Episode Overview

Title: Beyond Software: Pablos Holman on Deep Tech, Energy Inequality, and Building a Better Future
Guest: Pablos Holman – Hacker, inventor, futurist, and venture investor
Date: September 13, 2025
Podcast: The Digital Executive (Coruzant Technologies)
Host: Brian Thomas

Theme:
This episode explores the future of technology beyond software, focusing on "deep tech" solutions targeting fundamental human challenges—such as energy, food, construction, and inequality. Pablos Holman discusses why the next era of transformative innovation will require physical inventions, how the values and timeframes of venture capital affect world-changing projects, and why building a better future means thinking as good ancestors.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Shift from Inventor to Deep Tech Investor

• From Experimenting to Funding Innovation ([01:41])
  • Pablos describes how his career evolved from hands-on invention (cryptocurrency, AI for trading, 3D printing) to supporting other radical inventors through his venture firm, Deep Future.
  • Quote:

    "Big tech industry doesn't really do that anymore. They're just doing software. So other kinds of technologies are not getting a lot of attention." – Pablos Holman [01:41]

  • The focus: Invest in inventors who target "big problems" that can improve humanity, shifting beyond his own projects to empowering others.

Tackling Problems that Matter: The "Deep Tech" Approach

• Identifying High-Impact Opportunities ([03:00])
  • Pablos argues that society prioritizes software and apps aimed at small, often trivial, markets—while vast opportunities for impact remain in legacy sectors untouched by Silicon Valley.
  • Quote:

    "Is every single human on Earth a potential customer? ...That's true for energy, food, construction, manufacturing, apparel, even mining." – Pablos Holman [03:00]

  • He defines "deep tech" as physical, non-software-only technologies that reimagine and upgrade critical global industries, seeking solutions that even a fraction of humanity can benefit from to be hugely valuable.

Critique of the Tech Industry's Narrow Focus

• Talented Minds on Trivial Apps ([04:48])
  • Many developers would prefer working on ambitious challenges—robots, lasers, or nuclear reactors—but are drawn into lucrative, low-risk software ventures.
  • Quote:

    "...all they're doing. And it's kind of been so easy to make a successful business with that that it has attracted all of our best and brightest people to go help make iPhone apps to have weed delivered to your dorm room or something when they really could be helping with something much more impactful." – Pablos Holman [04:48]

Why Hardware Drives Transformative Change

• Hardware is "Hard," But Essential ([05:40])
  • Software development is systematized and low-cost; hardware is costly, slow, and risk-averse—so innovation shifted away from physical invention.
  • Now, advances in software simulation (modeling, testing, crashing designs virtually) are making once-impossible hardware innovation feasible and efficient.
  • Quote:

    "The superpowers that made software so powerful are now advanced enough that we can bring them to building hardware. And that is what has changed in just the last few years." – Pablos Holman [07:28]

  • Example: SpaceX models rocket failures in software millions of times, minimizing real-world explosions.
  • The key: Targeting new classes of previously "too hard" problems with a blended software/hardware approach.

Time Horizons, Ambition, and Being Better Ancestors

• Short-Termism vs. Long-Term Impact ([09:02])
  • Venture capital's 10-year investment cycle limits ambition; many of history’s greatest tech and infrastructure achievements were completed within a decade or less—but today, we rarely attempt anything similarly bold.
  • Quote:

    "When you have such a short window, you can't be very ambitious." – Pablos Holman [09:21] "A lot of things, big things have been built in 10 years or less. Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Google... The Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, the Apollo program—all of these things were done in 10 years or less. And they're not all software." [09:40]

Energy Inequality as the Central Challenge

• The "Toaster" Analogy & Global Disparity ([10:28])
  • Pablos uses a vivid metaphor: Globally, the average human lives on the energy equivalent of one toaster running 24/7; Americans get "eight bonus toasters."
  • Billions still lack the energy needed for health and opportunity—a problem underpinning poverty, conflict, and global stability.
  • Quote:

    "By toaster I mean all the energy for heating, cooling, food, air conditioning, you know, travel, all those things that you do, they're not getting enough. ...Three billion people live on less than one toaster. That's not an acceptable living standard." – Pablos Holman [11:03]

  • The real innovation frontier: Raising this baseline ("from one toaster to two or three or four...") through abundant, clean, affordable energy for all.

Building for Humanity's Future

• Broader vision: The goal is not just solving minor problems for wealthy demographics, but using technology and ambition to improve life for all 8 billion people—becoming better ancestors and caretakers of the planet.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Silicon Valley's Drift

  "The tech industry just got drunk on software... attracted our best and brightest to make iPhone apps to have weed delivered to your dorm room when they could be working on something much more impactful."
  – Pablos Holman, [04:48]

• On Deep Tech’s Purpose

  "Deep tech is really the technologies that are not exclusively software, but might help us to reimagine one of those big industries or big problems."
  – Pablos Holman, [03:51]

• On Energy Inequality

  "The average person on Earth gets about as much energy as one toaster running 24/7... Americans get eight bonus toasters."
  – Pablos Holman, [10:28]

• On Building a Better Future

  "We made those people. We didn't make everything they need to thrive."
  – Pablos Holman, [10:55]

• On Ambition and Timeframes

  "It's easy to lose sight of that, especially if you live in the US, because this is a very rich country. Most people in the world don't get access to the kind of resources we do."
  – Pablos Holman, [10:45]

Important Timestamps

• Guest Intro & Career Highlights – [00:00-01:41]
• Experimenting vs. Funding Tech – [01:41-02:24]
• Choosing Practical Innovations (Deep Tech Definition) – [03:00–04:21]
• Critique of Silicon Valley & Software Obsession – [04:48–05:18]
• Why Hardware Matters, Software's New Role in Prototyping – [05:40–08:22]
• Ambition, Venture Capital, and Being a Better Ancestor – [09:02–10:55]
• The Energy Inequality Metaphor – [10:28–12:37]
• Closing Remarks – [12:37–13:24]

Summary Takeaway

Pablos Holman challenges the tech industry to reach beyond software-centric business models and tackle deep, foundational problems through hardware and "deep tech." He calls out energy inequality as the defining challenge of our era, urging inventors and investors to think like good ancestors—building scalable solutions that empower billions, not just the privileged. The future, he stresses, belongs to risk-takers who dare to reimagine the material world for everyone’s benefit.