How We Hatched: Will Wilson, Co-Founder of Antithesis
Dive into the entrepreneurial journey of Will Wilson, Co-Founder of Antithesis, in this episode of "How We Hatched."
Host, Tim Winkler, interviews Will about:
About Will Wilson: Will Wilson is a former mathematician who switched to software because it seemed easier. He built distributed databases at FoundationDB, Apple, and Google. Along the way, he realized that computers are actually the enemy, and founded Antithesis to put them in their place.
Check out Antithesis: https://antithesis.com/
Sign-Up for the Weekly hatchpad Newsletter: https://www.myhatchpad.com/newsletter/
Welcome to The Pair Program from hatchpad, the podcast that gives you
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:a front row seat to candid conversations
with tech leaders from the startup world.
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:I'm your host, Tim Winkler, the
creator of hatchpad, and I'm
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:your other host, Mike Gruen.
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:Join us each episode as we bring
together two guests to dissect topics
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:at the intersection of technology,
startups, and career growth.
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:Let's jump in.
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:So Will, thank you for joining
us on The Pair Program.
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:Thanks so much for having me, man.
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:Yeah, I appreciate you joining us.
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:Uh, this is a, another bonus episode of a.
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:Of a mini series that
we call how we hatched.
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:Um, you know, today we've got Will
Wilson spending some time with us.
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:Will is the.
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:CEO and one of the co founders
behind Antithesis, uh, a startup
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:that is revolutionizing software
testing and system reliability.
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:Uh, Will is also a father of,
uh, four kids with a fifth on the
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:way within just a few weeks of,
uh, of, uh, us recording today.
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:So I am very excited to lean into
some of those questions on, on how
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:you juggle the chaos of production.
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:Of building a startup
and raising a family.
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:Uh, I'm sure a lot of entrepreneurs
out there could take some notes.
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:So again, excited to have you
with us today and, and, uh, thanks
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:for joining us on the pod and.
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:Let's, um, let's jump in.
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:So I always like to start, you know,
these, these episodes off with a
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:pretty thought provoking question,
which, uh, would be what did Will
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:Wilson have for breakfast this morning?
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:Will Wilson: So I actually generally
don't eat breakfast and then, and
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:then I eat lunch really early and
everybody here makes fun of me for
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:that, you know, sometimes at like
10, 15 AM or 10 30 AM, somebody will
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:come ask me like, Hey, isn't it a
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:So today was no exception.
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:I did, I did not eat breakfast
and then I ate lunch at 11 20 a.
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:m.
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:Oh, nice.
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:Is a perfectly reasonable time.
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:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
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:You always find folks that are either
like super gung ho breakfast, like, what
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:do you mean you don't eat breakfast?
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:And then the folks are like,
yeah, I don't eat breakfast.
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:And it's just like,
yeah, it is what it is.
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:Um, cool.
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:Well, um, uh, let's, let's kind of set
the stage for, for our guests here on.
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:You know, what we're really going
to, to be dissecting on this episode.
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:So Antithesis is a startup that operated
in stealth mode for about five years.
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:Um, I'll repeat that for our
listeners, five years in stealth.
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:Uh, prior to kind of making the
public, uh, the company known publicly.
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:Uh, and this is a topic that
we get a lot of interest from
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:our community specifically.
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:Uh, so we will be chatting quite
a bit on that self mode journey.
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:In addition to, you know, obviously
learning a bit more about the problems
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:that you're solving at Antithesis.
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:But I did want to mention that early on
for our listeners that are tuning in.
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:Um, so on these episodes, you know,
I do like to kind of turn back the
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:clock a little bit and initially
just kind of hear a little bit about
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:you will, and your journey down that
path into technology, you know, when.
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:When was it that you kind of realized
that you had a passion for, for tech?
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:Will Wilson: Sure.
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:So I, like I screwed around with
computers a lot when I was a kid.
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:Um, in high school, I installed
Linux on a laptop and I'm so old
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:that this was back in the days where
doing that was very, very hard.
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:And I, you know, I actually
learned quite a lot about computers
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:just from that experience alone.
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:Then when I got to college, I
basically didn't do anything
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:related to tech or computers at all.
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:I studied pure math and it's, it's,
this is actually kind of funny
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:and a little embarrassing maybe.
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:Um, so I was in school in like the
mid:
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:having this thought that was like,
Hey, this tech stuff seems pretty cool.
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:Too bad.
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:I'm too late, you know, too, too, too bad.
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:Like all the interesting companies
have already been started.
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:And you know, like, you know, there's
already Google, there's already Facebook.
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:What else is there to do?
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:Like, like that's so over, you know, I'm
just going to have to find something else.
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:So I didn't really do anything
with computer science or
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:tech at all in college.
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:And then I graduated and I worked in like.
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:Like science, like biology, medical
research, um, did a bunch of different
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:things and like had this like very
jarring experience where I realized
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:one day that my ability to write like
a really low quality Python script,
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:you know, in 45 minutes that would like
automate, you know, some entire large
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:task I had to do, or one of my lab
mates had to do was like by far the most
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:valuable quality I brought to that job.
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:And I was like, huh, like maybe.
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:Maybe this computer science thing
has something to it after all.
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:And then, you know, I also got very
interested in databases because I saw this
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:database query, which took like days and
days to run and, you know, made a small
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:tweak to it and it, you know, finished in
five minutes and I was like, that's weird.
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:Like how, how did that happen?
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:Right.
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:Like, and so, you know, I had these,
I had these thoughts that maybe there
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:was something cool there after all.
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:And then I.
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:You know, basically my first kid was
born and I wanted to find a career
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:that had better hours and better
pay than than what I was doing.
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:And I was on paternity leave.
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:And so I just started studying data
structures, algorithms, all that stuff,
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:um, using like online classes and so on.
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:And.
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:You know, found it very intellectually
engaging and very satisfying.
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:And I was like, wait a minute, like
this is, this is totally unfair.
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:You mean there was this job out
there all along, which is like
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:interesting and pays you well, like,
and is like full of nice people and
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:like very low barriers to entry.
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:And like, you mean I could have
been doing this the whole time.
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:Right.
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:And then I, I sort of did a career switch
into tech, uh, in my, in my mid to late
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:twenties and been here ever since, you
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:Tim Winkler: That's so fascinating
when you look back and perspective
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:of, you know, all the good big tech
companies have already been built,
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:you know, what's left to be built.
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:And then, you know, you
fast forward to today.
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:It's like AI is just eating the
world, but, but it's so true.
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:I think, uh, I think we were
kind of, we're kind of in a
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:similar, um, uh, similar age.
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:So I can.
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:Remember back to those early days
when, when Facebook was, was the thing.
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:Um, now, you know, looking at your,
your kind of profile on LinkedIn, just
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:kind of studying a little bit about your
journey, um, you know, this computational
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:biodynamics, um, company jumps out to me
because it looks like early on you were.
