge Steve Wozniak

CancerAid

CancerAid is a free comprehensive cancer resource and support platform developed by Dr Nikhil Pooviah and Dr Raghav Murali-Ganesh. Using the app, patients, caregivers and medical professionals can track and manage symptoms, medication and treatment. Patients can also connect with a supportive online community.

CancerAid was the Talent Unleashed 2017 APAC Global Winner of Best Start-up and Best Start-up Creating Social Impact.

“Winning two Talent Unleashed awards has helped us with recognition and validation. To be recognised by Sir Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak is invaluable to our work and mission. It gives us credibility when engaging with customers, investors, partners and even patients.”

– Dr Nikhil Pooviah, co-founder and CEO, CancerAid

eKite

eKite was the Talent Unleashed 2017 EMEA Global Winner of Best Start-up and est Start-up Creating Social Impact.

Max ter Horst collects his awards in London

E-Kite develops kite power systems to generate electricity at >50% lower costs than wind turbines. Their systems consist of a wing tethered to a ground station. While flying away the wing is pulling the tether, causing a pulley to turn. This pulley then drives a generator.

Founder Max ter Horst can’t wait to get to San Francisco and was overwhelmed by the feedback from the judges, he said:

“Being recognized as Best Start-up In The EMEA Region by a jury with Sir Richard Branson and Steven Wozniak gave us tremendous credibility among investors, customers and engineering talent. Together with those people, we will shake up the energy world with our kite power technology, which is the cheapest and greenest way to generate electricity. In this way, we will make sustainable energy also financially sustainable, so that the global transition to renewable energy will really take off.”

– Max ter Horst, managing director, e-kite

We wish both Max and Dr Nikhil all the best for their winners trip to San Francisco – you can keep tabs on their experience by searching#UnleashedWinners on social media or following @UnleashedAwards.

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Nathan Williams collects his ‘One to Watch’ award in London

UK & European Winner – MineSpider

Nathan Williams is the founder of blockchain-based tech startup, Minespider. The company uses blockchain tokens to track conflict-free minerals. These tokens are passed up the supply chain to purchasers of metal, so that manufacturers can trace their money to responsible sources. The judges were bowled over by the innovative use of blockchain to help rid the world of unethical mining practices which destroy so many lives.

We caught up with Nathan whilst he was speaking at Talent’s Tech Trends event in Berlin last week. Looking ahead to the winners trip, he said:

“Being selected as the Global Winner for Best Idea in the Talent Unleashed Awards is such an enormous boost for us.  The exposure we received has already helped earn trust with large companies in the mineral industry. Having the recognition of such prominent entrepreneurs, such as Steve Wozniak and Sir Richard Branson, sets us 10 steps ahead in our mission to turn responsible supply chain due diligence from an impossible task into a commodity that any company can purchase easily through the power of blockchain.”

Follow Nathan’s progress by connecting with him on LinkedIn

APAC Winner – LifeWhisperer

Dr. Jonathon Hall receiving his ‘One to Watch’ award from global judge Steve Wozniak

Life Whisperer is a non-invasive image analysis tool that improves the selection of viable embryos for IVF implantation. The technology, designed by Dr Jonathan Hall, Dr Michelle Perugini and Dr Don Perugini, aims to improve success rates of IVF treatment while reducing the associated emotional burden and financial costs.

Looking ahead to the winners trip, Dr Jonathan Hall said:

“We are honoured to have been awarded the Global Winner for Best Idea by Talent Unleashed, and to be recognised by world leading entrepreneurs like Sir Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak. This exposure and support is invaluable in the hope that we can have a positive impact on families undergoing IVF, helping to improve IVF success rates around the world and making IVF more affordable and accessible for infertile couples wanting to have children.”

Follow Jonathan’s progress by connecting with him on LinkedIn

USA Winner – Grainster

Layne Fortenberry receiving his ‘One to Watch’ award beside Founder Richard Earl (left) and global judge Steve Wozniak (right)

Grainster is a technology enabled grain trading marketplace, a paradigm shift from today’s grain trading practices. It seeks to enhance global food security and small farm strength through freeing growers to offer their production directly to a global buying audience.

Grainster’s secure, comprehensive trading platform provides, among other benefits, a new opportunity for both farmers and buyers to increase operations profitability.

Grainster is the first global startup winner from mainland America and will be looking to take advantage of the Silicon Valley experience to help further develop its operations from its home Little Rock, AR. He stated after winning his award:

“Winning the 2017 Talent Unleashed Award for Best Idea- One to Watch, USA has opened up unimaginable opportunities and brought the World Spotlight to our venture. To be recognized by Sir Richard Branson is an honor itself, and with Steve Wozniak saying, “This technology could be disruptive, like Uber or Airbnb” has had a powerful effect on our proof of concept.”

Follow Grainster’s progress by connecting with them on LinkedIn

Follow the winners on their trip on social media using the hashtag #UnleashedWinners or follow @UnleashedAwards on Twitter

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Last week, CNBC requested an interview with global winner in the ‘Best Idea – One to Watch’ category – Berlin-based Blockchain mining Company, Minespider. Following his success at the Talent Unleashed Awards last thursday, Nathan Williams, CEO, was invited to participate in an interview, shown live on Squawk Box early on Friday morning. Listen here:

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/08/newcomers-in-bitcoin-space-causing-rally-pro.html

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