High Bit

Initialized Capital
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Welcome to High Bit, a 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. Brett speaks to guests about just that. In each episode, they’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and you'll hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome.

  1. Trunk: Fixing CI at Scale (Merge Queues, Flaky Tests, and Shipping Code)

    2D AGO

    Trunk: Fixing CI at Scale (Merge Queues, Flaky Tests, and Shipping Code)

    Code can be written faster than ever. But getting that code safely into production is where many engineering teams lose time. As organizations grow, CI failures, flaky tests, and conflicting pull requests start to compound. In this episode of High Bit, Initialized managing partner Brett Gibson sits down with Eli Schleifer, founder and CEO of Trunk, to talk about the systems that keep CI green and allow engineering teams to land code reliably as organizations grow. Before starting Trunk, Eli built developer infrastructure at Microsoft, started a company that was acquired by Google, and later worked with hundreds of engineers at Uber ATG. At Google he saw how powerful internal developer tooling could be. At Uber he saw engineers spend days trying to land code because those systems did not exist. That gap led him to start Trunk. Eli explains why engineering productivity slows once dozens or hundreds of engineers share the same repository, how flaky tests quietly waste engineering time, and how merge queues prevent broken builds and conflicting pull requests. Topics include: Why CI becomes the bottleneck as engineering teams growHow merge queues keep builds reliableWhy flaky tests waste engineering timeThe build vs buy decision for developer toolingHow coding tools are increasing pull request volumeHow engineering workflows are changing (00:00) AI fixing flaky tests (00:40) What Trunk builds (02:13) When CI becomes the bottleneck (02:33) Eli’s background: Microsoft, Google, Uber (04:29) Why dev tools must solve real pain (05:09) The merge queue problem (09:25) Build vs buy for developer tooling (14:22) How merge queues handle large codebases (18:58) How coding tools increase PR volume (21:53) Flaky tests and engineering productivity (25:24) Using CI and test history to debug failures (27:37) How engineers prune the search space (33:23) Engineers as conductors of automated systems (37:49) What’s next for Trunk Follow Eli and Trunk: Eli Schleifer X: https://x.com/elischleifer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elischleifer/ Trunk Website: [https://trunk.io](https://trunk.io/) X: https://x.com/trunkio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trunk-io/ High Bit Hosted by Brett Gibson, managing partner, Initialized https://open.spotify.com/show/36gTYrH1wlYzTZwLQywbIf

    39 min
  2. ZeroEntropy: The Hidden Bottleneck in AI. Retrieval, Not Models

    JAN 30

    ZeroEntropy: The Hidden Bottleneck in AI. Retrieval, Not Models

    AI models keep getting better, but most AI systems still fail in production. Why? In this episode of High Bit, Brett Gibson sits down with Ghita Houir Alami, cofounder and CEO of ZeroEntropy, to break down the real bottleneck holding AI agents back: retrieval. Ghita explains why embeddings alone can’t reliably surface the right information, why tools like Slack search feel so frustrating, and how rerankers add a critical second pass that dramatically improves accuracy. She walks through ZeroEntropy’s approach to training rerankers using pairwise comparisons and Elo-style scoring, and why this method generalizes across domains like code, finance, and biology. The conversation goes deep into: Why AI agents fail even when the data exists.How reranking fixes poor ordering from vector search.Why “accuracy” now includes helpful context, not just correct answers.What actually changes when retrieval becomes trustworthy enough to remove humans from the loop.If you’re building AI agents, search systems, customer support bots, or internal knowledge tools, this episode explains what’s breaking today, and what has to change for AI to work reliably at scale. (00:00) What changes when retrieval works (00:39) What ZeroEntropy builds (01:42) Why retrieval became the real problem (03:12) Why search fails (Slack included) (05:11) Why embeddings fall short (07:11) Rerankers: the missing layer (10:11) Why rerankers matter most (12:44) Pairwise ranking vs scoring (13:52) Elo scoring for documents (16:33) Fast rerankers via distillation (18:07) Why old training methods break (21:29) Retrieval for AI agents (24:20) Recency, memory, personalization (32:06) What reliable retrieval unlocks (33:42) What’s next for ZeroEntropy Follow Ghita and ZeroEntropy for more:X@ghita__ha@ZeroEntropy_AILinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ghita-houir-alami/https://www.linkedin.com/company/zeroentropy-inc

