Inside CVC Encore: Disability as an Innovation Superpower with Pete Horsley, Founder of Remarkable

In this Inside CVC Encore, we revisit a conversation that feels even more relevant today.

Pete Horsley, founder of Remarkable, challenges one of the biggest blind spots in corporate innovation: why disability and accessibility are still treated as compliance or charity initiatives rather than engines of growth, talent, and competitive advantage.

Pete shares why designing for disability often leads to better products for everyone, how inclusive innovation is shaping the future of AI, and why forward-looking corporates are beginning to see accessibility as strategy, not obligation.

We explore:
 • Why disability may be the world’s most overlooked innovation opportunity
 • How Remarkable has helped launch more than 160 startups serving nearly one million people
 • The risks and opportunities of AI for accessibility and inclusion
 • What boards and corporate leaders are missing about talent, product design, and market expansion
 • Why the future of business may depend on designing for the full spectrum of human experience

If you think disability tech is niche, this conversation will challenge that assumption.

Transcript

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Steve 0:04

Welcome to Inside CVC, the podcast that brings together leaders in innovation and capital investment to explore the trends shaping the business of corporate venture capital. I'm your host, Steve Schmidt, and together with Philip Willingman, we're speaking to corporate investors, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem builders driving the future of innovation. InsideCVC is brought to you by UPath Advisors, helping corporations and startups unlock sustainable growth through strategic partnerships. To learn more, visit uPath.com. That's the letter U, hyphenpath.com. And to catch up on all of our episodes, search InsideCVC on your favorite podcast platform or visit uPath.com forward slash podcast. This week, we continue our conversation exploring innovation and disability tech. Last week, we spoke with Gina Klein, formerly with the U.S. Department of Justice working on landmark ADA cases and now leading investment in disability innovation. This week, we continue that conversation with Pete Horsley, founder of Remarkable, a global innovation accelerator redefining what disability and inclusion mean for the future of technology. Pete shares how designing for disability unlocks innovation for everyone and why he believes disability is not a limitation, but an innovation superpower. We'll explore how Remarkable has helped launch more than 160 startups serving nearly a million people, how AI and accessibility intersect, and what corporate leaders can do now to make inclusion part of their growth strategy rather than an afterthought. Here's our conversation with Pete Horsley.

Philipp 1:42

Welcome to InsightCVC. Pete, it's such a pleasure to have you on the show today. How are you doing?

Pete 1:47

I'm really well. Thanks for having me. Where in the world are you? I am currently sitting in my home office in Sydney, Australia. And it is a Sunday evening. So, but it's good to be with you. Fantastic.

Philipp 2:01

It's great. We're connecting once around the world. Pete, you and I first met at Nexus, a community of next-gen family investors pushing for system change in New York, I think three or four years ago. Since then, your organization, Remarkable, has gone global. What's changed most in how the world sees disability tech and what hasn't? Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter.

Pete 2:23

I think that savvy investors are beginning to see that not just the opportunity for designing for a wide population, but they're also starting to see that innovation is actually disability is a driver of innovation within that. They see that people with disability have actually had to try and solve for problems that they perhaps have encountered in their everyday life. And as a result of that, they actually have a pretty well-developed muscle when it comes to innovative thinking, problem solving, trying to come up with solutions for things, particularly when the world was designed that not necessarily taking into their into consideration their needs. So I think disability tech is it's a new term for some people, but we really do believe that the future of innovation actually lies here.

Philipp 3:23

Thank you, Pete. I love kind of your your thoughts on this. And I know you and I, we've connected a lot over the last couple of weeks. And I think I shared my personal story about my sister. When I was a little boy, and our listeners may have heard this on one of our other podcasts. I recall my sister had this massive computer in front of her, where there was one of the first eye-gazing systems in the world in the late 80s, early 90s. She was testing actually at a as a test customer, if you will. If I look back at all the different technologies and all the different things, just my sister alone and the people in her community have tested, have tried to be part of the society and the community we all consider as normal. The innovation power there is kind of unbelievable. And it's interesting that we don't really talk about also all the innovations which are driven by people who have any form of a limitation if it's a physical or a mental disability. So the work you're doing for the last couple of years is so important and glad to have you have you on the spot. But as we talk on this podcast towards corporates, just kind of like open up this picture and then also love to invite Steve in the conversation. Why does it seem to be a blind spot for corporates? You know, I've been working with various corporates as part of the executive team, but also as an advisor. And I only find this topic within the ESG communities, right? There is always an ESG group with focusing on people with disability. But when it comes to really designing and driving for inclusion and accessibility, it's not really part of any big strategy you hear CEOs talk when they present their numbers on a quarterly basis. Why is that? And what have you found in the last couple of years in that space?

