The X
The X – The Experience – is singlehandedly the most important factor in the success of products, services and entire businesses. The X is hosted by Silicon Valley veterans and product innovation strategists Bryan McClain and Demetrius Madrigal, who bring a combined 30+ years of experience studying human behavior and technology. They’ve been behind the scenes with everyone from unfunded startups to technology giants and have a unique perspective on current events, how they are shaped by the history of human behavior and predict where the industry and the market will move in the future.
If you would like to learn more about the team, please visit www.metriclab.com
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 53 minutes
- Episodes
- 100
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2024
A New Year means that CES is happening! Survival tips and what to look for in 2024!
Bryan and Demetrius discuss CES 2024, starting off with survival tips such as how to deal with the crowds by timing your arrival and planning out your transportation and what to do about food. The gu…
The X team, Bryan and Demetrius provide some cheer with their favorite products of 2023! Learn about the products that nailed the User Experience and find out why most of them were NOT tech products.
Bryan and Demetrius close out 2023 with their annual favorite things podcast. As usual, neither Bryan nor Demetrius knew what the other person placed on their list and to the shock of both of them, v…
Special Guest: Brendan Kelley, Former Apple and VMware engineering manager joins The X to talk about the Work From Home movement.
Bryan and Demetrius with special guest Brendan Kelley discuss the continuing work from home saga and discuss what it means to work for a “remote first” company, how to manage people remotely, what is…
The OpenAI chaos! Three CEOs in 2 weeks! An employee revolt! A brand new board! Plus: how Microsoft forced their hand.
Bryan and Demetrius break down the OpenAI drama and discuss what they know about the situation, why it happened, and what they think this means in regard to trust, safety and the future of these syst…
The Cybertruck is Live! Is Tesla’s new electric vehicle a step forward or a waste of resources?
Bryan and Demetrius provide quick reactions to the Tesla Cybertruck Delivery Event and debate its utility, design, and try to decide if it’s an eyesore or not that bad. Also, what will be the impact …
Has the future arrived? What is Humane’s AI Pin and how is Apple involved? Kickoff of season 9!
Bryan and Demetrius kick off season 9 with a discussion around the new AI Pin by Humane - a company built by former Apple designers that strives to expand beyond the phone and put AI literally on yo…
BONUS EPISODE! UX Professionals react to the iPhone 15 announcement!
Bryan and Demetrius discuss the announcement of the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch, the big move to USB-C, and Apple and innovation.
Enjoying The X? Did we get it right? Check us out on YouTube and let us…
We left NASA and started a company in Tech. Part 4: The Final Chapter. The pandemic hit and brought some surprises. The industry shifted and we started the podcast.
Bryan and Demetrius conclude their four-part series by discussing what happened when the pandemic hit and how it fundamentally changed the industry we’d been in since our late teens. We started the p…
Repost: Special guest John Willenborg, founder and CEO of Owl Vans discusses the Adventure Van movement, how Owl Vans took flight, and what it takes to build a successful brand in this new and emerging space.
In honor of Labor Day and so many people out camping and taking a break, we thought it would be fitting to repost our interview with John Willenborg, the founder and CEO of Owl Vans, a gear design an…
We left NASA and started a company in Tech. Part 3: We survived The Great Recession, jumped head-first into the mobile app boom, became the secret go-to research team in the valley, and licensed our own hardware product.
Bryan and Demetrius continue their four-part series with part 3, discussing how they survived the great recession, managed to grab an amazing office for cheap, were a part of the boom in mobile apps,…
Gaming Updates! Netflix is developing a Cloud Gaming Service and Baldur’s Gate 3 disrupts AAA games development!
Bryan and Demetrius dig into some of the latest developments in gaming, starting with Netflix’s reported beta testing of a cloud gaming service. Could gaming solve some of Netflix’s recent woes? Also…
We left NASA and started a company in Tech. Part 2: The Great Recession and how it fundamentally changed our business and the valley.
Bryan and Demetrius continue their four-part series with part 2 discussing the great recession, how they managed to move through it, what it took to get out of it and how that led to working with som…
Twitter is now X, the strikes bring Hollywood to a standstill, and Lenovo is competing with Steam Deck!
Bryan and Demetrius dig into the drama of the Twitter rebrand to X and all the shenanigans associated with it, Hollywood goes on pause as the actors join the writers and go on strike and Lenovo is di…
We left NASA and started a company in Tech. Part 1: The decision to try and the steps to landing Microsoft and eBay as customers.
Bryan and Demetrius kick off a four-part series where they tell the origin story of Metric Lab and how they landed relationships with some of the biggest names in tech. Come learn how they built a co…
The AI Wishlist - what do you want AI to do for you? Our list might shock you!
With AI poised to reshape tech, the guys get into their own personal AI wishlists. They discuss the value that AI could provide when it comes to finance, health, in the home, and on the go. Take a li…
Movies, Theaters, and The Death of Film Franchises? What can we learn from the failure of Indiana Jones, the DCEU, and Pixar?
Are people going back to movie theaters post pandemic? Bryan and Demetrius circle back on the future of movies and movie theaters and dig into the numbers to explore why some big-budget movies have f…
Threads vs. Twitter: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, and Threads are gunning to take Twitter down, and there might not be anything that Elon Musk can do about it.
Bryan and Demetrius review the recent shakeup in social media, with Meta launching Threads to immediate massive success, along with all of the stars aligning to make it happen. That includes Elon und…
Naming is Hell for a reason and if you don’t have a process and take the time you need, you could end up with a terrible name like “Quibi”.
Bryan and Demetrius dig into the art and science of naming a business or product. They get into what makes a good name and explain the process through stories about their own company, products, and c…
The Writer’s Strike - Brought on by Silicon Valley and the advent of streaming and AI? What’s taking the streamers so long to agree on a solution?
Bryan and Demetrius discuss the ongoing writers strike in Hollywood and explore how it might get resolved, what it means for the industry and how AI is playing a big role in the negotiation. Along th…
Waymo partners with Uber, signaling a big move in self-driving cars and Bryan has a big prediction for Episode 100!
Bryan and Demetrius explore self-driving cars again as Waymo partners with Uber (yes, Uber!) and appears to be leading the charge of getting people to their destinations. Also, Bryan makes a big pred…