    35 min
  3. Coperniq: Building the Workflow Glue Behind the New Electric Grid

    12/16/2025

    Coperniq: Building the Workflow Glue Behind the New Electric Grid

    Electrification isn’t easy—and most people don’t see the chaos beneath the solar panels, batteries, EV chargers, and heat pumps going onto the grid. Coperniq cofounder and CTO Max Kazakov breaks down the hidden workflows behind distributed energy: legacy tools installers still rely on, hardware that doesn’t want to integrate, and why the next generation of “utilities” will look nothing like the last. Coperniq is the workflow platform for contractors and energy companies to move from post-its and spreadsheets to a system that sells, permits, installs, and maintains distributed energy assets over decades. Max also shares what it takes to build vertical SaaS for the physical world: curbside Figma demos during COVID, rebuilding their mobile app for 120°F rooftops with no cell service, designing a workflow engine that matches real-world permitting and interconnection, integrating a wild west of OEM hardware, and how AI is already reshaping their product and engineering culture. Content: (00:00) The Invisible Glue of the New Grid (01:05) The Second Electrification Wave (02:51) Cofounder Origins: Russia, Yemen, Berkeley (06:12) Humans + Hardware Coordination Challenge (08:10) Anti-MVP: Mini ERP on Day One (11:56) Curbside Figma Demos during COVID (14:47) Field Reality: 120° Rooftops, Zero Cell Service (20:03) Stateful Workflows (Permits, Interconnection, Construction) (24:56) Integrating OEM Hardware (Hitting Walls) (28:41) The Dongle Question: Do we need software afterall? (31:25) Rebuilding the Mobile App for an Offline-First World (36:40) Hire Tinkerers, Not Pedigrees (43:00) How AI Is Reshaping Coperniq Subscribe to High Bit for more conversations with technical founders building the future. Follow @Coperniq_AI for more.

    58 min
  4. Clone: Musculoskeletal, super-intelligent androids — straight out of sci-fi

    12/11/2025

    Clone: Musculoskeletal, super-intelligent androids — straight out of sci-fi

    Robots built like humans. On High Bit, Dhanush Radhakrishnan, cofounder & CEO of Clone, explains how they’re letting biology set the blueprint for musculoskeletal, super-intelligent androids — synthetic humans straight out of sci-fi. Powered by artificial muscles instead of motors and attached to anatomically accurate skeletons, Clone is building robots designed for human-level motion, durability, and full-body control. Dhanush explains the early engineering choices that helped them move fast, their data strategy (motion capture, teleoperation, egocentric video), and his excitement about a future untethered biped. Hosted by Brett Gibson, managing partner at Initialized. Content: (00:00) From Fragile to Durable (00:37) Musculoskeletal Androids (02:03) Why Artificial Muscles (04:10) Starting Clone in Poland (06:29) Removing Early Sensors (10:14) The Durability Challenge (14:10) Anatomy as Blueprint (16:22) Building Custom Valves (18:17) Hand to Full Body (24:40) Prototyping with Pneumatics (29:26) Delaying Tactile Skin (32:39) Data: MOCAP + Teleop (45:20) Toward an Untethered Biped Subscribe to High Bit for more conversations with technical founders building the future.

    47 min
  5. Deepnight: AI Night Vision That Beats $30K Goggles

    12/01/2025

    Deepnight: AI Night Vision That Beats $30K Goggles

    In this episode, Brett Gibson talks with Lucas Young, cofounder and CEO of Deepnight about how they’re building AI-powered night vision that helps the military, law enforcement, and first responders see in near-total darkness. Deepnight combines AI with commodity digital sensors — the same kind used in smartphones — to replace expensive analog night-vision hardware that costs over $30,000 per unit and hasn’t kept pace with modern imaging technology. Lucas explains how night vision has worked since World War II, why analog image intensifiers hit a ceiling, how smartphone photography paved the way for this breakthrough, and what it takes to bring military-grade low-light imaging into the field. Chapters (00:00) Why Night Vision Is Still Mostly Analog (00:39) Deepnight’s Breakthrough: AI That Sees in the Dark (01:44) How Their AI Reconstructs *Real* Scenes (03:58) Lucas’s Path: Google Pixel → YC Founder (05:26) Why Modern Cameras Rely on Software (09:12) The Rise of AI-Enhanced Photography (11:45) The Insight: AI Could Beat $30K Night-Vision Goggles (13:03) How Traditional Night-Vision Tubes Work (14:10) Starting Deepnight Without Knowing If It Would Work (15:11) Early Prototypes: Offline → Real-Time Night Vision (16:15) The Physics Challenge: Seeing in Moonless Starlight (19:12) Running This on Smartphone-Class Chips (22:27) Building a Custom Neural Network for Night Vision (28:43) Can Cheap $50 Sensors Match Military Gear? (48:06) What’s Next: Real Soldiers Using AI Night Vision Subscribe to High Bit for more conversations with technical founders building what’s next, hosted by Brett Gibson of Initialized Capital.

