Melinda Gates is the co-founder and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the United States. With more than $40 billion in assets, the Gates Foundation works on a dizzying array of issues, from eradicating polio to feeding the world to treating HIV to stopping climate change to reforming the US education system.

Gates has also been working, in recent years, on increasing diversity in the technology industry. “If you [only] have products created by white guys in their 20s, you’re gonna miss the mark,” she says.

I sat down with Gates at South by Southwest for an interview that covered a lot of ground. We talked, among other things, about bioterrorism, comic sans, climate change, the culture of Silicon Valley, the Damore memo about gender and technology, the future of food, the problems money can and can’t solve, what makes America culturally distinct, and more.

Books:

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Hadley Fraser has carved himself a prolific and diverse career. From actor, musician to writer. From stage to screen. Ramin Karimloo and Hang have known each other for close to 20 years as their professional paths have crossed several times.

There’s a lot of startup advice out there in the world, and much of it is diluted to the point where it’s pretty much meaningless. Reading a book can be the best place to get the advice you need right now.

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder and NYTimes bestselling author
Today's episode is one of my favorite conversations I’ve had. It’s with Nir Eyal, who is a founder, an investor, and a best-selling author. His first book “Hooked” came out about five years ago and pretty much every tech founder became familiar with his insights in that book.
But his latest book “Indistractable”, which came out this month, talks about how to control your attention and intentionally choose your life. It’s not necessarily just for the tech and startup ecosystem, it's for anyone who cares about life — making the most of it and trying to work on not becoming so distractible.
We talked about what is distraction, what motivates us, how to prevent distraction, and what is the opposite of distraction. We talk about all of those things, including building "Indistractable" workplaces and so much more. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Teddy Schleifer about an “identity crisis” that pitted his wealth and fame against personal happiness and relationships.

You got a fever, and the only prescription is more...antipyretics? In this episode we break down what a fever is, why a fever is, as well as when and how to treat a fever. How hot can a fever get? Can it damage your brain? Is there such thing as a low grade fever? Do emergency departments have fancy Tylenol? All this plus hallucinations, seizures, and the most accurate way to take a temperature (hint: it isn't your mouth).

Jeremy has a golden rules for entrepreneurship: don't build anything, sell first. Startup wisdom and the story of Jeremy's successes in failures, all in this episode.

Matt Miller - Head of Content at Podcast Notes

Kevin Rose is one of the most recognizable individuals in the startup world. As a founder, he and his team created the news aggregation site Digg, which became a household name, putting him on magazine covers around the world and creating an iconic brand in Silicon Valley. Since then, he has also invested in companies like: Twitter, Facebook, Square, and NextDoor to name a few. Kevin is not only incredibly honest and open about his successes and failures, but he’s enthusiastically trying to get others to share just as openly.