High Bit

Vince Chu, cofounder of HomeVision, joins the "High Bit" podcast to discuss how his team is automating real estate valuations at scale. From overcoming technical challenges to scaling AI-powered underwriting, Vince explains how HomeVision is changing the game for both lenders and appraisers.

Our managing partner, Brett Gibson, spoke with Playground AI founder Suhail Doshi about advancements in AI-driven image generation and their new Playground v3 image foundation model. Suhail shared Playground’s mission to make graphic design more accessible, enabling users to create items such as T-shirts, logos, social media posts, and even memes. They discussed the gap between language and image models, as well as the underinvestment in AI for images. Check out the new Playground here: https://playground.com/design Playground’s white paper introducing their image foundation model Playground v3 here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.10695

On the latest episode of our podcast “High Bit,” Brett Gibson spoke with Pratap Ranade, CEO of Arena, about the intricacies of using AI to convert data into real-time simulations for optimizing sales, pricing, and marketing strategies. Pratap explained how Arena navigates the complexities of large-scale enterprises, including those in the consumer goods and advanced manufacturing industries. He also shared insights from his background in quantum physics and machine learning and discussed future partnerships and product developments for Arena. 00:00 Introduction 00:47 Meet Pratap Ranade, CEO of Arena 01:58 Understanding Arena’s core functionality 02:44 Challenges in building Arena 05:03 Consumer goods and advanced manufacturing 07:09 The importance of abstraction and metadata 13:50 Pratap's journey and vision 19:35 The future of Arena

In this episode of "High Bit," Initialized partner and Rent the Runway co-founder Jenny Fleiss discusses how she developed a proprietary logistics system for a consumer brand. Jenny opens up about the early challenges faced in starting Rent the Runway, the strategic decisions made in scaling a complex operation, and how she built an in-house logistics team. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 1:45 Jenny's transition to investing and current areas of investing interests at Initialized. 4:38 The initial logistics challenges at Rent the Runway. 6:36 Partnering with local dry cleaners and scaling operations. 9:01 Building a proprietary logistics system from scratch. 13:00 Key takeaways from managing and scaling a complex logistics operation.

In this episode of "High Bit," Automat founder and CTO Gautam Bose talked about the challenges of working with LLMs in robotic process automation, and the importance of rigorous testing procedures. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 01:30 What Automat Does and How They Started 03:06 Challenges in Building RPA 08:46 What the Future of RPA Looks Like 12:52 How Automat Ensures Reliability in Its LLMs 14:53 Automating Complex Workflows With Robust SOP Collections 20:17 Coming Up With Solutions to Complex Orders 23:41 Improving Ideas Through Iteration

In this episode of "High Bit," Peter Kieltyka discusses the dual challenge of maintaining decentralization and accessibility in blockchain technology, and the growing significance of APIs in building connected systems. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 01:38 What Horizon Does and the Challenges in Delivering the Crypto Gaming Platform 04:53 How Peter Came to the Decision of Working on Blockchains 07:07 How APIs Are Created for Modern Client Server Web Applications 12:25 All About GRPC 15:40 Chi: Peter’s Software That Lets You Write Microservices 21:15 Peter’s 2 Favorite Books He Recommends to Everyone He Works With 27:27 What Else to Look Forward To from Horizon

In this episode of "High Bit," Brett Gibson chats with Kurt Mackey, CEO of Fly.io, to break down how they challenge big cloud providers, overcome global logistical nightmares, and continuously evolve their software stack. From hardware setup challenges to growth-driven solutions, Kurt explains the highs and lows of managing a developer-focused public cloud. 00:00 Introduction 1:21 Starting off with what Fly.io is 3:26 Zooming in on the developer experience 6:19 What Fly.io’s journey was like 19:23 Key takeaways from setting up the public cloud globally 25:20 What we can expect from the developer-facing stack trend

In this episode of "High Bit," host Brett Gibson interviews Rahul Raina, cofounder and CTO of TRM Labs. Rahul shares insights into TRM's mission of creating a safer financial system and discusses the launch of their innovative features. The conversation delves into Rahul's background, TRM's approach to tackling financial crimes, and the challenges of processing massive amounts of data in the ever-evolving world of crypto.  00:00 Introduction 2:09 TRM’s mission to build a safer financial system 9:20 The question that started TRM 14:47 Breaking down their iteration process 20:21 The journey to pushing the state of the art 24:52 Proportionality as update strategy

In this episode of "High Bit," AJ Asver, CEO of Parcha, discusses the challenges of building AI agents for complex tasks. Parcha's AI agents automate operations and compliance, addressing the gap between proof of concept and production. 00:00 Introduction 01:51 Introducing Parcha and what they do 4:02 Breaking down how an AI agent relates to LLM 12:53 The challenges in scaling AI agents 17:15 Making the system as accurate as possible 28:51 Predicting the rise of verticalized agents

In this episode of High Bit, Aaron discusses the challenges of hiring a team to build an infrastructure-as-a-service platform for blockchain networks. When Aaron and his cofounder Joe Lallouz first created Bison Trails, they initially faced challenges running nodes and infrastructure for different networks. They found that by investing in tests early on and improving automation capabilities, they could streamline operations. Coinbase eventually acquired Bison Trails in January 2021. For more info on High Bit, and to listen to all of the other episodes, visit: www.Initialized.com/HighBit Topics: 2:28 Aaron's Background and How He Became an Engineer 5:21 Building Grand St. and Selling the Company to Etsy 10:55 The Early Days of Building Bison Trails 16:21 Building the Early Team of Infrastructure Engineers with Blockchain Experience 19:53 Slashing: The Penalties Imposed on Validators in Blockchain Networks for Misbehavior 27:07 What Bison Trails Taught Aaron About Building Large Organizations 33:28 Aaron on Lessons He Learned While Hiring the Bison Trails Team 38:00 Life After Bison Trails and Coinbase. What's Next for Aaron Henshaw? High Bit is a new podcast hosted by Initialized Capital managing partner Brett Gibson about the art of technical problem-solving. A high bit is the most significant part of the binary representation of a number. In programming language, it is commonly referred to as the most important thing you need to understand about a problem. We spoke with our first four guests about just that. In each episode, we’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome. High Bit is produced by Initialized Capital and hosted by Brett Gibson. Our showrunner is Candy Cheng. Episodes were shot and edited by Jordan Berns. Production support by Kevin Heinz and BTB Video Production.