Before It Happened
70 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 34 ratingsBefore It Happened takes you on an entrepreneurial journey into the future.
Silicon Valley storyteller Donna Loughlin interviews entrepreneurs and innovators to discuss the moonshot in bringing their big idea to life. In each episode, you will learn wisdom and creative go-to-market strategies from global experts to drive business success.
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Episodes
Sprouting our way to Better Health and Sustainability with Doug Evans
October 07, 2021 11:00 - 51 minutes - 119 MBHealthy eating has become a multimillion-dollar business. But there’s one superfood that hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserves. In this episode of Before IT Happened, our host Donna Loughlin talks to a pioneer in the plant-based health movement, Doug Evans, co-founder of Organic Avenue, founder of Juicero, and the author of The Sprouts Book. Doug talks about his latest work, advocating for sprouts — the simple and cheap food he calls “the ultimate superfood.” Could these tiny living seed...
Riding the Rogue Waves of Disruption with Eric Pilon-Bignell
September 30, 2021 11:00 - 39 minutes - 89.8 MBOver the last couple of decades, humanity has experienced a tremendous rate of disruption. How can we understand and adapt to the ever-changing world we live in? In this episode of Before IT Happened, Donna talks to Eric Pilon-Bignell, an engineer and author whose ideas are revolutionizing both the present and the future. Eric, an expert on change and how we respond to it, is the author of the book Surfing Rogue Waves, a doctoral thesis turned into a best-selling manuscript on adapting to th...
From Farm to Table to Feeding the World with Uncrushable Celebrity Chef and Entrepreneur Tyler Florence
September 23, 2021 10:00 - 38 minutes - 87 MBHow does a latchkey kid go from eating microwave burritos to being a world-renowned chef? In this episode of Before IT Happened, Donna tells the story of one of the early faces of The Food Network, Tyler Florence. Tyler is an American culinary star, author of almost a dozen cookbooks, an entrepreneur, and even a documentary director. Tyler’s love for food has taken him from working on the front lines of busy restaurants to collaborating with the World Central Kitchen and the United Nations t...
Before There Were Selfies: Inventing the First Digital Camera at Kodak with Steve Sasson
September 16, 2021 10:00 - 47 minutes - 109 MBThere was a time when Kodak was the most powerful company in America. It’s business model truly seemed impenetrable until something unprecedented happened inside its own laboratories. In this episode of Before IT Happened, Donna sits down with Steve Sasson, who, as a young Kodak engineer in 1975, became the first person ever to capture a digital photographic image. Steve may have developed the first digital camera prototype while working for Kodak, but it wasn’t until 2001 that the company p...
From Zero to 60 in a Car Fit for James Bond with Ferris Rezvani
September 09, 2021 11:00 - 37 minutes - 86.5 MBWould you like to drive a vehicle that takes you beyond the mortal real world? In this episode of Before IT Happened, Donna Loughlin chats with automobile entrepreneur and innovator Ferris Rezvani. After a successful career working at IBM, Ferris decided to pursue his lifelong dream of designing military-inspired armored vehicles. Today he is CEO of Rezvani Motors, an avant-garde automobile design company dedicated to creating exotic, high-performance vehicles that have become favorites of t...
In the Pursuit of Cleaner Farming, Making Great Wine and Chasing Monarch Butterflies with Carlo Mondavi
September 02, 2021 11:00 - 47 minutes - 108 MBIn this episode of Before IT Happened, Donna chats with Carlo Mondavi, a descendant of Napa Valley wine royalty and a leading advocate for sustainable agriculture and organic and biodynamic farming. Carlo’s grandfather Robert Mondavi founded the family winery in 1966 in Northern California and passed on his passion for wine and organic farming. Today Carlo is dedicated to The Monarch Challenge, a program to educate, encourage and connect communities to farming without chemicals. In 2013, Car...
From Slaying Dragons in the Navy to Augmenting Reality and Expanding Global Connectivity with Andy Lowery
August 26, 2021 11:00 - 43 minutes - 99.2 MBIn this episode of Before IT Happened, our host Donna Loughlin tells the story of Andy Lowery, a pioneer in the development of wearable technology. Andy’s story begins as a gifted child who joined the Navy, became an engineer, and went out to the world of tech entrepreneurship. Realware, the brand he co-founded, is now the industry leader for powerful, voice-operated headset computers, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune in to learn how Andy built this successful brand by observing ...
Elevating Gastronomy with Jeff the 420 Chef
August 19, 2021 11:00 - 46 minutes - 106 MBHow did a marketing expert become The Julia Child of Cannabis? In this episode of Before It Happened, our host Donna Loughlin talks to Jeff Danzer, AKA Jeff the 420 Chef, an amateur cook and weed lover who turned into one of the world’s leading cannabis chefs. Jeff’s work is not only revolutionizing the cannabis industry but is also helping tackle down the stigma around what most people call “stoners.” Join in and listen to how his tasteless cannabutter launched his career in a completely ne...
Revamping a Tired Old Industry with Zohr’s Komal and Anoop Choong
August 12, 2021 11:00 - 41 minutes - 93.8 MBKomal and Anoop Choong are two first-generation American brothers whose family came from Northern India to the United States to open a restaurant chain. Growing up they were always fascinated by the entrepreneurial spirit of their father and when the time came, they decided to combine this work philosophy with their obsession for cars. In this episode of Before It Happened, our host Donna Loughlin tells us the story of Zohr, a mobile tire service that grew from a minivan into a rising star...