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:Kind of drawn into the world of, you
know, serving as an entrepreneur, um,
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:expand a little bit into, you know, how
that kind of opportunity was, was formed.
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:And, uh, you know, what, what
drove you down that path of wanting
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:to do something on your own?
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:Will Wilson: Yeah, no.
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:So, so that was a very right.
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:That was a very, very early job of mine.
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:Basically, um, I worked when I was in
high school as an intern at a hospital.
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:And, um, became close to one
of the doctors who worked there
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:and he had this very good idea.
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:It's still a very good idea for a startup.
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:Um, and basically I did a gap year
between high school and college
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:and, and worked with him on that.
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:And then also, um, worked on it
on and off throughout college and
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:then for a little while afterwards.
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:And, you know, it was very
cool to see that you can just
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:like take an idea and start it.
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:Start trying to do it.
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:Right.
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:And that was like a little bit of
a revelation to me at the time.
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:And it was like, definitely
a very valuable thing I
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:got out of that experience.
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:Like the other valuable thing I got out
of that experience was like a little
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:bit of an indication of what not to do.
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:Like the problem that we had at
that company, I would say the
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:fundamental problem and the reason
that it wasn't ultimately successful
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:was that, you know, it had a large
number of quote unquote co founders.
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:All of whom were working full time as
surgeons or doctors or scientists, you
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:know, or professors, you know, and,
and we're mostly dedicated to that.
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:And we're kind of like doing
this nights and weekends.
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:And it's just very hard to
make anything big and real.
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:If at least one person isn't making
it, they're like full time occupation,
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:Tim Winkler: right?
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:Will Wilson: You know,
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:Tim Winkler: just trying to juggle
a couple of things while building.
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:Yeah, that's right.
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:That's right.
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:So that was a gap year through
high school, after high
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:school and between college.
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:And then, you know, we can kind of do a
quick sprint through, um, call it like
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:a two minute drill on your journey,
uh, up to starting the Antithesis.
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:And I'll have some, some questions digging
into a few of those key roles, but give
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:me the quick kind of like two minutes
on, you know, where you bounced around
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:to, because I think it's important to
build some context on, you know, startups
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:and then some thing companies and, and
then leading into this current role.
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:Will Wilson: Yeah, yeah.
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:So it was, it was after, after a
computational biodynamics, after
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:a couple of other sort of more
science y roles that I got into tech.
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:And the first like really real tech job I
landed was at Foundation Deep, which was,
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:you know, hugely influential on me and
on my career trajectory ever since then.
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:I mean, not least because like half
the people who work at this company
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:now are people who I met there.
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:Sure.
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:Yeah.
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:My, my co founder, Dave Sherer.
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:Was, uh, my boss at foundation DB.
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:Um, our COO, Nick Levetsoe
was the COO at foundation DB.
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:Um, you know, our director of
operations, our director of
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:engineering, like all worked there.
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:Um, so it's, that's actually really cool.
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:You know, that, that I've worked
with all these people for such a long
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:time and that we all know each other
and trust each other a great deal.
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:But basically, you know, I got to
foundation DB and I saw they're a
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:different, beautiful and awesome
side of, of programming, right?
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:Like, you know, I'd gotten really into
the theoretical aspect and the, you know,
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:algorithmic complexity and data structures
and like, you know, sort of pure CS,
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:cause I was coming from a math background
and at foundation DB, like there was
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:a lot of the other extreme, right?
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:There was a lot of like really
hardcore, low level systems,
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:programmers, You know, we were
writing a distributed database, right?
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:Like people who like lived and breathed,
you know, system calls and, you
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:know, how to communicate with an SSD
in the most efficient possible way.
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:And like, you know, stuff, stuff
that earlier on I would have like
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:sneered at, but like, you know,
jokes on me because like, this is
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:actually like just as beautiful and
worthwhile and like an intricate
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:and difficult and like, and cool.
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:And, and so I saw that whole side of our
industry and, and was really blown away by
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:that and, and very, very, very impressed
by a lot of what those people were doing.
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:Um, so the other way that foundation
DB really matters to the subsequent
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:trajectory is it gave us, you know,
me and Dave, a lot of the ideas
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:that led us to start this company.
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:FoundationDB, we're trying to build
a distributed database, which is
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:a very hard thing to build, and
a very hard thing to get right.
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:And so in order to do that, We
invested in building a really radically
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:different approach to software testing.
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:Um, and it's in many ways the
precursor or the inspiration to
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:the product that we've built here.
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:Right?
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:So we're trying to take the thing that we
made for FoundationDB to make it possible
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:to test that software and to find all
the bugs in it before customers did.
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:We're trying to make that
easy for everybody to do here.
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:Um, and you know, that was actually
very much influenced also by
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:what we saw afterwards, right?
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:Like we, we got bought by apple in 2015
and went there and you know, I apple
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:is full of like super smart people.
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:It's a very, very high talent
density company, but they did not
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:have the internal tools that we
had at foundation db and like, that
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:was like, clearly evident in how
people operated and made decisions.
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:And, you know, at, at Google, which
I left Apple and went to Google and
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:I saw much the same thing, you know,
I worked on a team at Google that was
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:also building a distributed database.
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:a system called Spanner, which was
a very, very impressive team, really
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:smart people, tons of really smart
people, but again, lacking in tools,
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:which could tell them right away
when they were making a mistake.
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:And that just like, that just
makes you have to work in
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:such a different way, right?
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:Like it means that you're always
worrying, Hey, is, is this code
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:that I'm writing going to cause
some huge problem in production?
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:Like, you know, how can I, how can
I reason through this correctly?
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:How can I like, you know, how
can I have some confidence
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:that this is going to be right?
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:You know, and, and I, and I
suddenly realized then that my
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:experience at FoundationDB had
been really atypical, right?
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:Like having this ability to just
like press a button and find out
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:if what you'd done was good or not.
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:It was like actually not
how most of the industry,
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:Tim Winkler: which is wild, you know, to
see that the biggest tech companies in the
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:world, you know, weren't adapting to this
kind of philosophy that you all had kind
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:of figured out at foundation DB, which is
just, it's gotta be that aha moment that
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:that light bulbs going off, like, wow,
there really is something here, you know?
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:Will Wilson: Yeah, that's exactly right.
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:And you know, my first, my first concern
and actually also Dave's first concern
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:was like, There's no free lunch, right?
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:Like there's no, there's no hundred
dollar bills lying on sidewalks.
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:So if we at our tiny startup,
we're doing this and it was like so
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:transformative for us and these like
giant companies aren't doing it.
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:Like there must be some reason, right?
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:There must be some secret reason why
it's not a good idea or it's impossible.
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:Or like, you can't really do this
at a large scale or something.
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:Right.
