Where does this podcast come from?
4th of April 2025
If you’re one of my LinkedIn connections, you’ll already know this, but I’m not too shy to ask a friend for an unusual favour or two. That’s actually how Christo and I got reconnected: I was writing my second novel, Butterfly Hill, and knowing nothing about helicopters and failing to make sense of them after a two-minute Google search, I suddenly remembered that ‘that kid’ from high school had gone on to be a helicopter pilot in the airforce. Christo and I hadn’t spoken in over a decade, so I didn’t know if I’d hear back, but I figured it was worth a try.
Three things worth pausing on there:
1) If you, on the other hand, are not one of my LinkedIn connections, please do reach out at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ 😉
2) If you haven’t yet read my books, they’re not great, but they are cheap and easily found at your friendly local Amazon. Foreword Clarion Reviews compared Drachen, my debut novel, to "Clive Cussler turning Raiders of the Lost Ark into a shoot-'em-up” - so if that’s your vibe, give them a try.
3) Christo did reply, did help me with the helicopter scene, and did start telling me about his new entrepreneurial side quests.
My passing interest in those stories became more significant after I’d helped Humoni, a FinTech startup, get rolling. At that point, my work on How to Lend Money to Strangers had quietly built me a very extensive network of fintech founders, innovators, and leaders, which I tapped to help refine and focus the company’s first steps. Christo just happened to mention the original BeetleSense concept that same week, and, intrigued by the idea of using drones and AI-powered sensors to detect pests before they cause damage, I asked him what he thought about us co-creating a podcast to support the further exploration of that idea.
Very quickly, the original computer vision models were surpassed by far more interesting technologies and, almost before I realised it, I was fully sucked in, now not just a co-host but as a co-founder!
Next week, wearing both of those hats, Christo and I will be in the US on a startup road trip of sorts, visiting drone people, beelte people, and startup people from Austin to Boulder to Reno to The bay Area as we further refine our ideas, explore the latest research, and build out a network to support our future growth. If you are in any of those cities, we’d love to meet up, even if just for a coffee.
Listen to more of this podcast’s founding story in episode one of the show: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6N4IhhU5fgED5JoLqHKAbu?si=77f4d092883243fe
Butterfly Hill is set in Mui Wo, Hong Kong - the slightly bohemian, slightly odd, fully lovable village we called home for 7 years.