Stream: friends

Topic: 106: Oxide is crossing the chasm

Logbot (Aug 15 2025 at 16:45):

Bryan Cantrill returns in the wake of Oxide Computer Company's $100M Series B. Bryan tells us how he's avoiding an appearance on Silicon Valley (ding), why their uniform compensation is working, where Oxide fits in the AI datacenter, what scaling to 50+ rack orders looks like, and more. (GitHub has no CEO and saving Intel)++ :link: https://changelog.am/106

Matt Johnson (Aug 16 2025 at 01:15):

Excited to see Oxide growing with more of an ability to provide better foundations for computing infrastructure!

Loved the ++ bonus at the end, thanks!

Matthew Sanabria (Aug 16 2025 at 05:38):

Excited to listen to this episode!

Andrew O'Brien (Aug 16 2025 at 13:09):

Okay, I’m blanking and Google isn’t helping: what was Piper Pulse?

matt wilkie (Aug 16 2025 at 18:24):

I'm intrigued by the company organisation, universal compensation, and holding to a high bar for bringing in new folks. The idea is very attractive. I wonder though, long term, where does the next generation come from? Fast forward a decade or two. People only hire peers, the best. Well now I'm 20 years more expert, so would be my peers. How does an enthusiastic pimply faced know-nothing get aboard the ship?

Bryan Cantrill (Aug 16 2025 at 23:10):

Andrew O'Brien said:

Okay, I’m blanking and Google isn’t helping: what was Piper Pulse?

You're in for a treat: the sequence on Piper Pulse remains one of my favorite bits of the show, loaded with real wisdom. (This also ends with a Silicon Valley reference that I make only to myself, but assuredly too frequently: "Bad system. Didn't work. Thank you.")

valon-loshaj (Aug 17 2025 at 13:18):

Oh damn…why’d i click that link :sweat_smile:

Now I want to to rewatch the series again :see_no_evil:

Andrew O'Brien (Aug 17 2025 at 21:02):

Oh man, I forgot all about that part… because I try not to think about the horrible Welchian stack ranking system in my past.

Loved the point about how much of our brains are spent thinking about comp because as soon as I left there I had a similar realization.

Andrew O'Brien (Aug 17 2025 at 21:09):

Question I had after finishing the episode: when you go for a Series B, are you talking to a different level of firm than Series A? I see USIT led this round and Eclipse led earlier ones.

Matthew Sanabria (Aug 18 2025 at 13:48):

Listened to this while driving. Love Bryan's stance on hiring both from defending the hiring process to advocating for lean companies. It's wild how bloated most companies operate in the name of "growth". The said reality is you could probably fire a decently high non-zero percentage of people at most companies and the company would either continue with business as usual or even operate better!

Matthew Sanabria (Aug 18 2025 at 13:49):

Obviously there's nuance there but it's nice to work at a place where I know that myself and all my colleagues are essential to the success of the company. You truly are hiring a peer rather than a subordinate.

Bryan Cantrill (Aug 18 2025 at 15:29):

Andrew O'Brien said:

Question I had after finishing the episode: when you go for a Series B, are you talking to a different level of firm than Series A? I see USIT led this round and Eclipse led earlier ones.

Great question! And, yes, generally. There are exceptions to this, but broadly your investors want to see the company get new outside investment. This forces the company to appeal to outsiders in a way that everyone generally agrees is healthy (not unlike seeking one's doctorate from a different institution as one's undergraduate degree). Conversely, there can be a stigma associated with an all-insider round: it may indicate that a company is struggling and in fact dependent on its existing investors to bridge them to the next milestone. Aside from conventional wisdom, there are other mechanical reasons for this, especially in the Series A to Series B transition: many funds are not truly stage-agnostic, and generally have a sweet spot that they want to be in (e.g. "early stage" versus "growth").

We knew from the beginning that we would be seeking an outside lead for our Series B. We were fortunately able to achieve our ideal outcome: a big, outside lead coupled with participation by all current investors.

Jerod Santo (Aug 18 2025 at 17:10):

First clip from BONUS++ time is up: https://youtu.be/WAgqY_7UYz0

Dan McClain (Aug 18 2025 at 18:36):

Every time there's an Oxide related episode (and that includes all of Oxide and Friends), I always think "I want to work somewhere like Oxide" some day. I hope that a lot of the learnings/practices published by Oxide ripple out to the industry/community

I think the break down of compensation vs equity was incredibly important (especially zero liquidity equity). And of course HN says "no support is worth $200k", that may be some accidental internalization that you have become the support engineer. So many good insights buried in here (additionally the peer vs subordinate, especially with leveling, it gets tricky)

Thinking this through a little bit: does Oxide see itself in a place that it can hire a "jr" that becomes their next senior? Or is that something that comes in the future (and it's not lost on my that founder mode potentially indicates that a company needs to bring in more senior people to make sure you continue to survive)? And it's something I'm seeing in my part of the overall tech industry (where the market right now is _rough_ and allows for companies to effectively hire users under leveled then they "promote" to their actual level)

Ron Waldon-Howe (Aug 18 2025 at 23:44):

Matthew Sanabria said:

It's wild how bloated most companies operate in the name of "growth".

My employer literally had an OKR for hiring, then a surge in recruitment, and then later that year introduced a more-strict performance evaluation system and laid off a bunch of people (it's effectively stack-ranking even though everyone refuses to call it that)

Daniel Buckmaster (Aug 19 2025 at 00:26):

Every time there's an Oxide related episode (and that includes all of Oxide and Friends), I always think "I want to work somewhere like Oxide" some day

Heck yes, and that includes the company I co-founded :laughing: I really love the writing-heavy culture and just... everything else also. Y'all sound like great bosses.

Jarvis (Aug 19 2025 at 13:21):

Homelabbers unite! Give us the mini Oxide Racklett!!!

Andrew O'Brien (Aug 19 2025 at 13:37):

Build your own! It’s open source! :stuck_out_tongue_wink:

Matthew Sanabria (Aug 19 2025 at 14:56):

Ron Waldon-Howe said:

Matthew Sanabria said:

It's wild how bloated most companies operate in the name of "growth".

My employer literally had an OKR for hiring, then a surge in recruitment, and then later that year introduced a more-strict performance evaluation system and laid off a bunch of people (it's effectively stack-ranking even though everyone refuses to call it that)

I felt like a previous employer of mine did the same thing without publicly admitting to an OKR. Hiring went crazy and we ended up lowering our hiring standards in the name of "growth". The effects were drastic honestly. You'd have people getting paid more that weren't doing anything and people getting paid less that have been there longer and do a ton of work. Horrible for the company and horrible for morale.

Lars Ellingsen (Aug 22 2025 at 21:52):

Leaving a link to a SV scene that @Bryan Cantrill brought up because it's one of my favorites: https://youtu.be/8ZgfTarNxdY?si=kcy9B03Rynhxvm_y

It's amazing both as a commentary on the industry/fundraising as well and in how Richard breaks the other character's brain and then just leaves :joy:

Aaron Dowd (Aug 22 2025 at 23:17):

the show that keeps on giving, 11 years later

Last updated: Oct 16 2025 at 05:39 UTC