Disrupting the Silicon Valley Boys Club with Mercedes Soria
August 05, 2021 11:00 - 52 minutes - 120 MBIf being a woman in tech is hard today, imagine how tough it must have been for a female Ecuadorian immigrant in the 1990s. In this episode of Before IT Happened, our host Donna Loughlin talks to Mercedes Soria, co-founder of the AI-driven security company Knightscope and one of Silicon Valley’s leading advocates for women in tech. Mercedes came to the U.S. to study engineering and has overcome one obstacle after another to become one of the tech industry’s most inspirational thought leaders...
Human Intelligence Hiring with Mike Fitzsimmons
July 29, 2021 11:00 - 40 minutes - 91.9 MBIn a world where 45% of hires fail within the first 18 months, matching talent to the perfect workplace is almost magic. In this episode of Before It Happened, our host Donna Loughlin tells the story of Mike Fitzsimmons, co-founder and CEO of Crosschq, a cloud-based service that combines human intelligence and AI to reinvent how companies hire. Crosschq’s mission is to better match companies and talent through what it calls human intelligence. The idea is that a good hire helps both the empl...
Getting Kids Excited About STEM and Space with “The NASA Lady” Pamela Greyer
July 22, 2021 11:00 - 48 minutes - 111 MBWho is going to be the first human to step on Mars? In this episode of Before IT Happened, Donna speaks with Pamela Greyer, an atypical character to this show but a visionary in her own right. Known as “The NASA Lady,” Pamela is neither an astronaut nor an engineer. Pam is a teacher whose mission is to bring STEM education closer to black and brown kids — especially girls — through the majesty and wonder of space. Listen now and learn how this lover of science and technology is opening up th...
Electrifying Agriculture One Tractor at a Time with Praveen Penmetsa
July 15, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes - 70.8 MBSometimes to give meaning to our work, we need to remember who we are and where we came from. In this episode of Before It Happened, Donna speaks with Praveen Penmetsa, co-founder and CEO of two groundbreaking startups — one of which is revolutionizing the agricultural industry. While Praveen’s love for cars and engineering brought him to the United States, it was his family’s farming background in India that gave him the idea for Monarch Tractor. Through his newest venture, Praveen and hi...
Becoming Superhuman with Designer and Entrepreneur Donald Burlock, Jr.
July 08, 2021 11:00 - 45 minutes - 105 MBMerging creativity with your personal story has been left for artists, but imagine what would happen if you could apply that level of meaning to your work in any industry. In this episode of Before It Happened, host Donna Loughlin chats with Donald Burlock Jr, veteran UX designer and author of Superhuman by Design. Through his experiences working in both the automotive and tech industries, Donald says he’s learned that while just about everybody has a superpower, few know how to unlock it. I...
Unlocking ADHD's Power with Author, Investor and Podcast Host Peter Shankman
July 01, 2021 11:00 - 36 minutes - 82.6 MBBuilding several successful enterprises while living with undiagnosed ADHD is a tough endeavor, but it can also be an interesting take on life. In this first episode of Before IT Happened, our host Donna Loughlin talks to marketing expert, entrepreneur, and best-selling author Peter Shankman. Peter was a founding editor of AOL News before we’d ever heard of online journalism. He leaned into the early dot-com boom by launching Geek Factory, one of the first PR firms designed to put a spotli...
Smart, Electric Motorcycles and Achieving Zero Fatalities Before 2030 with Damon Founder Jay Giraud
July 01, 2021 11:00 - 45 minutes - 103 MBWhile traveling through Indonesia, Jay Giraud had an epiphany. As he watched thousands of commuters traverse the streets of Jakarta on motorcycles, he noticed there was a rhythm to how the bikes moved. They fluttered back and forth like synchronized bike flocks. He was both amazed and concerned: The sheer number of bikes choking the streets of cities around the world meant motorcycles were a massive global polluter. But seeing them move in unison gave him a vision of what a semi-autonomous m...
Inventing 'Pong' Before Video Games Existed with Creator Al Alcorn
July 01, 2021 11:00 - 45 minutes - 104 MBIn this episode of Before IT Happened, our host Donna Loughlin talks to electrical engineer and gaming legend Allan “Al” Alcorn, who helped build the modern video-game industry. He was both an early employee of Atari and the creator of Pong, one of the first commercial video games to ever find its way into our homes. He gave Steve Jobs his first job in tech and was an informal advisor during Apple’s early days. Later, he helped launch the first tech incubator and advised scores of young entr...
Introducing Before IT Happened
June 08, 2021 11:00 - 3 minutes - 8.82 MBBefore any world-changing innovation there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
Introducing Before It Happened
June 08, 2021 11:00 - 3 minutes - 8.82 MBBefore any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea Before IT Happened. This podcast takes you on a journey before the spark with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — the future. Join host Donna Loughlin and listen to the futurist themselves tell the story of how they brought their visions into reality.
Introducing Before It Happend
June 08, 2021 11:00 - 3 minutes - 8.73 MBBefore any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea Before IT Happened. This podcast takes you on a journey before the spark with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — the future. Join host Donna Loughlin and listen to the futurist themselves tell the story of how they brought their visions into reality.