Terminal Tech Talks: mavericks and the tech empires of the past, present and future

The Terminal Tech Talk series is committed to bringing our technical communities together by sharing insights and learnings from the best and brightest minds on topics ranging from innovative best practices to culture, personal growth and more. To see more Terminal Tech Talks, visit terminal.io/techtalks ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Professor Larry Smith is one of the most recognized and celebrated University of Waterloo professors. He's also the founder and director of the University of Waterloo's Problem Lab, a world's first. He started teaching at UW in 1981 and has now taught over 25,000 students which is over 10% of UW's alumni. His TED Talk "Why You Will Fail To Have A Great Career" has been viewed over six million times thus far and he is an award-winning teacher focusing on entrepreneurship, tech, and innovation. On Thursday, March 15th, 2018 at 4:00pm, we welcomed Larry Smith to Terminal. The prepared talk focused on tech empires of the past, present and future with a particular focus on the role of the maverick in entrepreneurship and innovation. Other themes included overlooked opportunities across the tech sector including R&D, IT, recruiting, energy, machine learning, computer security, digital assistants and connected devices. Lastly, professor Smith discussed the power of historical analysis to allow innovators to look into the future and the mandate of the Problem Lab. LARRY WILL ADDRESS SOME OF THESE TOPICS: •AI Weaknesses and Limitations •Herd Mentality and Cargo Culting •Misconceptions of Machine Learning •The Really Big Opportunities in Technology •Overlooked Opportunities in technology and R&D •Creating at Least One Unicorn in the Next Five Years •Challenge Your Assumptions Around Big Problems •Industry Forecasts for New Products and Technology •Mistakes and Challenges of Google and Facebook •Entrepreneurship and Unorthodox Perspectives •Mission and Mandate of the Problem Lab