Navigating Competition and Community in Tech Development

In this episode, I talk with Kaan Dogrusoz, Co-Founder and CEO of Weave Robotics, a YC-backed team building Isaac, a personal home robot:

Kaan grew up in Istanbul, chased curiosity across physics, art, and engineering, and eventually made his way to Carnegie Mellon, then Apple, where he spent nearly a decade working on robotics and shipping features like Double Tap on the Apple Watch.

But something kept pulling at him. He didn’t want to be part of a massive machine anymore. He wanted to build something real, something personal, a robot he’d want in his own home. That’s how Isaac was born. A home robot built not for factories or labs, but for laundry piles and living rooms.

We talk about leaving comfort behind, learning by doing, what it’s like to live with your own prototype, and why he thinks shipping a robot (not just dreaming one) is the hardest and most honest thing a founder can do.