Pete 5:10

I do think that change does take time. And I think that there is still a latent understanding of disability being associated with charity. It is disability is being othered. So it is someone that is over there that might need some kind of help. Rather than, I think the savvy investors, savvy corporates are actually starting to see disability as a really large wealth of innovation, also talent, talent that is perhaps being missed. And so what I think I'm starting to see in corporates around the world is we know that corporates that have greater focus on diversity actually have a greater understanding around innovative practices. They have a more well-developed muscle because they're listening to different voices other than their own. And from that, we're actually seeing kind of more innovative thinking happen. So I think that there's cultural change takes time. And I think that what we're seeing is that the cogs of that change are starting to happen now. And certainly the savvy organizations are seeing disability and seeing diversity as a wealth of talent and of innovative power as well.

Steve 6:39

Pete, thanks so much for joining us on the show. It occurs to me when you when you talk about culture and you in corporates, to me, I reflect on that, and it is sort of in the vein of corporates adopting things that will help individuals with disabilities be more productive in their work environment, things like closed captioning, even more physical things like that, right? Are you seeing maybe what I will consider corporations moving into the lead in terms of driving those innovations and creating those innovations and investing in those innovations? It's a bit of a change of the culture of what you're talking about, right? In the past, we've we have to have these technologies to be able to invite individuals with this ability to be part of our workforce, to be part of our organization, our fabric, et cetera. And perhaps what you're describing here, if you agree, is sort of now we're seeing corporations, innovators move into the front of the line. I'm a racing fan, so we'll put it in the pole position, if you will, and sort of take the lead.

Pete 7:43

Is that is that maybe what you're describing? I think so. I think some are still probably approaching it from an exercise of checkbox. But I think again, the savvy corporates, the savvy uh investors are starting to think about this as an advantage. And I think you look at organizations like Apple, they've been designing for inclusion for over a decade now in their products and services. Now they're they're doing that not because I don't think they're just thinking this is the right thing to do or some checkbox or situation. They know that there's money to be made there. They know that there is actually a wider market than perhaps what many organizations are aiming their products and services towards. And when they start to think this way, the cogs do start to turn and they start to catch on that not only is there money to be made here, but there is talent that's missing in our organizations. And there is a different way of being able to think that that potentially can help us edge in front of perhaps some of the other organizations that aren't as quick to catch on.

Steve 9:02

Well, it seems to be working. I mean, the traction around Remarkable is pretty amazing. Over a hundred startups help, close to a million people helped. It again, it occurs to me as we two questions. For those that are listening that might not be very familiar with Remarkable, could you maybe take a couple of minutes and describe exactly for our audience what that is? And maybe beyond that, then talk about what is the message that you're sending them? How are you getting this engagement from all of these startups, getting this traction?

Pete 9:32

Yeah, so Remarkable is a division of a not-for-profit organization. So we've been around for about 80 years as a not-for-profit. And if you like, this is a startup within a large enterprise. And I know that that's something that you do talk a little bit about on this podcast as well. And so back in 2016, we really started to see that that maintaining our innovative edge, we we needed to be able to try and push the boundaries around the future of technology. We could see that technology was going to be a big part of the future of disability services. And yet the examples of lots of technology, many would call assistive technology, were fairly, I guess, clunky, quite monofunctional, and quite expensive as well. And so we wanted to try and kind of push the boundaries of that. We we tried to kind of say to ourselves, what would it take for us not to have to exist? And certainly when it comes to seeing technologies actually designed for the needs of a wider human experience, we saw that there was a real opportunity there. So we started running uh kind of accelerator programs, commercialization programs, and supporting for-profit entities because what we could see is that if we could get these for-profit entities actually going, we could then see ongoing impact, these little kind of centers of impact through these companies actually becoming more profitable. And so we would see our mission as a not-for-profit organization extended through some of this corporate venturing uh kind of approach. So, yeah, as you've said, over time we've we've supported over 160 startups now. Um and for an organization that perhaps sees around about four or five thousand customers, the ability for us then to have that additional reach out to now almost a million customers has been quite an extraordinary journey and something that we've enjoyed very much. It's remarkable work indeed, Pete.

