Changelog Master Feed Pivoting to Retool (Changelog Interviews #650)
10 snips
Jul 17, 2025 
David Hsu, Co-founder and CEO of Retool, shares his journey from Y Combinator to building a leading platform for internal tools. He discusses the evolution of Retool, emphasizing its role in transforming software development with AI integration. David highlights the necessity of internal tools for efficiency and the importance of collaboration between developers and business experts. He also explores innovative applications created using Retool, showcasing how the platform empowers developers to build tailored solutions quickly and effectively.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Retool's Lazy Engineer Origin Story
- David Hsu and his co-founder were lazy engineers tired of rebuilding internal tools repeatedly.
- They created Retool to simplify and speed up internal tool development for engineers.
Most Software is Internal
- More than half of the world's software is internal-facing, not consumer-facing.
- Most companies build internal tools to run their business, not external apps.
Customer Analogies Spark Insight
- A customer compared Retool's opportunity to BI but ten times larger, sparking new thinking.
- Another likened Retool to AWS for the application layer, simplifying complex app building.