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:But you know, but actually what
we've realized, like, there are some
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:reasons that, that make it harder.
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:And, and a lot of those are things that
we've tried to directly address with
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:our product and with our technology.
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:But at the end of the day,
like the efficient markets
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:hypothesis is just wrong.
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:There actually is like, there actually
is stuff out there that would just make
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:the world better that nobody's doing.
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:And if you think you've spotted it
and like, you kind of rule out all
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:the other possibilities, like you, you
may actually have found such a thing.
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:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
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:The, uh, the blog that you wrote that I
stumbled across that kind of led me down
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:to, you know, sending you a note and
wanted to chat with you is, um, uh, titled
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:is something, is something bugging you.
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:And, um, in that blog, you, you do relate
to You relate to starting a company, you
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:know, kind of like telling yourself that
when you reach this pit full of poisonous
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:spikes, you'll figure something out.
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:Expand on that a little bit for me.
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:Cause I think that, you know,
you, you point that out a
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:couple of times in the blog.
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:I think that's just a fascinating example.
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:Will Wilson: Yeah.
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:Well, so the, I guess the point I
was trying to make there is that.
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:Usually every company is going
to have something about it.
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:That's hard, right?
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:Like I just said a second ago that
I don't believe in the efficient
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:markets hypothesis, but like, maybe I
believe in a slightly weaker version
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:of it, which is like, if something is
trivially easy and obviously a good idea,
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:somebody will probably have done it.
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:So if, if it's a, if it's a really
good idea and nobody's done it
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:yet, there's probably something
about it that is challenging.
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:Tim Winkler: Right.
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:Will Wilson: And so, you know, different
companies have different things about
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:them that are challenging, right?
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:Some of them.
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:Like the product is really hard to build.
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:Some of them, the product is easy
to build, but it's hard to sell.
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:Like some of them it's easy
to build and easy to sell, but
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:hard to find a competitive mode.
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:Like.
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:You know, it just depends on the area
and on the details of your thing.
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:And I think it's very important to know,
or to at least have a guess going in.
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:What is the hard part going to be?
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:Sure.
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:Cause there's probably a hard part and
you should probably have a plan for it.
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:Tim Winkler: And we're some of
these, um, kind of alumni from
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:foundation DB that they all kind
of got absorbed into Apple as well.
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:Did, did, did you all kind of stay
in close connection here as you're
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:moving on to Google and so forth?
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:Um, I'm always curious on how the.
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:That co founder connection, it kind of
stays, uh, relevant even post acquisition.
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:Will Wilson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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:We all stayed in touch socially,
even as we sort of diffused through
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:a wide variety of companies, like,
you know, I would say about half to
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:three quarters of us all joined Apple.
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:Some people decided not to, um, you
know, once we got there, some people
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:quickly moved to other parts of Apple.
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:Some of us like, like me
moved to other companies.
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:But, you know, we all stayed pretty close.
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:Like, you know, we had all been
working together, um, on this
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:startup for like four or five
years by the time we were bought.
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:And so we were, we were close.
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:Like we had kids the same age, you know,
people, you know, people knew each other.
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:It was a, it was a very tight
knit team in a lot of ways.
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:And.
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:It's been awesome getting
the gang back together
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:Tim Winkler: for sure.
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:Yeah, it's always, um, you can pinpoint
a lot of times with the, within an
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:entrepreneur's journey that, uh, kind
of like a central role that kind of
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:stands out as like, you know, that
was like the, the premise to all of,
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:all of what's, you know, building
in, in, in your current venture.
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:Um, and so, you know, really quick,
like, uh, diving into the, the,
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:uh, creation of Antithesis here.
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:So you're, you're spending your time
at Google at this point and, you know,
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:sounds like you all are kind of in
communication about the idea, uh, you
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:know, how does that all kind of come
together and when do you, you kind of make
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:the jump to, you know, to, to leave Google
and go head first and do this thing.
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:Will Wilson: Yeah, so basically, um,
Dave had already left Apple and was
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:getting ready to move back to the
East Coast when I sort of thought, you
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:know, there really is a company here.
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:Like, you know, I, I was at Google.
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:I was like seeing all these frustrations,
seeing frustrations my team was having.
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:And I was like, so I started messaging
Dave and I was like, look, man,
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:you, you, you've quit your job.
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:You need something else to do.
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:You know what?
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:Like, like let's do this.
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:And Dave is like a, is
like a super genius.
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:And so I sort of gave him my whole
idea for how this should work and
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:how the product should be architected
and what it should do and so on.
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:And he sort of thought about it.
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:I remember, I still remember this.
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:We got lunch and he sort of,
explained to me, back to me
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:how the product should work.
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:But his version was just
like 10 times better.
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:And so I'm like, at that point, I'm
like, okay, Dave, like, I need you, man.
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:Like, you know, you need
to, you need to do this.
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:And he's like, nah, I want
to, I want to take a vacation.
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:He moved back to DC and I
stayed in touch with him.
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:Um, At one point, I was on a work
trip, uh, for Google in Singapore.
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:I was there training a bunch of our
sales guys for Google Cloud, telling them
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:about product features in Google Cloud.
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:And, um, You know, I remember I was up
in the middle of the night because I
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:was totally jet lagged and you know,
there was like nobody who I could talk
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:to in Singapore and so I was just like
texting with Dave and being like, look,
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:man, like this company is a great idea.
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:Here's why it's a great idea.
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:And like, you know, that that was
like, actually, we were like in very
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:close communication for that week.
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:And finally, by the end of it,
he was like, all right, fine.
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:Like, I don't actually
want to do a vacation.
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:I do want to start
another company, you know?
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:And so as soon as, as soon as I had
him on board, like I definitely like
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:Dave immediately starts thinking
about how is this going to work?
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:What is the right way to build this?
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:What is this product going to look like?
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:And like, I realized that I did not
want to be having those conversations
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:while still employed at another
company, just for any avoidance of
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:any kind of, like, question about, you
know, where I was working at the time.
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:So basically, I was immediately
like, don't talk to me
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:about this until I've quit.
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:And, and immediately set about,
you know, leaving Google, um, and
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:then moving back to the East coast.
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:Cause we decided to
start the company here.
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:So from the moment that we decided to do
it until the moment that I moved East,
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:not a lot of time, maybe one month.
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:Tim Winkler: Wow.
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:That's exciting.
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:You've been to Singapore since
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:Will Wilson: I wish,
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:Tim Winkler: I wish I, uh,
the food there is incredible.
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:It's where the magic happened.
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:Awesome.
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:All right.
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:So, so now I want to, you know, pivot
into Antithesis here and then we're
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:going to go into stealth mode world
for a little bit, but give me the, um,
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:yeah, give me kind of like the, the,
the elevator pitch on, on Antithesis.