Philipp 11:42

So a bit of a tricky question. I spent most of my professional career in the last 10, 15 years focusing on climate tech, mobility tech, using technology to reduce emissions, but of course also ensuring that more people can move from A to B. As you think about, you mentioned disability and inclusion is often still seen as a charity project. Um, but if you look at the numbers for the assistive tech market and the disability tech market, by 2030, and it's I think it doesn't matter which source you look into, everybody is saying it's going to be around 65 to 70 billion, which is a pretty big number. Of course, climate tech is something we are really seeing and more and more experiencing ourselves, depending on where we are living in the world, that the climate is is changing and people are trying to find solutions in this. But on the other hand, side, focusing on humans and the social side of all of us, I think similarly important, if not even more important, as we are moving closer to each other because we can't live everywhere anymore. So why do you think corporates are chasing focus on climate or the metaverse bads? So even crypto now, the in the United States, the government and the financial institution making big announcements this week, but ignoring focusing on humans and focusing on people who need support, which will have many, many more in the future.

Pete 13:11

I think that we get excited by things that are bright and shiny and new, and perhaps things that are slightly unknown to us. And so the the focus on on crypto, the focus on AI now, these things seem incredibly exciting. There's a a new frontier there that perhaps is is relatively unexplored. Uh, I again think that the the savvy corporates are actually starting to see that that that disability isn't just about some of us, it's actually about all of us. As we age, in Australia, certainly, the the statistics are that if you're over the age of 65, then about 50% of people over the age of 65 are going to have some form of disability. The large majority of disability is actually acquired disability. So you may wake up one morning seemingly able-bodied, and then the next minute you might have a disability. So it is the largest global minority that any of us can join at any particular moment, whether we realize that or not. And so I think that this space is is complex, it's hard, it's nuanced. And so perhaps the typical approaches that we do have around kind of some of the areas of climate change, we've been able to narrow that down to a number of known activities that we can do to reduce our impact on the climate and to have kind of a greater impact on seeing climate change abated. Whereas when it comes to disability, I think that there is still a lot to be explored here. And it's multifaceted and it's it there's there's lots of areas that we need to explore.

Steve 15:06

You touch on something there that is now come up twice, right? We we that we're talking about this topic over a couple of different episodes, and that to me is the notion of what does a disability look like? Do I fall into this cohort? Do I fall into this class? Something I struggle with. I don't even know if to if I call it a disability with what I had in sort of the uh a birth defect that I was born with, surgeries that I've had, things that still impact me to this day. But this notion of, hey, we're all going to be disabled at one point is really you've said it now. And I think it is a perspective that I think but needs to get be widened, right? I struggle again every day. Am I disabled, et cetera? I I think here in the US, at least when when people go to apply for jobs, at the very end of it is this long list of things of are you disabled or not? And I read it and I and I struggle. I don't know if there's a question here or not. I just I think it's interesting that now twice we've talked about, hey, we're all going to be disabled at one point. And it sort of changes the the definition of what that is. Is that is I I don't again I open the conversation or open a comment for you. I I don't know if there's a question there or not.

Pete 16:21

I really love that you kind of talk about changing the definition there, Steve, because I I do think that fundamentally disability is part of the human experience, whether we experience that or identify with that right now, or whether we will as we age, or whether it's something that you're either born with or something that you acquire as you go through life. And we all know that there can be temporary disability as well. And so I actually think it's less about the who's in and who's out. And it actually is more about how do we design for the multitude of human experience. And I think if we start to kind of think about kind of the human experience as being perhaps a little bit wider than perhaps what we have designed for before, that's when I think we start to really open things up. That's when I think we start to see kind of new innovative pathways, new customer bases, new talent in our organizations. I think that's when we kind of really begin to perhaps have a different experience to what we've thought about disability as being before.