    49 min
  6. Lingo.dev: How Teams Ship Multilingual Products Automatically

    10/29/2025

    Lingo.dev: How Teams Ship Multilingual Products Automatically

    Brett Gibson sits down with cofounders Max Prilutskiy (CEO) and Veronica Prilutskaya (CPO) of Lingo.dev to talk about making every product multilingual—so teams “just keep shipping” and don’t have to worry about localization and translations at scale. Lingo.dev helps product teams develop multilingual user interfaces, uses LLMs to produce perfect translations, and automates localization end to end. Chapters: (00:00) The Future of Coding and “Vibe Coding” (00:50) What Lingo.dev Does (01:24) Built at a Hackathon (04:59) From Google Translate to LLMs - for more context (06:20) “Perfect Translation” - objective AI precision + subjective brand tone + cultural nuance (11:13) Automating Translations with Pull Requests (13:41) The New Compiler - making apps multilingual without refactoring (17:42) How “Vibe Coding” Changed Software Development (19:10) Write Once, Click Save, See It in Any Language (37:29) AI Impact: “The Future of Coding” in Practice Subscribe to High Bit for more conversations with technical founders building what’s next, hosted by Brett Gibson of Initialized Capital. Follow Lingo.dev, Max and Veronica on X for more: https://x.com/lingodotdev https://x.com/MaxPrilutskiy https://x.com/vrcprl

    41 min
  7. Orbital Operations: Rewriting Orbital Physics for Space Mobility

    10/16/2025

    Orbital Operations: Rewriting Orbital Physics for Space Mobility

    Orbital Operations is building high-thrust, cryogenic spacecraft designed to move freely in orbit—reshaping how we think about mobility, defense, and logistics in space. Cofounder & CEO Benjamin Schleuniger joins Initialized Managing Partner Brett Gibson on High Bit to talk about the next generation of spacecraft that will move, refuel, and think for themselves: Why satellites need to move — the rise of in-space mobilityHow cryogenic propulsion unlocks long-duration missionsThe refrigeration-cycle tech enabling propellant storage in orbitMilitary and logistics use cases driving demandRefueling with water to extend mission lifeThe third age of space mobility and what it enablesHow AI and autonomy will power future spacecraft Chapters (00:00) Intro (01:10) What Orbital Operations is building and why it matters (01:26) Ben’s path: NASA → SpaceX → Relativity (02:17) Why satellites need to move now (04:30) Basics of propulsion and why mobility is limited in space (05:55) Satellites vs rockets: propellant tradeoffs (08:30) Choosing cryogenic propellants and rethinking storage (10:15) The refrigeration-cycle system that makes it possible (17:00) Thermal management and engineering challenges in orbit (22:30) Military and logistics use cases for in-space mobility (25:40) Refueling with water and the future of orbital logistics (27:50) Engineering vs. business challenges of building in space (30:50) Scaling missions and the path to commercial viability (33:30) The third age of space mobility and what comes next (35:20) AI tools in aerospace and autonomy in orbit Subscribe to High Bit for more conversations with technical founders building what’s next, hosted by Brett Gibson of Initialized Capital. Follow Orbital Operations and Benjamin Schleuniger on X for more: @OrbitalOps_ @BenSchleuniger

    38 min
  8. Formic: Closing the Adoption Gap in Factory Robotics

    09/11/2025

    Formic: Closing the Adoption Gap in Factory Robotics

    “Robots are the only way my business survives, but it’s not viable for me.” Formic founder and CEO Saman Farid joins Brett Gibson, managing partner at Initialized to unpack why that mindset keeps factories from adopting automation and how Formic closes the gap. They cover: de-risking with financing, productizing complete robot work cells, and running fleets with teleoperation, intelligent error recovery, and careful staging to hit factory-grade uptime. You’ll hear why palletizing is the ideal first beachhead, how the team cut deployment costs roughly in half, and why they say no to one-off requests until they can be productized. Saman also shares how the company resists “fun” engineering in favor of scale, injects controlled chaos into his company, uses daily 8 a.m. meetings for problem solving, and bridges the culture gap between the manufacturing and software industries. Subscribe for more builder-level deep dives from High Bit. Follow Formic and Saman for more: Formic: https://x.com/goformic Saman: https://x.com/samanfarid Content (00:00) “It’s not viable for me”—closing the adoption gap (00:44) What Formic does & where robots work today (02:24) Engineer → VC → founder: why start Formic (04:38) Adoption vs flashy demos. Solve one task well (05:47) De-risking with financing; manual first, then automate (08:23) The playbook: scope, build modules, deploy, operate1 (10:36) Work cells, not just arms (13:38) 99.9% uptime15:01 Why palletizing was the first beachhead (16:49) Cutting costs per deployment (18:08) Saying “no” & expanding scope the right way (21:15) Resisting “fun” engineering to serve more factories (22:07) Injecting chaos into your company (23:34) Daily 8am to crack hard problems (25:40) Culture clash: manufacturing × software (27:24) Evaluating new robots, regional rollouts (31:24) Where AI helps across the org (37:11) What’s next: more robots, more tasks, more factories

    38 min
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About

Welcome to High Bit, a 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. Brett speaks to guests about just that. In each episode, they’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and you'll hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome.

Information

  • Creator
    Initialized Capital
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    26
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Initialized Capital
  • Show Website
    High Bit