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:Will Wilson: Okay, so if you're a software
engineer, um, you probably know that most
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:software engineers spend, I think, stripes
at a survey, and they estimate about half
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:their time on testing, debugging, dealing
with production emergencies, and CAs.
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:You know, dealing with bugs or
inconsistencies in the libraries or the
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:dependencies that your code has, you know,
figuring out triaging issues coming in
395
:from production and figuring out which
ones are bugs, which ones aren't like.
396
:By the way, like a lot of non
engineers who are in tech don't
397
:realize that this is what engineers
spend half their time doing, right?
398
:In fact, it might be quite a
lot more than half their time.
399
:Um, they're, they're surprised
when they hear that, but I
400
:think every engineer knows it.
401
:So, so now ask yourself, is this your
like favorite half of your day or
402
:your least favorite half of your day?
403
:And I think for most people, it's
their least favorite half of the day.
404
:Okay.
405
:We're software engineers, right?
406
:Like, why don't we, why
don't we like automate this?
407
:Why don't we get rid of this?
408
:Why don't we have somebody else
like have a computer do this
409
:part of our jobs if we hate it?
410
:Like, that's the usual
thing software engineers do.
411
:Um, well, it turns out it's
actually very, very hard, right?
412
:Conventional testing, like writing
a test that your software, you
413
:know, when you do a, it does B.
414
:isn't very good at preventing you from
running into bugs later in production,
415
:because you tend to test the paths or the
situations that you thought of, right?
416
:That's almost definitional.
417
:But the things that you thought of are
also the things where you probably wrote
418
:the code correctly in the first place.
419
:Like the things that lead to actual
problems, the things that cause
420
:all this wasted time and energy,
are the things you didn't think of.
421
:They're the unknown unknowns, the
things that happen in the real world
422
:that you never imagined could happen.
423
:And so because of that, testing is
like a pretty good way of catching
424
:regressions in behavior that you,
you know, already made correct.
425
:It's a really bad way of like forward
looking, ensuring that something works.
426
:Um, so our approach here is to try
to turn this all on its head and say,
427
:instead of writing tests, like you're
never going to write another test.
428
:Instead, what you're going to do is
you're just going to tell us what
429
:your software is supposed to do.
430
:You're going to say, you know,
these are the high level properties
431
:or invariants that it has, right?
432
:And depending on the kind of
software, this could be really
433
:different types of things, right?
434
:Like if it's a database, it might
be like, it should never crash.
435
:If it says it stored your data, it
should have actually stored your data.
436
:You know, if it go, it can go through
arbitrarily bad network situations, but
437
:then if everything quiets down again,
and it's reachable again, after 10
438
:seconds, it should be back up, right?
439
:If you're making a website, it
could be totally different stuff.
440
:It could be like every,
there's no broken links.
441
:I can get to every page.
442
:I can complete the checkout flow.
443
:If you're making a computer game, it could
be like, it's possible to beat the game.
444
:I can load every asset in the game.
445
:Right?
446
:Like, but like in every case,
it's like kind of high level,
447
:what it's supposed to do.
448
:And then we, by we I mean
computers, are gonna try to find
449
:ways of proving you wrong, right?
450
:We're gonna try to construct test cases
dynamically, like, that take some path
451
:that you weren't expecting that show
you a way of making your software do
452
:something that it wasn't supposed to do.
453
:And this like, this solves a whole
bunch of problems at one fell swoop.
454
:It solves one really big problem.
455
:Which is the one I said, right?
456
:Unknown unknowns.
457
:Like, you've just said what you
think your software is supposed
458
:to do, and we're going to find
some way of making it not do that.
459
:And the way we do that might be really
surprising to you, but it might be really
460
:important, because it might be something
that you hit in production next week.
461
:Um, another problem it solves, though,
is like maintainability of tests.
462
:Because, like, the thing that, one thing
that's bad about testing is, you know,
463
:Often, your tests depend on very low level
implementation details of your software.
464
:And that means that every time you change
your software, you, like, break all your
465
:tests and you have to change those too.
466
:And this is like a maintenance
burden and a maintenance nightmare.
467
:And so, but, but the high level,
like, what is your software
468
:actually supposed to do?
469
:Like, its specification.
470
:That changes much more slowly
than its implementation, right?
471
:And so like expressing these properties,
like it should never crash, it
472
:should be available after 10 seconds,
whatever, like that tends to not have
473
:to change with every single commit.
474
:And so what it means at the end of the day
is that you're spending way, way, way, way
475
:less time writing tests and maintaining
tests and trying to figure it out.
476
:Um,
477
:both of these things like directly attack
major time wastes for, for engineers.
478
:And then I guess the third thing that's
quite unique about our approach is that
479
:And, you know, and that's, that's pretty
cool is, um, we've developed a way to
480
:run any computer system, any collection
of software fully deterministically,
481
:meaning that, like, no matter what random
weird stuff your software does, like, we
482
:can make it do it again, always perfect.
483
:Um, so that's really cool because,
you know, oftentimes people have
484
:like flaky bugs or flaky tests.
485
:There's this bug.
486
:It, you know, it breaks on your
computer, but works on your buddies
487
:or like even worse than that.
488
:Like it breaks 1 out of every 1000
times or 1 out of every million times.
489
:And, you know, that's often
enough that your customers will
490
:totally hit it all the time.
491
:And it'll be really hard for
you to track it down though.
492
:Right?
493
:Or it like, Or it like,
you know, it breaks.
494
:And then when you add some
debugging code, it's stopped.
495
:Like the problem goes away, right?
496
:Like this kind of stuff, like also sucks
up countless hours of people's time.
497
:And like, we just completely
eliminate that problem.
498
:Uh, which is also pretty cool.
499
:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
500
:The, the, uh, future of like, I've
deterministic testing and autonomous
501
:systems, you know, it sounds like
you guys are, are really, you know,
502
:tackling those problems head on.
503
:And I don't.
504
:You know, I don't hear too much of
a, of other companies kind of like
505
:probing in on that deterministic
testing piece of things.
506
:So it's a really interesting concept.
507
:Um, Just talking generally about
the company, it's at large.
508
:So when, when, when did you all
formally kind of stand up shop?
509
:Will Wilson: I think it was 2017, 2018,
510
:Tim Winkler: one of those years.
511
:So about six or seven
years old at this point.
512
:Um, and what's the current
head count of Antithesis?
513
:We're just
514
:Will Wilson: about at 50.
515
:Tim Winkler: Okay.
516
:Yeah.
517
:And, um, from a funding perspective, I
guess how, you know, how much funding,
518
:uh, have you all received at this point?
519
:Will Wilson: In total, we've
raised, I think, just shy of
520
:47 million over that period.
