6 ms·

This looks interesting (although I'm not in the target market, too small)... But if I were looking at this, judging from the quality of people they've amassed

by atonse 5y ago

This looks interesting (although I'm not in the target market, too small)... But if I were looking at this, judging from the quality of people they've amassed in their engineering team, is there any chance they won't be acquired in 6 months? To anyone looking to take a bet on this, what is the answer to "what's your plan for when your stellar team gets acquired?" And what answer will satisfy that buyer? Update: Adding another question, does this "environment" (where any really great product with great talent in it can be acquired very quickly) have a chilling effect on purchases for products like this? Hopefully some Oxide people can answer :-)

bcantrill 5y ago
Hi! So, at every step -- from conception to funding to building the team and now building the product -- we have done so to build a big, successful public company. Not only do we (the founders) share that conviction, but it is shared by our investors and employees as well. For better or for ill, we are -- as we memorably declared to one investor -- ride or die. Also, if it's of any solace, I really don't think any of the existing players would be terribly interested in buying a company that has so thoroughly and unequivocally rejected so many of their accrued decisions! ;) I'm pretty sure their due diligence would reveal that we have taken a first principles approach here that is anathema to the iterative one they have taken for decades -- and indeed, these companies have shown time and time again that they don't want to risk their existing product lines to a fresh approach, no matter how badly customers want it.
- tw04 5y ago
  Isn't that what some of your old Sun compatriots thought with DSSD? :) Congrats on the announcement, here's hoping you're right! This looks too interesting to be swallowed by Oracle or HPe.
  - bcantrill 5y ago
    Fortunately, some of those same DSSD folks have joined us at Oxide -- and let's just say that they are of like mind with respect to Oxide's approach. ;)
  - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
    See, my immediate reaction was that Oxide is by Sun people who are still scarred by that acquisition; they'll fight tooth and nail to avoid a repeat and if it did get forced through there would be an immediate and complete exodus.
    - bcantrill 5y ago
      Well, that one too. Honestly, one of the consequences of having a team consisting mostly (but not entirely!) of industry vets: we've collectively seen a lot of shit. In fact, a topic I would never want to bring up among Oxide employees: who has had an acquisition in their career gone the worst? There are just too many contenders, which itself is a sad commentary on the industry!
    - jeffrallen 5y ago
      > a complete exodus A catastrophic oxidation reaction leading to total consumption of the fuel?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- timClicks 5y ago
  Brian, well done for the launch. I am in awe of your team's audacity, patience and execution.
- newsclues 5y ago
  Unfortunately you didn’t pivot to becoming a podcast company. But this looks cool I hope you drop a new episode soon
  - bcantrill 5y ago
    We're getting there! My second shot was yesterday, and Steve and Jess are both completely done -- so we expect to get back to the garage soon! In the meantime, fellow Oxide engineer Adam Leventhal and I have been doing a Twitter Space every Monday at 5p Pacific; so far, it's been incredible with some amazing people dropping by -- come hang out!
    - Timothycquinn 5y ago
      Any thoughts on re-listening to your previous podcasts, finding interesting topics that were either skipped or digressed from and inviting back the guests to do a Q&A style podcast? I feel there are deep wells of interesting topics to be discussed.
- chuckdries 5y ago
  Your approach to pay is really refreshing and attractive as an engineer, and also seems like the exact type of thing most VC or larger tech firms would really hate. That alone feels like evidence of your conviction
  - bcantrill 5y ago
    Ha! Well, I think our investors think we're very idiosyncratic -- but they also can't help but admire the results: a singular team, drawn in part by not having to worry about the Game of Thrones that is most corporate comp structures. ;)
    - kaliszad 5y ago
      Smaller teams will always win the communication overhead comparison even without thinking about organizational trees and therefore indirections too much. Communication is one of the biggest problems in organizations and the society, so more direct and therefore clearer communication can make the organization more efficient and keep the spirits high. It also doesn't hurt to have a team made only of extremely senior engineers or other professionals in their field. Even better, if those engineers are great personalities too. There is only one culprit: you have to have a very capable driver to put this powerful engine to good use so to say. If you drive the powerful engine in the wrong direction, you are actually putting more, not less distance between the destination and your current position. It seems, the goal for Oxide Computer is clear and I wholeheartedly wish you the best of luck.
