Paul Powers (Physna) Teaching Computers to Understand 3D and Innovating at the Speed of Imagination

The Guest

Paul Powers, the founder and CEO of Physna. You may have caught Physna in the news recently because they’ve raised $76M over the last year, including $56M earlier this summer from Tiger Global, Sequoia and others.

Paul and his team have created a new way to search and compare 3D models in a way that is faster and more effective than what’s come before. This ability to recognize and understand physical objects, combined with Thangs, their online database of 3D models, creates the potential for them to become the Google Search of AR.

Earlier, Paul attended Harvard at the age of 16, and went on to study in Germany, earning a law degree and passing the German bar exam. It was his work at a German patent law firm that inspired the foundation for what became Physna.

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The Conversation

In this conversation, Paul describes his unique educational experience and his path to becoming a tech entrepreneur. He goes on to describe the origins of Physna and how they are enabling computers to understand 3D in the same way they understand text.

We talk through the technology and we discuss leadership, entrepreneurial mindset, a different way of thinking about goal setting, and aligning and motivating others. He also shares his perspective of the potential impact that glasses-based AR can have on the human experience.

Jason McDowallAR Cloud, consumer, mobile AR, leadership, culture