How two young founders are building what could become one of the most important companies in the AI era — and what their story teaches about leadership, execution, and building at the edge of the possible.
I recently listened to the latest Invest Like the Best podcast from Patrick O’Shaughnessey which was a remarkable conversation with Gavin and Rob, the founders of Etched, the company building specialized AI inference hardware that’s aiming to be radically better than existing solutions. Their story — starting as very young founders against massive skepticism, raising serious capital, and now shipping full rack-scale systems — is packed with hard-earned wisdom.
One of the comments Patrick makes at the beginning was how during his due diligence on the company he kept being told that semiconductor technology wasn’t a place for young people. You need seasoned, middle age experts to master this domain. Exactly not these founders.
Note: the following is based upon an AI’s analysis of the conversation transcript with me asking “What are the five most important management lessons from this conversation?” These lessons are relevant whether you’re leading a team, building a product, or simply trying to do meaningful work in our fast-moving world.
1. Velocity Compounds — Prioritize Speed Ruthlessly
In hardware, and increasingly in any deep-tech endeavor, speed isn’t just an advantage; it’s often the deciding factor.
Etched didn’t just design a chip — they built the full inference solution (chip, board, power delivery, interconnects, cold plates, and production processes) in parallel. They sent engineers to live in Bangalore for months to unblock vendors. They ran 24/7 shifts and did massive pre-work (including putting full chip designs on FPGA clusters) so that when the silicon finally arrived, they had working inference in racks in just 40 days.
Key takeaway: Look for every opportunity to parallelize. Accept higher short-term costs if they buy meaningful time. As they put it, “You win by shipping.” The best part is often no part — and the best vendor is no vendor, when vertical integration lets you move faster. Velocity, velocity, velocity.
2. Build Teams with Legends + High-Drive Talent
One of the most distinctive parts of their approach is how they recruit. They seek out “Legends” — people who have done the hardest versions of the problem before (like the engineer who built Nvidia’s HGX and DGX systems) — and pair them with exceptionally driven, somewhat naive high-performers who refuse to accept conventional limits.
They use “project-based recruiting,” mapping the hardest technical problems ever solved and persistently pursuing the actual people who did the real work. Their culture self-selects for people willing to move their families to San Jose to bet on two young founders taking on the world.
Key takeaway: For breakthrough work, average talent doesn’t suffice. The combination of deep experience and raw, first-principles energy creates magic. Invest heavily in finding and retaining these people — even if it takes 20 conversations. You can also learn a lot if the best in the world talent turns down the opportunity to work with you!
3. Assume It’s Possible, Then Solve the “Unsolvable” Problems
Repeatedly in their story, experts told them certain things were impossible. Their response? Assume it is possible and figure out how.
The most striking example was a clock domain crossing issue that required aligning signals to within 50 picoseconds — something many engineers said couldn’t be done. People quit. They solved it in about two weeks during a very dark period.
Key takeaway: When you hear “impossible,” treat it as the beginning of the investigation, not the end. Cultivate a “find a way” mindset across the team. The moments when things feel hopeless are often when the most important progress happens. I’m constantly struck by how often persistence results from simply realizing (or assuming) that something is actually possible.
4. Production Is the Real Product
Etched’s mantra is “Production is the product.” They obsess over not just technical performance but manufacturability, supply chain resilience, serviceability, and the ability to scale to gigawatts.
They made deliberate choices around process nodes and memory to avoid zero-sum competition. They built their own factory processes and test infrastructure early. Future designs are being simplified specifically for faster production cycles and higher reliability at massive scale.
Key takeaway: In any business that hopes to reach real scale, think end-to-end from the beginning. Technical excellence without production excellence is just a prototype. Optimize for output (tokens, units, whatever your metric is) at volume. There’s a lot of “zero to one” thinking here.
5. Bet Big and Stay Existentially Focused
Building in semiconductors requires enormous capital. Etched raised roughly $100 million early on when they were still very young and pre-tapeout — after most traditional investors had passed. They knew half-measures wouldn’t work.
This existential focus (this one product determines whether the company lives or dies) creates a different level of intensity that attracts talent, suppliers, and customers who believe.
Key takeaway: Match your ambition with appropriate resources and commitment. Clear existential stakes help filter for the right people and partners. In a world of distractions, singular focus on what truly matters is a superpower.
Final Thoughts
Gavin and Rob’s story is the combination of technical sophistication and deep human resilience. They faced a tough personal battle with cancer (in Rob’s case), widespread doubt, brutal technical challenges, and fundraising pressure — and kept moving forward with curiosity, determination, and humility.
In an age of AI and accelerating technology, the ability to build teams that can solve seemingly impossible problems at speed may be one of the most valuable capabilities a leader can develop. Their example reminds us that the future belongs not just to the smartest, but to those who can execute with urgency while maintaining clear principles. Velocity, velocity, velocity.
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