    - CogitoCogito 5y ago
      I hope you are able to keep the investors convinced and stick with it! I'm a Swedish-American that's mostly lived in the US, but has been working back in Sweden for the last 4 years. I'm culturally mostly Californian, but the work atmosphere in Sweden is just less cut throat and much nicer. You pay with salary sure, but it's definitely worth it. Your descriptions on the website feel a bit similar. I presume you wouldn't consider European remote given your PST timezone requirement, but I guess I'll consider your company one of those dream places to work were I to make my return to the US!
- atonse 5y ago
  That is awesome to hear. :-) Wishing you all a ton of success!
- bombcar 5y ago
  Companies have been acquired to shut down their product line before.
  - masklinn 5y ago
    That requires them to be publicly traded (which I don’t think oxide is), or for a majority of the private share holders to essentially give up on the company. Now I don’t know how oxide is set up, but I’d assume the founders still retain the large majority of shares.
- sturadnidge 5y ago
  I was literally remarking to a workmate 'this looks like Sun 2.0', then I see who's on the team :). Congrats, I'll be keeping an eye out if you ever start shipping to Australia.
- piva00 5y ago
  I read through your "Compensation as a Reflection of Values" article [1] and just wanted to say that I love it. It reflects and relates so much to my own values towards work, as a life philosophy, that I felt refreshed knowing others not only think this way but also have the power to implement such a culture. Thanks for trying that, I hope it becomes something more common to workers in general. [1] https://oxide.computer/blog/compensation-as-a-reflection-of-values https://oxide.computer/blog/compensation-as-a-reflection-of-...
- jacquesm 5y ago
  This is pretty refreshing. I wish you all the success that you deserve, really curious how this will work out. Best of luck there!
- yazaddaruvala 5y ago
  If they haven't invested already you might have just found one more investor :) https://a16z.com/2021/05/27/cost-of-cloud-paradox-market-cap-cloud-lifecycle-scale-growth-repatriation-optimization/ https://a16z.com/2021/05/27/cost-of-cloud-paradox-market-cap...
paxys 5y ago
Going by that logic, you should never take a chance on a bad company because they are bad, and a good company because they are too good and might get acquired. So should you just never rely on a small company for anything?
- atonse 5y ago
  That's the question I was genuinely asking. Do longer-term minded buyers think this way? Our company is too small and just use AWS, we're just not perspective buyers. But I'm trying to understand the mindset of a CapEx style buyer whose timelines are multiple years. This team is, by all measures, going to hit it out of the park. There's just a solid amount of talent, experience and insight all-round. And to be clear, I am not at all disparaging teams that get acquired – that would be silly. I'm just saying that we are in an environment these days where very few of these kinds of companies get a chance to grow before being acquired and WE are the ones that lose even though the people working at the company rightfully earn a nice payout. I have the same "fear" about Tailscale, a company whose product we love and have started using, and are about to purchase. But the fact that a member of the founding team themselves answered my message above in plain english (not surprising), is honestly refreshing.
  - wd45 5y ago
    No one is going to bet the farm on that solution. I'd be surprised if big SaaS vendors like Atlassian or DropBox go with it. But on the other hand I can see F500s (oil & gas companies, big engineering and defense firms, etc.) getting a rack or two to run their cloud-like stuff. They would not be taking much risk; this would be one system among many others they have, and it will have a life of 5 to 7 years anyway (a few million dollars and 7 years is peanuts for an oil & gas or mining company whose CapEx goes into the billions, over 50+ years horizons). I think the value is in having a cloud-like system that doesn't require an entire IT/Ops team to run.
emmelaich 5y ago
I was going to shrug at this a little until I saw some of the names. Good luck. Not sure that 'with the software baked in' is a good phrase to use. Sounds inflexible. Perhaps a different phrasing would help?
- _e 5y ago
  I agree... what I think they meant to say is something along the lines of software defaults are already optimized to maximize and take advantage of the hardware's abilities so work is completed faster. The 'with the software baked in' should be changed to reflect the value proposition that Oxide is alluding to.
dadrian 5y ago
Private companies can't just get bought out. They have to agree to be acquired. There is not some roaming force of Big Corp M&A people who forcefully acquihire companies. I don't understand this concern at all.
- perryizgr8 5y ago
  When enough money is at stake, it may become near impossible to deny a buyer, no matter what the founders initially thought.

