Modern CTO From 2 Guys in a Garage to 700+ Employees with Scott Henderson, CTO & Co-founder at Celigo
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Nov 10, 2025 Scott Henderson, CTO and co-founder of Celigo, discusses his journey from a stable job to launching a startup in a garage. He highlights the importance of minimal AI autonomy and how the future of SaaS might shift to chat-based validation. Scott shares insights on adopting AI swiftly to avoid costly mistakes and explains the concept of atomic agents in AI workflows. He also compares Celigo’s focus on enterprise integration with Zapier and reveals the risks of overtrusting AI, emphasizing the need for monitoring outputs.
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Choosing Adventure Over Security
- Scott left a stable pre-IPO NetSuite job to join a garage startup because he craved the startup adventure.
- His father urged him to follow excitement, which helped him accept the risk and join Celigo early on.
From Garage Consultancy To 700+ Employees
- Celigo grew from a consulting garage shop to ~700–800 employees and remained largely profitable without heavy funding.
- Scott values the people and culture as much as building great products.
Protect Culture Over Raw Talent
- Avoid creating a culture that forces weekend work and don't hire toxic high-performers.
- Prioritize sustainable pace and refuse to hire "assholes" even if they're talented.