521
:And the, the company has a
headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
522
:Tim Winkler: Uh, yeah, we're actually in
Tyson's corner, Arlington and you, the
523
:bulk of your team kind of virtual or is it
524
:Will Wilson: we're, we're pretty
much all in person, which I guess
525
:these days weird, weird, it's rare.
526
:Yeah, it's
527
:Tim Winkler: cool though.
528
:I think, uh, getting back to that from
a culture perspective is super key
529
:and important for early stage startup.
530
:So kudos, kudos on making that
decision and sticking to it.
531
:Um, so I want to pivot a little bit more
into, into the stealth mode journey.
532
:Um, so as we mentioned, you know,
Antithesis, you all remain in stealth
533
:mode for over five years, which
is unusual, uh, for, for startups.
534
:Can you dive a little bit deeper
into, you know, what you would say
535
:were some of those key decisions
and, and what https: otter.
536
:ai Yeah.
537
:Totally.
538
:Will Wilson: So, you know, the first, I
think the first thing just to get out of
539
:the way is like, we had the opportunity
to stay in stealth for a very long time.
540
:Many people don't like, and we had that
opportunity because we got really lucky.
541
:Like basically we had a prior big
success and a lot of investors
542
:who were excited about Yeah.
543
:Yep.
544
:Taking another spin with that team, right?
545
:And so that meant that we had
access to capital and it meant
546
:that we had access to investors
without having to make a big splash.
547
:And that's not an option
that everybody has, right?
548
:If it's your first company and you're
a kid in the garage or, or, you
549
:know, or a middle aged person in the
garage, um, you, you, you may need
550
:to make a big splash in order to
attract the attention of an investor.
551
:Um, and so then stealth is
sort of off the table for you.
552
:And that's, you know,
that's just like one way.
553
:And we were very lucky here is we
had the option of doing that because
554
:we had existing relationships with
people who wanted to give us money.
555
:So, so that's what made it possible.
556
:And then the question is like,
and by the way, it's actually
557
:not just access to money.
558
:It's also access to talent, right?
559
:Because hiring while you're in stealth
is actually super, super challenging.
560
:But again, like we had, you know,
a previous team that we'd worked
561
:with very closely for a long time.
562
:We were all still really
tight, really in touch.
563
:You know, we had gone on to meet
more people at Apple and Google and
564
:other places and could bring in a
whole bunch of those people as well.
565
:And so, you know, between both capital and
talent, we had ways of getting access to
566
:it without, without coming out of stuff.
567
:So then the question is like,
why would you still like, even
568
:if you have the opportunity, why
would you ever want to do that?
569
:Um, and basically, basically we
knew, like, it's a trajectory
570
:that's like maybe a little bit more
common for like a hardware company.
571
:Like the thing about our technology and
our approach, Was that there was just
572
:an awful lot that we had to do before we
could like, even possibly start working
573
:with customers like we had to write this
hypervisor, which can take any software
574
:and run it deterministically took a little
while and that that was, you know, it's
575
:not like writing a website like that.
576
:That's hard.
577
:And then we, then we had to write
the system, which takes that
578
:thing and intelligently explores
all the possible trajectories
579
:and paths your code could take.
580
:And that's also really hard,
you know, and that took a while.
581
:And then, then we had to write the
thing that like takes all the results
582
:from that and like visualizes them for
you and like makes it possible for a
583
:human being to understand what it did.
584
:And, and that's a whole nother
challenge of a very different kind.
585
:That's, that's also really hard.
586
:And we're like, you know, it's going
to take us years to do these things.
587
:And kind of would like, there's not
a whole, there's not like really an
588
:MVP that we can just get out there
and have a customer start using.
589
:We kind of need to get it all working.
590
:Right?
591
:And in the meantime, we're looking around
the market and, and this was a time
592
:when, you know, money was raining from
the skies in terms of tech investment.
593
:And, and we're like, nobody
else is really doing this.
594
:Like, do we really want to
go get the whole world super
595
:excited about this right now?
596
:Or do we want to try and get a
big technology head start and then
597
:get the world excited about it?
598
:And that latter choice
seemed more attractive to us.
599
:Um, and, you know, I, I think on balance,
it was probably the right choice.
600
:I think I appreciate now that we're
out of stealth, all of the, all of
601
:the sort of unseen costs that being
in stealth for a long time has.
602
:Um, so you, you mentioned challenges.
603
:There are actually many,
um, one of them is morale.
604
:I think we never like
had really bad morale.
605
:Like we never really struggled with
that, but like today we have really,
606
:really good morale and like significantly
better than, you know, before we came
607
:out of stealth before we launched.
608
:And, you know, that's just like the most
natural thing about human beings, right?
609
:Like, It's like, it's really hard to
work on something day in day out and
610
:not be allowed to tell anybody about it.
611
:Right.
612
:Like, and like, you know, it's
hard for me, it's even harder for
613
:somebody I hire who's a new grad,
you know, whose mom is probably like,
614
:why aren't you working at Facebook?
615
:Why aren't you working at open AI?
616
:What is the stupid company
I've never heard of, right?
617
:Like, it's really nice for, for
that person to be able to send an
618
:article to their mom and be like, no,
look, this company is actually cool.
619
:It actually exists and
does something right.
620
:Like You know, not just that kind of
morale either, but like once you're
621
:out there, once people are reacting
to you, once, you know, once you're
622
:reacting to them, suddenly people
conceptualize themselves differently.
623
:Like it's not like our company
is this like hermetic, isolated
624
:environment and we have like
various struggles and challenges.
625
:Now it's like us against the world.
626
:And like, yeah, You know, everybody's
pulling in the same direction and people
627
:are directly seeing the effects of what
they do out there in the world, right?
628
:And like some rando on Twitter is
like, Oh, this is such a cool feature.
629
:Like the guy who wrote that feature
is now going to have a great day.
630
:Like it just like, it just sort of points
everybody in the same direction and
631
:catalyzes them in a way that's really,
really hard to do while you're in stealth.
632
:Um, the other thing, uh, the last
thing I'll mention, and then I'll,
633
:I'll let you ask a question is, um,
Is like, so much of life is about
634
:luck, and you can't control luck.
635
:You can control, like, the
ability to of good and bad luck
636
:to strike to a certain extent.
637
:Like, and when you're in stealth, you
just make it really, really hard for
638
:serendipity of any kind to happen.
639
:Like, I'll give you an example, you
stumbling across that blog post and
640
:sending me an email, you know, obviously
there would be no possible way for that
641
:to happen when we're completely secret.
642
:Right.
643
:That was just like, that was good luck.
644
:That was like a random thing
that the universe through my way.
645
:But like, it's because I put myself
in the position for that to happen by
646
:writing a blog post and being out there.
647
:And it's like the same way with hiring.
648
:It's the same way with customers.
649
:It's the same way with like people
randomly sending me an email with like
650
:a really good idea for like a product
feature or like, Hey, you're an idiot.
651
:It shouldn't work this way.