by atonse 5y ago

bcantrill 5y ago

Hi! So, at every step -- from conception to funding to building the team and now building the product -- we have done so to build a big, successful public company. Not only do we (the founders) share that conviction, but it is shared by our investors and employees as well. For better or for ill, we are -- as we memorably declared to one investor -- ride or die. Also, if it's of any solace, I really don't think any of the existing players would be terribly interested in buying a company that has so thoroughly and unequivocally rejected so many of their accrued decisions! ;) I'm pretty sure their due diligence would reveal that we have taken a first principles approach here that is anathema to the iterative one they have taken for decades -- and indeed, these companies have shown time and time again that they don't want to risk their existing product lines to a fresh approach, no matter how badly customers want it.

tw04 5y ago
Isn't that what some of your old Sun compatriots thought with DSSD? :) Congrats on the announcement, here's hoping you're right! This looks too interesting to be swallowed by Oracle or HPe.
- bcantrill 5y ago
  Fortunately, some of those same DSSD folks have joined us at Oxide -- and let's just say that they are of like mind with respect to Oxide's approach. ;)
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  See, my immediate reaction was that Oxide is by Sun people who are still scarred by that acquisition; they'll fight tooth and nail to avoid a repeat and if it did get forced through there would be an immediate and complete exodus.
  - bcantrill 5y ago
    Well, that one too. Honestly, one of the consequences of having a team consisting mostly (but not entirely!) of industry vets: we've collectively seen a lot of shit. In fact, a topic I would never want to bring up among Oxide employees: who has had an acquisition in their career gone the worst? There are just too many contenders, which itself is a sad commentary on the industry!
  - jeffrallen 5y ago
    > a complete exodus A catastrophic oxidation reaction leading to total consumption of the fuel?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
timClicks 5y ago
Brian, well done for the launch. I am in awe of your team's audacity, patience and execution.
newsclues 5y ago
Unfortunately you didn’t pivot to becoming a podcast company. But this looks cool I hope you drop a new episode soon
- bcantrill 5y ago
  We're getting there! My second shot was yesterday, and Steve and Jess are both completely done -- so we expect to get back to the garage soon! In the meantime, fellow Oxide engineer Adam Leventhal and I have been doing a Twitter Space every Monday at 5p Pacific; so far, it's been incredible with some amazing people dropping by -- come hang out!
  - Timothycquinn 5y ago
    Any thoughts on re-listening to your previous podcasts, finding interesting topics that were either skipped or digressed from and inviting back the guests to do a Q&A style podcast? I feel there are deep wells of interesting topics to be discussed.
chuckdries 5y ago
Your approach to pay is really refreshing and attractive as an engineer, and also seems like the exact type of thing most VC or larger tech firms would really hate. That alone feels like evidence of your conviction
- bcantrill 5y ago
  Ha! Well, I think our investors think we're very idiosyncratic -- but they also can't help but admire the results: a singular team, drawn in part by not having to worry about the Game of Thrones that is most corporate comp structures. ;)
  - kaliszad 5y ago
    Smaller teams will always win the communication overhead comparison even without thinking about organizational trees and therefore indirections too much. Communication is one of the biggest problems in organizations and the society, so more direct and therefore clearer communication can make the organization more efficient and keep the spirits high. It also doesn't hurt to have a team made only of extremely senior engineers or other professionals in their field. Even better, if those engineers are great personalities too. There is only one culprit: you have to have a very capable driver to put this powerful engine to good use so to say. If you drive the powerful engine in the wrong direction, you are actually putting more, not less distance between the destination and your current position. It seems, the goal for Oxide Computer is clear and I wholeheartedly wish you the best of luck.
  - CogitoCogito 5y ago
    I hope you are able to keep the investors convinced and stick with it! I'm a Swedish-American that's mostly lived in the US, but has been working back in Sweden for the last 4 years. I'm culturally mostly Californian, but the work atmosphere in Sweden is just less cut throat and much nicer. You pay with salary sure, but it's definitely worth it. Your descriptions on the website feel a bit similar. I presume you wouldn't consider European remote given your PST timezone requirement, but I guess I'll consider your company one of those dream places to work were I to make my return to the US!
atonse 5y ago
That is awesome to hear. :-) Wishing you all a ton of success!
bombcar 5y ago
Companies have been acquired to shut down their product line before.
- masklinn 5y ago
  That requires them to be publicly traded (which I don’t think oxide is), or for a majority of the private share holders to essentially give up on the company. Now I don’t know how oxide is set up, but I’d assume the founders still retain the large majority of shares.
sturadnidge 5y ago
I was literally remarking to a workmate 'this looks like Sun 2.0', then I see who's on the team :). Congrats, I'll be keeping an eye out if you ever start shipping to Australia.
piva00 5y ago
I read through your "Compensation as a Reflection of Values" article [1] and just wanted to say that I love it. It reflects and relates so much to my own values towards work, as a life philosophy, that I felt refreshed knowing others not only think this way but also have the power to implement such a culture. Thanks for trying that, I hope it becomes something more common to workers in general. [1] https://oxide.computer/blog/compensation-as-a-reflection-of-values https://oxide.computer/blog/compensation-as-a-reflection-of-...
jacquesm 5y ago
This is pretty refreshing. I wish you all the success that you deserve, really curious how this will work out. Best of luck there!
yazaddaruvala 5y ago
If they haven't invested already you might have just found one more investor :) https://a16z.com/2021/05/27/cost-of-cloud-paradox-market-cap-cloud-lifecycle-scale-growth-repatriation-optimization/ https://a16z.com/2021/05/27/cost-of-cloud-paradox-market-cap...

