High Bit

In this episode of High Bit, Aaron discusses the challenges of hiring a team to build an infrastructure-as-a-service platform for blockchain networks. When Aaron and his cofounder Joe Lallouz first created Bison Trails, they initially faced challenges running nodes and infrastructure for different networks. They found that by investing in tests early on and improving automation capabilities, they could streamline operations. Coinbase eventually acquired Bison Trails in January 2021. For more info on High Bit, and to listen to all of the other episodes, visit: www.Initialized.com/HighBit Topics: 2:28 Aaron's Background and How He Became an Engineer 5:21 Building Grand St. and Selling the Company to Etsy 10:55 The Early Days of Building Bison Trails 16:21 Building the Early Team of Infrastructure Engineers with Blockchain Experience 19:53 Slashing: The Penalties Imposed on Validators in Blockchain Networks for Misbehavior 27:07 What Bison Trails Taught Aaron About Building Large Organizations 33:28 Aaron on Lessons He Learned While Hiring the Bison Trails Team 38:00 Life After Bison Trails and Coinbase. What's Next for Aaron Henshaw? High Bit is a new podcast hosted by Initialized Capital managing partner Brett Gibson about the art of technical problem-solving. A high bit is the most significant part of the binary representation of a number. In programming language, it is commonly referred to as the most important thing you need to understand about a problem. We spoke with our first four guests about just that. In each episode, we’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome. High Bit is produced by Initialized Capital and hosted by Brett Gibson. Our showrunner is Candy Cheng. Episodes were shot and edited by Jordan Berns. Production support by Kevin Heinz and BTB Video Production.

In this episode of High Bit, Jose walks us through the challenges of troubleshooting a complex problem encountered during the pre-launch testing of a space-bound asteroid mining refinery. Using a real-life example, he illustrates the application of a fishbone diagram and the necessity of methodical problem-solving, even under extreme time pressure. Topics: 1:41 What is AstroForge? 7:13 How Jose Met His Cofounder Matt Gialich 13:18 Using a Fishbone Diagram to Find the Root Cause of a Problem 15:01 The "Holy Shit" Moment When a Launch Does Not Go According to Plan 20:37 Validating All the Points of Failure to Get to a Solution 26:25 Lessons Learned from Working Under Time Pressure High Bit is a new podcast hosted by Initialized Capital managing partner Brett Gibson about the art of technical problem-solving. A high bit is the most significant part of the binary representation of a number. In programming language, it is commonly referred to as the most important thing you need to understand about a problem. We spoke with our first four guests about just that. In each episode, we’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome. High Bit is produced by Initialized Capital and hosted by Brett Gibson. Our showrunner is Candy Cheng. Episodes were shot and edited by Jordan Berns. Production support by Kevin Heinz and BTB Video Production.

In this episode of High Bit, Ethan reveals the unique challenges of building a reliable and global crypto trading platform. “There’s no downtime because crypto trades 24/7,” he said. “So in that way, it’s a lot more like Google than the New York Stock Exchanges.” Ethan also shared the art of balancing safety and speed in product development. “You need to adapt, and you need to change up your workflow as the market changes. We want to wrap that whole messy ecosystem in a layer that allows institutions to interact with crypto just like they would any other asset class.” Topics: 02:26 From Broadway Technology to Talos 06:23 Crypto Trading is "More Like Google Than NYSE" 11:46 Examining the Various Failure Scenarios of Trading Crypto 15:56 The Importance of Getting Details Correct in Making a Successful Trading System Work 21:35 Client Communication as Part of the Engineering Effort 25:05 Building Safety Features into the Product 29:30 Adaptability Around Messiness High Bit is a new podcast hosted by Initialized Capital managing partner Brett Gibson about the art of technical problem-solving. A high bit is the most significant part of the binary representation of a number. In programming language, it is commonly referred to as the most important thing you need to understand about a problem. We spoke with our first four guests about just that. In each episode, we’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome. High Bit is produced by Initialized Capital and hosted by Brett Gibson. Our showrunner is Candy Cheng. Episodes were shot and edited by Jordan Berns. Production support by Kevin Heinz and BTB Video Production.

In this episode of High Bit, Renuka shares the evolution of Clockwork’s AI-powered nail-painting robot. She shares her insights into safe AI utilization and how she adopted software engineering principles into the hardware process. Topics: 1:56: Renuka’s Background as a Systems Engineer at Nvidia 5:27: Using an Off-The-Shelf AI Model to Create the First Version of Clockwork 10:06: Discovering Pointillism in Nail Painting 14:46: Using AI in Safe Ways 18:29: A Very Humbling Lesson for a Software Engineer 22:55: Making Nail Painting as Easy as Grabbing a Cup of Coffee High Bit is a new podcast hosted by Initialized Capital managing partner Brett Gibson about the art of technical problem-solving. A high bit is the most significant part of the binary representation of a number. In programming language, it is commonly referred to as the most important thing you need to understand about a problem. We spoke with our first four guests about just that. In each episode, we’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome. High Bit is produced by Initialized Capital and hosted by Brett Gibson. Our showrunner is Candy Cheng. Episodes were shot and edited by Jordan Berns. Production support by Kevin Heinz and BTB Video Production.

Join Initialized’s Brett Gibson as he discusses thorny engineering problems with his guests on “High Bit,” a new podcast about the art of technical problem-solving.