Philipp 17:33

And I have to say, just to throw this in, like since the last year, while I'm focusing much more on also the investment side of this, when you start talking with investors and talking with people in this in this space or outside of the space, many are saying, oh no, it's kind of a charity topic, right? I'm happy to donate. But then if you meet them again three months later or six months later, and for the first time, I don't know, they may have a broken leg or one of their parents is suddenly has to be taken care of, the complete discussion completely changes. Or even like some of my friends, we just got their first baby, suddenly it's like, oh my God, now I have a complete different perspective on what it takes for you and your family to take care of your sister in a wheelchair. Like the world is not designed for being in a kinderwagen or whatever. And uh, it's to your point, it's really sometimes it's a part-time aspect. And so having the inclusion in mind is so important.

Steve 18:25

So, Pete, let me ask you, right? You've called AI a sort of two sides, right? You've either said it's it's gonna widen the gap in this space or it's going to be a great equalizer. Can you maybe share both sides of that perspective? And what happens if corporates, if investors take the more exclusionary route of those two options?

Pete 18:52

AI is fundamentally built on a premise of understanding predictable next words, next steps, next configurations. And so by its very nature, it actually is designed to exclude extremes or it's designed to exclude outliers. So things that don't fit a pattern. AI is designed to kind of push those things out so that we can understand what the next most predictable thing is. So the great thing about that is that it is able to understand a very diverse, a very large data set in order to understand what is what is the next most predictable thing to do. The downside of AI is that it understands a very large data set and it predicts the very next thing to do. So when it comes to outliers in human condition, then we can see AI actually taking that same approach of excluding outliers. What do I mean by that? Perhaps it is someone that has a different skin, skin tone and AI being used for facial recognition, all of a sudden not recognizing a particular face. Perhaps it is understanding someone's vocal patterns, and for someone who has perhaps dysarthric speech, or maybe they have a stutter, or perhaps they've had a stroke and can't articulate quite as well as someone else might be able to, that AI might then exclude someone like that as well. So by its very nature, there are elements of AI that potentially kind of can push the outliers out. Now, there is also an ability for us to design AI, large language models, so that it actually can include the outliers. And we can actually see a far more robust large language model when we actually do include the outliers in that. And I think that the power of AI actually comes in individualization, and that is that AI can eventually understand who I am, who you are, who your sister is as well, Philip, who my sister is, who has who was born with disability, and it can respond in different ways depending on their needs. My sister was born blind, and so having an AI that actually can respond in a way for her that might be different from, say, my uncle, who was actually has got a hearing impairment, but can actually read quite well, but not be able to hear as well. So in this, I think there is both the the potential and also the potential flaw in AI.

Philipp 21:48

So, I mean, on AI and also moving into robotics, right? I mean, I I'm more on the side of opportunity and hope. I mean, maybe hope is the wrong word, right? If you think about some of the big tech, what they are focusing on. But I do I do have the belief that we can really use AI to create more community and really find solutions to bridge between uncertainties and bring solutions together. But if you think about on the legal side, right, and the reputational side, could you envision a world where corporates who may not be focusing on on creating inclusion may face lawsuits for digital exclusion, similar to how this how it has been with physical accessibility?

Pete 22:40

Just in July in 2025, something called the European Accessibility Act came into full force, and that that is requiring organizations to make products and services accessible for a range of human experience. There are other countries that are looking at that legislation right now and seeing the benefits that can come from that. So, as you said, Philip, in the same way that we're considering physical accessibility as being a requirement of building design now and thinking about the ways that people can move through the world, we're also starting now to see the legislation tighten up around that in terms of when it comes to digital experiences, to product design, to service design. So I do think that the European Accessibility Act, while it's still only fairly early days in that, I do think that that is going to influence other legislators around the world. Do know that other countries are kind of considering something similar to that in places like Canada, also the US. So it will depend on kind of how quickly that moves. But definitely I think it it's better to get ahead of the game. And as I said, open up those wider customer markets now rather than wait till you're forced to do it. And we know that it is much more costly when you wait and you have to do that as an add-on afterwards, rather than designing it in from the very beginning.