652
:Right.
653
:Like all of that stuff just like
cannot happen at anywhere near the
654
:same scale when you're in stealth.
655
:Right.
656
:Yeah.
657
:And that is, I think,
maybe the biggest cost.
658
:And it's one that's like
totally hidden as well.
659
:Tim Winkler: Yeah, it's such a fascinating
point because I think a lot of people
660
:when they think about running stealth,
you know, they're going to think about
661
:the obvious things like you pointed
out recruiting being a challenge.
662
:You know, I could tell you firsthand
trying to recruit talent for a
663
:stealth mode startup is probably
the most difficult thing we've ever
664
:had to do because you're selling.
665
:This thing that you can't talk about,
you know, it's like selling something
666
:that you're, you're so secretive about
is, it's just extremely difficult.
667
:It's already hard enough to sell
a startup, even if it's publicly
668
:out there and everything else is.
669
:Is known, but to keep a lot of those
things behind the curtain, um, makes it,
670
:you know, 10 times more challenging, but
nobody really talks about the, the morale
671
:piece to it, you know, the, the thing
that everybody's, you know, going back
672
:home to their, their family and, you know,
another day on the job, but it's like, I
673
:can't even look you up, you're, you're,
you guys up on a website, you know, it's
674
:like, it's, you start to find you almost
like Folks don't even believe like it's,
675
:it's real, you know, um, and I think that
is, uh, a very interesting perspective
676
:that I, I have never really heard about
from the internal team, that cultural
677
:perspective, that team morale perspective
that, um, can really, you know, start
678
:to weigh on folks if it's one year, but
five years, you know, so, you know, it's
679
:almost like this, um, Um, you know, all
this bottled up energy that, you know,
680
:finally just gets to be released when
you, when you all made the decision to,
681
:to, to, you know, be, be publicly known.
682
:Um, did you, uh, you know, what was
the strategy and, and were you, you
683
:know, how, how are those conversations
had, uh, between the team on how we're
684
:going to do it in this, why this is
now the right time and everything else?
685
:Will Wilson: Yeah.
686
:I mean, I think the single biggest reason
that we decided to come out of stealth
687
:was, um, well, it was really twofold.
688
:Number one.
689
:Most of the advantages of being in
stealth were evaporating because
690
:the world had moved into a much more
challenging fundraising climate.
691
:Right.
692
:And so we were suddenly a lot
less worried about a new well
693
:funded competitor showing up.
694
:And we're also a lot less worried
about some big tech company
695
:spinning up a team to do this.
696
:Like big tech companies are
laying people off right now.
697
:They're not like funding
super speculative efforts.
698
:And so like, it just seemed like,
like that reason had gone away.
699
:And then on the flip side, the opportunity
for us coming out of stealth was much,
700
:much greater because we had just sort
of finally like finished our product
701
:and like made it like quite good and
made it quite scalable and made it
702
:so that the company could take on
a lot of new customers all at once.
703
:And so we were like,
all right, this is it.
704
:Like, let's hit go.
705
:Um, obviously, like, that
wasn't an overnight thing.
706
:Like, there was a lot that we had to do.
707
:And like, so much of that work was
incredibly valuable, even if it hadn't,
708
:like, Even if it hadn't led to us coming
out of stealth, like, like, like one
709
:of the first and most important things
we had to do was like make a website.
710
:We had no website.
711
:That sounds crazy, right?
712
:But we had no website.
713
:Okay.
714
:What's going on the website?
715
:Well, I guess on the website,
we should tell people what
716
:it is we do and how it works.
717
:Okay.
718
:Well, what is it we do?
719
:Like, you know, like we
obviously had some idea, right?
720
:We had some vision of the problem
we're solving and how it cashes
721
:out, but like we had never.
722
:Like in a systematic and disciplined
way, sat down and come up with exactly
723
:how you would explain this to somebody
and like what, you know, and just like
724
:that exercise of like what would go
on our website actually clarified.
725
:Many other like strategic questions
and like, what, what, what product
726
:feature should we be working on?
727
:Like suddenly it's kind of apparent,
like, because we know what we
728
:want to put on the website, right?
729
:And there's just like a lot of
things like that, where the act of
730
:preparing yourself to present this
to the world forces you to confront
731
:certain questions that are actually
very important for you to confront.
732
:Um, So that was, you know, like our
product basically barely had a user
733
:interface before we came out of stealth.
734
:Like it was extremely cobbled together.
735
:And we were sort of like, okay, if we're
going to show this to the world and we're
736
:going to have a demo on our website, yes,
it should have a user interface, right?
737
:Like, I guess there should
be something like, okay, like
738
:maybe we should work on that.
739
:Right.
740
:Like it just like, it does
sort of force you to, to think
741
:about it in a different way.
742
:And, and, and that's,
and that's really good.
743
:You know, and then the
other strategic question is
744
:our, our long term plans are really big.
745
:Um, but in the short term, we
can't do all that stuff yet.
746
:And so like, you kind of need to
figure out, like, how am I going
747
:to define this company right now?
748
:Like when we come out of stealth, like,
it's like, they're a blank company.
749
:Like, what is that?
750
:Like, what do we say that
we are day one, right?
751
:Right.
752
:Even with the knowledge that.
753
:10 years down the line, it
might look very, very different.
754
:And like that strategic question
is also a really, really
755
:important one to figure out.
756
:And, uh, you know, also a thing that we
had to, we had to spend some time on.
757
:Tim Winkler: Did you guys have,
um, much of a go to market team,
758
:uh, at this point, or was it
really just primarily tech folks?
759
:Will Wilson: Yeah, we had a, we had
a small sales team, um, go to market.
760
:Yeah, we had, we had three
people working on that.
761
:Wow.
762
:Um, and they were, I mean, they, they,
they had a very tough job, right?
763
:Because they were trying to
sell something with no website.
764
:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
765
:Will Wilson: To sophisticated
business buyers.
766
:Who, you know, would hear about it
and they'd be like, wait a minute.
767
:This thing is like a scam.
768
:Like, how could this be possibly be real?
769
:Right.
770
:And so that was, that was
very challenging for them.
771
:And.
772
:You know, but I actually think
there's some ways in which that,
773
:like, is like amazing training, right?
774
:Like, it's like, it's like professional
athletes, like practice with ankle
775
:weights and like, you know, Roman
gladiators used like heavy wooden swords.
776
:So when they actually got the
real sword, it'd be way easier.
777
:You know, Demosthenes, like gave speeches
with a mouthful of marbles, you know,
778
:like Like, like suddenly, like being able
to send people like product demos and
779
:websites and stuff and like, you know,
other reference customers, it's just like,
780
:it's like, Oh, like now it's easy to sell.
781
:Tim Winkler: Right.