paxys 5y ago

Going by that logic, you should never take a chance on a bad company because they are bad, and a good company because they are too good and might get acquired. So should you just never rely on a small company for anything?

atonse 5y ago
That's the question I was genuinely asking. Do longer-term minded buyers think this way? Our company is too small and just use AWS, we're just not perspective buyers. But I'm trying to understand the mindset of a CapEx style buyer whose timelines are multiple years. This team is, by all measures, going to hit it out of the park. There's just a solid amount of talent, experience and insight all-round. And to be clear, I am not at all disparaging teams that get acquired – that would be silly. I'm just saying that we are in an environment these days where very few of these kinds of companies get a chance to grow before being acquired and WE are the ones that lose even though the people working at the company rightfully earn a nice payout. I have the same "fear" about Tailscale, a company whose product we love and have started using, and are about to purchase. But the fact that a member of the founding team themselves answered my message above in plain english (not surprising), is honestly refreshing.
- wd45 5y ago
  No one is going to bet the farm on that solution. I'd be surprised if big SaaS vendors like Atlassian or DropBox go with it. But on the other hand I can see F500s (oil & gas companies, big engineering and defense firms, etc.) getting a rack or two to run their cloud-like stuff. They would not be taking much risk; this would be one system among many others they have, and it will have a life of 5 to 7 years anyway (a few million dollars and 7 years is peanuts for an oil & gas or mining company whose CapEx goes into the billions, over 50+ years horizons). I think the value is in having a cloud-like system that doesn't require an entire IT/Ops team to run.

emmelaich 5y ago

I was going to shrug at this a little until I saw some of the names. Good luck. Not sure that 'with the software baked in' is a good phrase to use. Sounds inflexible. Perhaps a different phrasing would help?

_e 5y ago
I agree... what I think they meant to say is something along the lines of software defaults are already optimized to maximize and take advantage of the hardware's abilities so work is completed faster. The 'with the software baked in' should be changed to reflect the value proposition that Oxide is alluding to.

dadrian 5y ago

Private companies can't just get bought out. They have to agree to be acquired. There is not some roaming force of Big Corp M&A people who forcefully acquihire companies. I don't understand this concern at all.

perryizgr8 5y ago
When enough money is at stake, it may become near impossible to deny a buyer, no matter what the founders initially thought.