Venkatesh Rao is an independent researcher, consultant and writer with over a decade of experience in corporate, academic and startup settings. He is the author of the popular ribbonfarm blog and Tempo, a book about narrative-driven decision-making. He contributes regularly to Forbes and Information Week on business and technology trends, and is currently working on his second book, Game of Pickaxes, on technological evolution and its impact on human civilization. He received his PhD in systems and control from the University of Michigan in 2003.