782
:I mean, even just like sending them
some swag or something, you know, like
783
:I could see in the background, like,
uh, is this your all, it's kind of like
784
:your, your mascot is like an anteater.
785
:Will Wilson: Yeah, this is a mascot.
786
:These are actually like a couple
of failed mascots, like eventual
787
:success roundup on the website.
788
:But these are some like.
789
:You know, mid journey generated
ones that we decide not to go with.
790
:Tim Winkler: Yeah, I dig it though.
791
:But you know, even something as small
as that, you know, just like, yeah,
792
:that's all part of branding and marketing
and just being able to go out there
793
:and show like, yeah, here, here it is.
794
:Here's, here's who we are.
795
:Um, yeah.
796
:Having that training, uh, without
any ammunition is, is, uh, yeah,
797
:it'll harden somebody and, but make
them a better, a better salesperson.
798
:So I think that's a
fascinating perspective.
799
:Um, so, so now you guys have,
have been out, you know, publicly
800
:known, um, for, for how long?
801
:About three months.
802
:And have you, you know, what have you
seen as the biggest upside now that, you
803
:know, the, in these last three months,
has it been from, you know, an uptick
804
:in, in recruiting has been easier, sales,
you know, what, what is it that you've
805
:seen, um, as a, as a drastic change?
806
:Will Wilson: It's, it's been unreal.
807
:Like, I mean, I would say.
808
:I would say honestly, the most, most
obvious and apparent thing is just
809
:like every day I walk in the office
and the energy is so different.
810
:Everybody is like still riding
that high from coming out of
811
:stealth, which is pretty cool.
812
:Tim Winkler: That's cool.
813
:Will Wilson: Um, and, and people are
really excited and really motivated
814
:to, to make this thing happen.
815
:Like yeah, like it has been obviously
completely revolutionary for sales in so
816
:far as people can now find out about us.
817
:You know, we have, we have
inbound for the first time ever.
818
:Right.
819
:That's, that's pretty cool.
820
:Um, you know, it's helpful.
821
:Yes, it's helpful.
822
:That's right.
823
:It's been good for recruiting too.
824
:It's, it's, yeah, it's been, it's
been good for a lot of things.
825
:Um, you know, like I, I do ask myself
sometimes, like, was it the right
826
:decision to stay in stealth for so long?
827
:And I think that like, you know,
hindsight's:
828
:hard to, it's hard to say for I think
that like, It was the right decision
829
:to do it for quite a long time.
830
:I think if I had to do it all over
again, I might've done the launch
831
:like six months earlier or something,
but, but I think we did actually get a
832
:lot of strategic benefit out of being
so quiet for such a long time while
833
:we built this futuristic technology.
834
:It's just like, you know, if you, if you
listener are thinking of doing that, be
835
:aware that there are very real costs.
836
:Yeah.
837
:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
838
:And I think that you make a really
valid point with the, you know, it's
839
:been a crazy time in the market for
tech, uh, in the last, you know,
840
:four years since the pandemic, right.
841
:It's been this kind of roller
coaster of, like you mentioned, you
842
:know, you know, time and a place
of, of raising, you know, funds.
843
:Yeah.
844
:2021.
845
:I mean, there's no better
time to be raising capital.
846
:Uh, you fast forward, you know,
a year and a half to two years
847
:later, and it's pretty savage.
848
:Um, and so, you know, the, the market
conditions and timing of everything,
849
:you know, truly, you know, probably, you
know, it sounds like you, you acknowledge
850
:played a big part in your ability to
let's extend the timeline a little bit.
851
:We don't have to be so rushed.
852
:Um, I think that's a very different
argument for somebody that's
853
:maybe trying to operate right now.
854
:That's totally, uh, under,
under the gun, but yeah,
855
:Will Wilson: like interest, like
interest rates being higher just means
856
:everybody's looking for a faster return.
857
:That's right.
858
:Includes investors.
859
:That includes you, the founder, right?
860
:That includes everybody.
861
:Yeah.
862
:And so, you know, that does mean
that does mean you should be
863
:looking for opportunities that
can pay off a little quicker.
864
:That's right.
865
:Tim Winkler: Um, well that's kind
of a, you know, it's kind of put a
866
:bow on, on the, uh, the stealth mode
discussion and, um, you know, just
867
:one, one final question, uh, in terms
of, you know, looking forward towards
868
:the future, um, you know, what do you
kind of anticipate or see within like
869
:those areas of deterministic testing
and Autonomous systems evolving, any,
870
:anything that you're really excited about?
871
:And obviously this will play into, you
know, what it is that you're building,
872
:but any, any, uh, hot takes or anything
that you're, you're anticipating?
873
:Will Wilson: I think the,
everybody seems to be very excited.
874
:Well, no, a year ago, everybody was
very excited about LLMs writing code.
875
:I think now we're sort of like maybe
entering the hangover phase where
876
:people are like, wait a minute,
these things write code really
877
:fast and it's not all correct.
878
:And, you know, And also someday
I'm going to have to modify this
879
:code or read it or understand it.
880
:And it having been produced
by this machine makes it
881
:much harder to do all that.
882
:And so I think that is going
to, but at the same time,
883
:there's like real value there.
884
:If you could make good use of
these things, writing code for you.
885
:And so I think that's just
going to put a lot of pressure
886
:on testing practices, right?
887
:Like being able to have any kind
of confidence that this thing that
888
:chat GPT spat out is gonna like Do
the right thing and not crash your
889
:computer is like suddenly gonna, it's
going to take on way more salience.
890
:And so I think for that reason,
it's like a very, very exciting
891
:time to be in the like software
testing or QA space, which is like
892
:sort of a funny thing to say, right?
893
:Like software testing and QA
sounds like the most boring,
894
:horrible thing ever, right?
895
:It's like taking out garbage.
896
:Um, which, which is one reason I like it.
897
:It's like a reason people don't do it.
898
:So, so then I get to do it.
899
:Um, but.
900
:But yeah, I think, I think it's
like probably the most important
901
:time to be working on this problem.
902
:And so I think it's going to be cool.
903
:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
904
:That's a good analogy.
905
:The dirty jobs analogy.
906
:Um, but there's a reason that, you know,
garbage men get paid pretty well too.
907
:Like nobody else wants to do that job.
908
:Um, Cool.
909
:All right.
910
:I think that's a, that's a
good wrap on, on a little bit
911
:of your journey and the story.
912
:And I think we'll close with, um,
our five second scramble segment.
913
:So this is, uh, just a little fun
rapid fire Q and a, we're going
914
:to bounce a couple of questions
your way and, and yeah, try to
915
:answer them within five seconds.
916
:We're not going to air horn
you off or anything like that.
917
:But, uh, yeah.
918
:Uh, are you ready to jump into it?
919
:I'm ready or not.
920
:All right, uh, explain Antithesis
to me as if I were a five year old.