Philipp 24:09

Just to add on on this one one topic real briefly, I don't want to create like a cruel or gloomy picture here, but given where the world is headed with all the geopolitical tensions, all the issues we are seeing in the Middle East, Russia, even inside the United States, as of last week, I mean, isn't there like a common common theme or kind of unfortunate like trend that no matter no matter where we are going, right, more and more people will have any form of a limitation? I use the word limitation specifically because some people may say, I'm not disabled because I'm I'm older and I may have a limitation then. But even like from conflicts, more and more people will might be harmed, if it's physical as well as mentally. I just recently heard that within the defense environment, because of the way warfare is done today, there might be less people be killed, but the amount of people heavily wounded, which kind of may lead to a limitation afterwards, is much, much higher than it ever has been before. So overall, like people who have a limitation will be much higher. So isn't this kind of like a wake-up call for everybody to say we have to really double down on this space to make sure that society can continue to survive at the end of the day?

Pete 25:30

I think that war has definitely been it's costly when it comes to the human toll that it does take. And so we actually do see that defense forces are actually thinking about new assistive technologies. They're thinking about rehabilitation, they're thinking about these devices that might be able to support someone, exoskeletons, other things. So we're actually seeing certainly uh countries that have been involved in kind of human conflict are often having to, they're forced to think about some of these areas of technology that assist some of their fallen soldiers or soldiers that have been uh involved in in warfare.

Steve 26:14

We talk about geopolitics. You mentioned some some regulation that's that's changing in in Europe and Canada. I think the US diversity, equity, and inclusion. It's certainly being rethought. I think some would say it's under attack. In the role of a corporate investor, a CVC, a strategy leader, I'm curious where do you see the the opportunities in the world? Right. And in that role, how do I navigate those things in terms of where do I invest? Do I invest in a Europe? Do I say, hey, US, maybe not right now. I'm gonna, I'm gonna I'm gonna let that wait a beat or two. How do you navigate that and where are the opportunities?

Pete 27:02

I do think that certainly there's there's lots to be learned in the space of thinking broadly again about diversity. What does diversity actually mean? It certainly there are thematic areas that come out of diversity that I think strengthen organizations. We understand kind of the diversity of our customers better when we have a diverse workforce that sits behind it. Uh, we understand how to make decisions better when we're hearing diverse voices in conversations rather than just hearing people who look and sound like ourselves. There's robustness to decision making around that. So, so I do think that this space, there is there's so much to learn from that and that will help our organizations. And then when it comes to kind of where where are the opportunities, where do the opportunities lie? I do think there are opportunities that kind of particularly organized in countries, I should say, that think about aging in perhaps different ways than what many Western cultures think about aging. In many Western cultures, we try to give dignity to those who are older, but oftentimes we we fear being old. There is a desire to kind of keep aging hidden in many ways. Whereas in some Asian cultures, actually, aging is considered the the pinnacle of wisdom. It is considered the the utmost in society. And I think certainly as we've talked to investors in different parts of the world, investors in the Asian region are seeing this space of disability, aging, health as being quite an exciting area, quite a vibrant area for investment. Uh, certainly in our own country, here in Australia, we have a well-developed public policy around disability. Also, some activity happening around aging. So I have to have a shout out to my own kind of country and region of the world. I think there's some really exciting things happening here in Australia, and certainly the the policy is is playing catch up a little bit to where kind of the innovation sector is kind of headed. But but yeah, it's certainly kind of there are some areas that I think are still traveling really, really well in the US as well. So we we talk to lots of innovators, lots of private venture capital and and other investors in the US. And there's certainly an appetite still there, even despite kind of current political headwinds for innovation in this space as well.

Steve 29:48

I'm curious, do you think developing economies have a bit of, I don't want to say, head start, or maybe not a head start is the right way to approve it. But I I think of it as in the world that I come from from. Automotive, right? There's that when I think of somewhere like a Western economy, like the United States versus a China or countries in the Middle East, where we are rebuilding roads and the emerging economies are building new roads. And I think about that in what we're talking about today. Do you think, I'm curious on this topic, do developing economies perhaps here have a unique opportunity as they build new and grow to really sort of embrace these things from as they plan it and they make those investments?

