The Infra Pod Render is defining what taste means in backend infra (Chat with Anurag from Render)
Dec 1, 2025
Anurag Goal, CEO of Render and former early Stripe engineer, shares insights on building a modern cloud platform. He discusses his transition from Stripe, driven by frustrations with low-level infra work. Anurag emphasizes the need for high-level developer tools and the mission to simplify cloud complexity. He explains concepts like progressive disclosure and how Render fosters product taste while maintaining flexibility. The conversation also explores how agents and LLMs are transforming development practices, signaling a shift in the software lifecycle.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
From GPU Notebooks To Render
- Anurag described building a one-click GPU Jupyter notebook service called Cressel to solve painful AWS GPU setup.
- That experience led him to focus on broader developer needs and ultimately start Render in 2018.
Hyperscalers Favor Primitives
- AWS focuses on low-level primitives and expects teams to hire infra engineers to assemble higher-level products.
- That gap creates opportunity for platforms like Render to provide better high-level developer experiences.
Design From The Developer's View
- Start product design by deeply understanding the end user, specifically application developers.
- Build the platform at a new higher level of abstraction and evolve it to handle more complex use cases over time.