921
:Will Wilson: Uh, we use AI
to find problems in software.
922
:Tim Winkler: What is your favorite
part about the culture at Antithesis?
923
:No assholes.
924
:What type of technologist will thrive
925
:Will Wilson: at Antithesis?
926
:Somebody who likes working on hard stuff.
927
:Tim Winkler: What are the, the top tech
roles that you're hiring for today?
928
:Will Wilson: Oh, everything, man.
929
:Tim Winkler: We'll, we'll direct
folks to the careers page, which
930
:is now publicly facing, so.
931
:That's right.
932
:That's right.
933
:Um, what, um, what is a charity
or corporate philanthropy
934
:that's near and dear to you?
935
:Corporate philanthropy.
936
:Will Wilson: Um, I,
that's a good question.
937
:I mean, do you want like stuff that's
like local in our area or stuff that's
938
:like something that's maybe just
939
:Tim Winkler: personal to you, you know,
something that's touched you and, you
940
:know, over the years or something that,
you know, resonates with you that, uh,
941
:you know, you, you'd like to donate to.
942
:Will Wilson: Yeah, sure.
943
:So I, I mean, I think there's a
lot of really, really good efforts,
944
:um, to like anti malaria efforts,
like, you know, mosquito nets,
945
:bed nets, that kind of thing.
946
:I think that stuff has a huge impact and
is really, really good for the world.
947
:And I think people should like
totally donate to that kind of stuff.
948
:I also think it's like really important
to do something that's directly
949
:involved in your own community
and that's like closer to home.
950
:And, you know, so there's
like a bunch of churches in D.
951
:C.
952
:that have very active homeless
ministries that I've helped out with, and
953
:there's a lot of homeless people in D.
954
:C.
955
:these days, and it's, it's a bit of a
crisis, and so that's, that's a thing
956
:that, that my family's, uh, done some of.
957
:Tim Winkler: Cool.
958
:Yeah.
959
:We like to highlight some of
those when we post this out.
960
:So I'll, uh, I'll get you to, to
share, uh, some of the specific boards
961
:that, uh, we can, we can highlight.
962
:Um, which of your, your four
children is your favorite?
963
:I'm just joking.
964
:It's not a, not an answerable answer.
965
:Um, describe for me your,
your morning routine,
966
:Will Wilson: my morning routine.
967
:I wake up and I
968
:Usually at least one of my
children is already awake.
969
:And so I get them dressed,
you know, feed them.
970
:These days the bigger ones can
feed themselves, that's good.
971
:Um, you know, I make myself tea or coffee.
972
:I sadly check up on what's happened
with the company overnight.
973
:I, um, I usually try to hang out with
my kids in the morning because by
974
:evening, like I'm tired, they're tired.
975
:There's still an opportunity for
hanging out, but like, it's a little
976
:bit, it has just a different character.
977
:Um, and then once, once
everybody's off to school, I.
978
:Come to work, or if it's a nice day, like
today, I bike to work, which is very nice.
979
:Very cool.
980
:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
981
:Yeah.
982
:It's a nice, nice routine.
983
:I, I agree with you that the
morning hang with the, with the
984
:kids is a different experience.
985
:You're, you're, it's, you're less
burnout, you're not, you know, you're
986
:kind of a little bit more present.
987
:So, um, it's good perspective.
988
:What's the worst fashion trend
that you've ever followed?
989
:Uh,
990
:Will Wilson: bell bottoms.
991
:Tim Winkler: Solid.
992
:Uh, what is something that you love
to do, but you're really bad at?
993
:Will Wilson: Ooh, that's a
good, that's a good one, man.
994
:Uh, sailing.
995
:Tim Winkler: Oh, nice.
996
:Will Wilson: Yeah.
997
:Tim Winkler: Yeah.
998
:It's not easy.
999
:Will Wilson: It's not.
:
00:53:23,490 --> 00:53:26,960
And if I, I like to say, if I had
more time, I would be better at it.
:
00:53:27,730 --> 00:53:28,580
I don't have any time.
:
00:53:30,610 --> 00:53:33,240
Tim Winkler: Um, What was
your dream job as a kid?
:
00:53:34,200 --> 00:53:35,840
Will Wilson: I wanted
to be emperor of Mars.
:
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:38,840
Seems like Elon's gonna beat me to it.
:
00:53:38,930 --> 00:53:40,140
Yeah, I mean, we're not
:
00:53:40,780 --> 00:53:41,599
Tim Winkler: too far off.
:
00:53:42,330 --> 00:53:44,500
Um, and then I'll close with this one.
:
00:53:44,500 --> 00:53:48,040
What, what, uh, who is your
favorite Disney character?
:
00:53:48,589 --> 00:53:51,169
Will Wilson: My favorite is,
man, it's been a long time
:
00:53:51,170 --> 00:53:52,360
since I watched a Disney movie.
:
00:53:55,715 --> 00:53:58,225
Tim Winkler: Well, now they own Star
Wars and all this, all the other fun.
:
00:54:00,435 --> 00:54:02,595
Will Wilson: Trying to think, um,
:
00:54:05,745 --> 00:54:07,575
I liked the beast in beauty and the beast.
:
00:54:09,095 --> 00:54:09,385
Tim Winkler: Yeah.
:
00:54:09,385 --> 00:54:11,884
Sensitive heart, you know, sensitive soul.
:
00:54:11,935 --> 00:54:12,334
That's right.
:
00:54:12,565 --> 00:54:15,145
But it was always, you
know, judged the wrong way.
:
00:54:15,354 --> 00:54:15,824
That's right.
:
00:54:16,185 --> 00:54:17,345
Good, good, good one.
:
00:54:17,365 --> 00:54:18,365
That's a first.
:
00:54:18,365 --> 00:54:21,855
We, we asked that question to most every
guest and never heard the beast before.
:
00:54:21,855 --> 00:54:24,065
So kudos on, on the uniqueness.
:
00:54:24,735 --> 00:54:25,794
Um, cool.
:
00:54:25,795 --> 00:54:28,685
Well, thank, uh, thank you so
much for spending time with us.
:
00:54:28,685 --> 00:54:32,895
Well, we're I'm excited for the
future of what you all are building at
:
00:54:33,165 --> 00:54:37,665
Antipasis and you know, you're you're an
awesome entrepreneur and a good human.
:
00:54:37,865 --> 00:54:41,455
Good luck on the new addition
to the family and uh, we're
:
00:54:41,455 --> 00:54:42,565
uh, we're rooting for you all.
:
00:54:42,575 --> 00:54:44,274
Thanks for, for hanging
out with us on the pod.
:
00:54:44,665 --> 00:54:45,114
Will Wilson: Thanks man.
:
00:54:45,155 --> 00:54:45,934
Thanks so much for having me.
:
00:54:45,934 --> 00:54:47,104
Transcribed