What3Word’s 57 trillion 3m squares | Chris Sheldrick

About This Episode

In this episode of Nothing Ventured, host Aarish Shah sits down with Chris Sheldrick, co-founder and CEO of What3Words the global addressing system that assigns three unique words to every 3-metre square on Earth.

Originally inspired by the challenges of organising live music events and directing crews to remote locations, What3Words has grown into a global platform used by businesses, delivery companies, emergency services, and major partners like Intel and Mercedes.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Chris Sheldrick & What3Words
00:46 The problem with traditional addresses
02:23 Addressing challenges around the world
04:09 The origin story: from music events to What3Words
07:59 Preventing location mistakes with word combinations
10:19 Building network effects for global adoption
12:07 How AI fits into What3Words
14:34 Why postcodes don’t work for navigation
18:33 The maths behind 64 trillion locations
22:40 The psychology of adoption
25:18 How delivery companies are using What3Words
28:58 Solving addressing problems in developing countries
33:24 Is What3Words a utility?
34:42 The vision for global adoption
36:40 Chris’s contrarian view on hiring globally
41:22 What moves Chris emotionally: music 🎵

Find Chris Sheldrick online at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissheldrick1/
Twitter:https://x.com/ChrisSheldrick
What3Words: https://what3words.com

This episode is sponsored by EmergeOne, fractional CFOs for venture backed tech startups from Seed to Series B.
Get in touch at https://emergeone.co.uk/contact-us/ or join the CFO team at https://emergeone.co.uk/join-the-cfo-team/

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Watch on YouTube: What3Word's 57 trillion 3m squares | Chris Sheldrick