Giving every place on earth an address. Meet what3words CEO and co-founder, Chris Sheldrick.

How do you give every location on Earth an address?In this conversation, Chris Sheldrick – co-founder and CEO of what3words – explains the idea that turned a frustrating moment at a music festival into a global addressing system used by emergency services, delivery companies, governments, and millions of people worldwide.What3words divides the entire planet into 3m x 3m squares (57 trillion in total) and assigns each one a unique combination of three words. Instead of complicated GPS coordinates, you can simply say something like table.chair.spoon and pinpoint an exact location anywhere on Earth.In this interview, Chris explains:• The “lightbulb moment” that started what3words• Why the world needed a new global addressing standard• How the company went from idea → adoption across industries• The challenge of getting people to trust and integrate a new standard• How governments, postal systems, and emergency services use it• What AI changes about location technology• Why the goal is to make the what3words app obsolete• The weirdest ways people use what3words — including tattoosThey also discuss the bigger idea behind it all: what other “hidden standards” in the world could be redesigned if we started from scratch.Check out what3words:https://what3words.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/what3words/https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissheldrick1/ More on Basis:https://www.buildbasis.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@BasisCapital https://www.linkedin.com/company/basiscapitalltd/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrietsgreenSubscribe for more conversations on rebuilding systems, incentives and public services.Timestamps00:00 Intro00:45 what3words explained02:08 Where the system has been most revolutionary03:59 Why many global standards never get questioned05:54 Creativity, founders, and new ideas09:07 Monetisation and business model13:31 Selling to governments17:27 What AI changes for what3words21:40 Mapping space, oceans, and extreme locations25:02 The future of location data27:19 What it’s like running what3words for 13 years29:13 The strangest uses of what3words