Pete 30:30

I'd really agree with that, Steve. I think that they absolutely do. They have a different mindset when it comes to scale as well. And so they are thinking from the get-go about not just how does this serve kind of people here locally around me, but how do we also kind of get this out to the rest of the world as well? We talk to our friends in places like India, the Systech Foundation are doing some incredible work over there. And I look at kind of some of the work that's happening in China through the Disability Impact Partners as well, and some other friends over in Africa. In many of these places, we're seeing scale thought about in a in a fundamentally different way to what we are they kind of building their MVP, their minimum minimal viable product, and getting it out to 300,000 people in the first instance. And then they go, okay, I think we might be ready to scale kind of when they've hit a million customers. And it's it's just it's thinking about this in in kind of much different terms, I think, in many of those countries where it's not just kind of for me and my local kind of context right here, they're having to think about kind of where else I can get this solution to.

Philipp 31:50

Just to follow up on that, you know, when I talk with investors or potential LPs in this space, I hear even if they are maybe very, very deep in the topic, may have the disabilities themselves, many, many tell me, I don't want to invest in this space. I don't believe that this is really an investment opportunity. Because if you are trying to solve something for a specific disability, like somebody who cannot walk, for example, or somebody who has a visual impairment, overall the group you are targeting is still so small that it is not a big enough market. Any thoughts from you on this?

Pete 32:28

Again, it's a matter of perception on kind of certainly there is there are certain technologies that require the ability for it to be customized for an individual. And certainly I not every person needs a wheelchair, for instance. However, in saying that, we all desire to get from one place to another. We all desire to have autonomy of some sort. And so there is a both and, I think, when it comes to innovation in this space to for us to be thinking about well, what does kind of a diverse human experience to move people from one place to another look or feel like? How can we design with those principles in place? And sometimes there is there are aspects of technology that might not be able to scale, and that's okay. There is kind of the need for very, very customized surgical devices that are only for one particular type of surgery, and that's okay. There is a market for that. But then there is an understanding, or I guess a mindset that we also need to bring to this about rather than just designing for the middle 50th percentile, how do we start to think about kind of a wider human experience in that?

Philipp 33:51

If we go back and bring this to the corporates, right? I mean, I've been working with corporates for a long time, serving on a on a Fortune 500 myself. And I championed the disability ESG or DEI community. And I remember there was like at some point, you know, oh, we need to do an audit and we need to kind of show what all the things are we are doing, you know, to make sure we do the technology more accessible or our products and tools. And we're trying to scramble and just putting stuff together, and then at the end of the day, oh my God, there was so much good stuff going on. But, you know, if you ask me, many of this was not, it was not intended. It was just happened to be, which is okay. Unintended consequences are also very important. But what do you think kind of like should we tell boards of big corporations how to really design for inclusion and diversity and really make it part of the strategy and not just kind of like have it as a side effect?

Pete 34:47

I think we were talking about this in the context of something else recently around First Nations, and we're talking about this idea of the thing that brings energy and joy. So, what are the things that actually open up our perspective of the world? Oftentimes, our our view of the world gets narrower and narrower and narrower as we age. Our friendship circles get smaller and smaller, our our areas of expertise become kind of more pointed and more narrowed. And yet, our job as leaders within organizations is to keep cracking that wider and wider and to have a more expansive view of the world, to have a more expansive view of business. And so I do think that us as leaders of organizations, we have a responsibility there to kind of widen our perspective of who our customers are, who our kind of our pools of talent are. And in doing so, I think we're actually going to bring joy in doing that. It's going to feel like this is the right thing. Yeah, this is taking us in a good direction, not something that's kind of narrowing us in or creating a checkbox, but it it is instead something that actually feels like a more human way of leading.

Steve 36:11

Pete, you've described disabilities as a innovation superpower, right? And and when I think about innovation, and I think about these things where disabilities have have created good for a lot of people, right? Our our audience can't see this, but a really example, early example, right? I'm wearing glasses. This is, you know, really, I think, a very basic innovation of how a disability is created good for millions. When you think about that, can you share any sort of maybe near-term innovations you're watching driven by by disabilities that you're really excited about?

