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Tech Brew Ride Home

(BNS) John Borthwick Of Betaworks

Tech Brew Ride Home

Amalgamated Internets, LLC

News, Tech News, Technology

4.71K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Borthwick on Betaworks shares his journey from a tech-savvy youth to a prominent figure in the New York City tech scene. He discusses his early experiences with computers, the transformative impact of the World Wide Web, and the vibrant tech culture of the 90s. Borthwick reflects on his role in creating Total New York, the lessons learned from the AOL acquisition, and the challenges faced during the dot-com bubble burst. He also highlights the rise of social media platforms like Photolog and the evolution of BetaWorks as a hub for innovation, particularly in the AI space. Throughout the discussion, Borthwick emphasizes the importance of creativity, constraints, and the ever-changing landscape of technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

One of the promises of AI from an investing standpoint in terms of what's the business model,

0:07.2

who the winner is going to be, is this sense of abundance potentially in terms of what it can achieve?

0:13.6

Yeah, it's really interesting because you have this like sort of, you know, you have this

0:18.2

early days of the internet.

0:20.3

You just have this and use these metaphors to get that, but you have this early days of the internet, you would just have this, and use these

0:22.9

metaphors to get that, but you have these like sort of sense you've discovered a new land,

0:27.5

right? And there's an entirely new world that's opened up and that you can build whatever

0:32.6

you want in that you're in one. Right. And then on the flip side is, is that you're some real constraints in terms of what you can do, what you're capable of doing with technology, what you can do, what capital you have, all those constraints. And so like balancing those things is like sort of one of the key jobs of the entrepreneur. But it's also, you know, it is always, you know, them keeping in mind sort of the key jobs of the entrepreneur. But it's also, it is always, you know, them keeping in mind sort of the, I order, like, some

1:00.1

like, like, a new I am I actually building.

1:04.0

I think it is absolutely central to, you know, ending up building things which matter

1:09.0

and building things which change the world.

1:16.8

John Borthwick, thanks for talking to us today.

1:20.4

Pleasure.

1:21.7

I want to do a little bit of this is your life.

1:24.6

So let's go all the way back and just sort of ask you real

1:27.6

quick. Were you a computer kid growing up? Were you into tech and gadgets and things like that?

1:34.2

I was a nerd. I was a computer kid. I did my first bit of programming on a computer, which

1:40.6

included tape cassette. And I would never say that I was programmer.

1:48.4

As I grew up, I sort of ended up scripting more, sort of like figuring out how to

1:53.3

cobble together and use computer code to make one thing, choose something else.

2:01.7

And, you know, I grew up in the,

2:06.7

I grew up in the, I grew up in UK, half English, half French.

...

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