Changelog Interviews Pivoting to Retool
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Jul 17, 2025 
David Hsu, Co-founder and CEO of Retool, shares his inspiring journey from a Y Combinator-backed startup to leading a revolution in internal tools. He discusses how Retool evolved to become the go-to platform for AI agents in enterprises. Dive into the pivotal moments of their shift from peer-to-peer payments to intuitive internal software development. Hsu also highlights the power of AI integration and the importance of tailored solutions for businesses, showcasing a brighter, more efficient future in app development.
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Origin Story of Retool
- David Hsu found the idea for Retool while building a P2P payments company with negative margins.
- They pivoted to productize internal tools they built to manage complex operations.
Internal Software Is Majority
- More than half of software worldwide is internal facing and not consumer facing.
- Most non-software companies employ engineers to build internal tools to run their businesses.
Retool as AWS for Apps
- Retool can be seen as AWS but for the application layer, commoditizing undifferentiated heavy lifting.
- It allows engineers to focus on unique software instead of rebuilding common UI and security layers.