Pete 36:49

Yeah, absolutely. We're looking at brain computer interface right now and seeing kind of the role that BCI has, and it's particularly being developed with the disability community first and foremost. So we we know some well-known companies, companies like Elon Musk's Neuralink. There's an Australian company that's doing quite well as well called Synchron. They are invasive BCIs. So putting something inside the brain that actually kind of picks up brain signals and forms a new way of communicating devices to devices or things in the outside world. We're particularly interested in one that's a non-invasive BCI at the moment and seeing the ways that particularly young children with quite significant physical disabilities and quite significant communication uh disabilities as well, are able to use this device. And I think it's actually potentially the cutting edge of kind of a next form of communication, literally taking kind of brain impulses and being able to communicate to devices. So that's just one. Certainly the things that we're learning through prosthetics users, so people who use prosthetics. There is lots being learned around how to pick up delicate objects or small objects that being used in big robotics uh uh solutions in places like Amazon's massive distribution centers. So again, there is learnings to be had of a prosthetics user, which we would see as being something quite niche, that's actually having a massive impact on the way that we actually move goods, the way that robots can feel. There's a whole area of science that's actually being worked on in that space that's quite exciting as well.

Steve 38:44

So you think about these, frankly, what sound like very cool innovations on the horizon? I would further suggest that though scaling of those things are probably going to come faster than any other time than human history, given the technology. So, what does the future look like for corporates, right? What are the most inclusive corporations, if you had a future vision? What are the most inclusive corporations? What do they look like in adopting these sorts of very innovative technologies that you're describing?

Pete 39:15

Yeah, I think it comes to the people who are leading. So I'd love to see our corporate organizations have that diversity of thought around the tables, that we're getting those diverse perspectives that come from different cultural backgrounds, different ages, different, different disability types as well that are in our boardrooms. I think that is representative of the human experience that all of our businesses are trying to sell to, to interact with around the world. And so we need to see that being representative in the boardroom as well as kind of in our customer base. I also think it is a mindset approach as well, that rather than seeing disability as this thing that maybe our corporate foundations might give a few thousand dollars to at the end of kind of a financial year or or thinking about some volunteer time, that instead it's actually starting to think about what are we missing out on when we're not including someone with disability in our in our leadership team? What is it that that our boards actually don't see because we we don't have that representation there? So I think that there definitely needs to be a shift around some of that in our boardrooms. And and we're starting to see organizations that are doing that really well as well.

Philipp 40:43

Pete, you kind of like already started talking about my my question. I was gonna ask you. So if you would have 60 seconds with the CEO of a Fortune 50 and their board, what would you tell them why disability tech, accessibility tech needs to be on the agenda tomorrow morning?

Pete 41:06

I would say that it is something that will be creating the opportunity for your business that will serve it well into the future. It will serve it well into the future because it allows more people in your organization, gives you more access to talent in your organization. If we're including and using disability tech and creating workforces that are actually more inclusive of different people's experiences, then we have a wider pool of talent that we can have in our workplaces. When we have a wider pool of talent in our workplaces, we begin to see new customer segments that perhaps we haven't actually been able to meet before. Then when we have those new customer segments, we have new income, then we have this beautiful cycle of talent and income that are coming as a result of having this wider perspective on the world. So I would I would encourage it. I would say that if you're not doing it right now, you're missing out on incredible talent. And and I can't wait to see the the role that this does have in in changing the very nature of business before us.

Philipp 42:26

Pete, thank you so much for joining us today. What you just shared at the end is very, very close to my heart. And I'm speaking for Steve, I think also for him. And I can't wait to join join you on this journey to bring this conversation to more corporates, more investors, and uh convince them a little bit in the next 12 months that investing in a space is very, very important, uh, but that only together we can create these solutions uh to create uh a world where hopefully humanity can thrive. So thank you for coming on the show today. Pleasure having you, Pete.

Steve 43:00

Pete, thank you very much for joining us on the show. Covered a lot of ground, very inspiring stuff. Thank you for your leadership, your vision, and all you are doing. Uh, I'll I'll pick up on Philip's word and use the word humanity. Uh, I think I think we're in a world where where humans have to be better to other humans, and I think you're you're part of the the group that's leading the charge from the front. So thank you for that. Thank you, Steve. Thanks, Philip. That was Pete Horsley, founder of Remarkable, reminding us that innovation is most powerful when it serves the full spectrum of human experience. If you'd like to learn more about Remarkable's work and the startups they support, visit Remarkable.org. And to hear all of our conversations, be sure to follow InsideCVC wherever you get your podcasts or visit upath.com forward slash podcast. On behalf of Philip Willoughman and our team at InsideCVC, I'm Steve Schmidt. As always, thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.