The Social Radars - Kyle Vogt, Founder of Cruise Automation
发布时间:2024-05-08 05:00:00
原节目
以下是将上述内容翻译成中文:
在本期“社交雷达”节目中,杰西卡·利文斯顿和卡罗琳·利维采访了连续创业者凯尔·沃格特,他因共同创立Justin.tv(后来演变为Twitch)和通用汽车收购的自动驾驶汽车技术公司Cruise而闻名。
沃格特回顾了他高中时期在堪萨斯城对机器人的早期兴趣,这兴趣源于《机器人大擂台》等节目。这份热情驱使他进入麻省理工学院,但他发现自己更喜欢与同学们一起破解有趣的项目,而不是上课。他回忆起参加DARPA自动驾驶汽车挑战赛的经历,这次经历后来影响了他的职业生涯。
他参与Justin.tv是通过麻省理工学院的一个计算机科学邮件列表开始的。贾斯汀·坎和埃米特·希尔正在寻找一位可以构建直播摄像头的人。最初持怀疑态度,但沃格特被技术挑战以及向之前出售过公司的企业家学习的机会所吸引。他同意构建摄像头的第一个版本。
Justin.tv最初的挑战涉及当时移动技术的局限性。通过3G网络持续直播视频需要创新,包括使用多个蜂窝调制解调器来维持稳定的连接。携带设备的背包很重,需要创造性的解决方案来热插拔电池,以确保持续直播。
沃格特强调了Justin.tv的团队活力,感觉就像大学宿舍生活的延伸,他们努力工作但也乐在其中。位于“Y-Scraper”的共享生活空间与其他创业公司的创始人建立了社区意识,可以进行非正式的想法交流和互相支持。沃格特专注于维护流媒体系统并对其进行扩展,以适应不断增长的观众数量,鉴于云计算基础设施的起步阶段,这是一项具有挑战性的任务。
其中一个特别难忘的事件是,在一次恶作剧电话声称正在发生刺伤事件后,警察突袭了他们的公寓。这突显了直播的新型挑战以及它所带来的新型网络骚扰。随着Justin.tv的发展,游戏成为一个重要的内容类别,从而催生了Twitch。沃格特回忆起埃米特·希尔积极主动地直接联系用户并将他们的反馈纳入产品路线图的做法,这促成了Twitch的成功。
随着Twitch的成长,沃格特的兴趣从直播转移开了,因为核心技术挑战在很大程度上已经解决。他开始探索其他想法,包括Gmail的竞争对手,但最终被自动驾驶汽车领域所吸引,这灵感来自他早前参加DARPA挑战赛的经历。
他离开了Twitch,创立了Cruise,他相信精益创业的方法可以成功,而谷歌以研究为中心的方式却举步维艰。最初投资者的怀疑导致了120次游说,之后沃格特才获得了资金。他强调了他的推介策略,解决了投资者的担忧。他的Y Combinator演示表明,Cruise汽车可以保持车道,并且可以实现快速的技术进步。
Cruise面临的最艰难的挑战是驾驭与自动驾驶技术改装汽车相关的法律和责任问题。该公司转而专注于面向网约车市场的全自动驾驶汽车,这促使Spark Capital进行了重大投资。
沃格特讨论了Cruise的安全标准,强调了一种数据驱动的方法,以确保其技术比人类驾驶员更安全。这涉及广泛的测试和逐步扩大运营区域。他承认,尽管旧金山拥有工程人才库,但在那里推出也面临着意想不到的挑战,原因是政治阻力。
通用汽车收购Cruise旨在加速其增长和制造能力。然而,该公司后来再次剥离,由新任首席执行官丹·阿曼领导,以提供更直接的领导。沃格特强调了理解大型公司内部的机构知识的重要性,以及它们的官僚作风如何帮助和阻碍初创公司的发展。
在回答关于招募其他人来领导公司的问题时,沃格特解释说,在管理层,很难知道某人是否真的适合这个角色。他还继续讲述了当某人不合适时该怎么做。他说,当招聘高管时,如果出现招聘问题,高管会被纠正或解雇。
讨论以沃格特目前作为“失业”企业家的身份结束,他正在积极探索新的想法。他反思了作为年轻和年长创始人的区别,承认了平衡家庭生活与创业公司需求所面临的挑战。最终,他表达了乐观情绪,并表示有经验的创始人需要以乐观和决心的态度对待新的事业,无论面临什么挑战。最后,他分享了他参加马拉松的经历,以及突破自己极限的感受。
In this episode of "The Social Radars," Jessica Livingston and Carolyn Levy interview Kyle Vogt, a serial entrepreneur known for co-founding Justin.tv (which evolved into Twitch) and Cruise, a self-driving car technology company acquired by General Motors.
Vogt recounts his early interest in robotics during high school in Kansas City, fueled by shows like Battlebots. This passion led him to MIT, where he found himself more drawn to hacking on interesting projects with other students than attending classes. He recalls participating in the DARPA Grand Challenge for autonomous vehicles, an experience that would later influence his career.
His involvement with Justin.tv began through a computer science mailing list at MIT. Justin Kan and Emmett Shear sought someone to build a live streaming camera. Initially skeptical, Vogt was intrigued by the technical challenge and the opportunity to learn from entrepreneurs who had previously sold a company. He agreed to build the first version of the camera.
The initial challenges of Justin.tv involved the limitations of mobile technology at the time. Streaming live video continuously over 3G networks required innovation, including the use of multiple cellular modems to maintain a stable connection. The backpack carrying the equipment was heavy, requiring creative solutions for hot-swapping batteries to ensure continuous streaming.
Vogt emphasizes the importance of the team dynamic at Justin.tv, which felt like an extension of college dorm life, where they worked tirelessly but also had fun. The shared living space in the "Y-Scraper" fostered a sense of community with other startup founders, allowing for informal idea exchange and mutual support. Vogt focused on maintaining the streaming system and scaling it to accommodate the growing viewership, a challenging task given the nascent state of cloud infrastructure.
One particularly memorable incident was when the police raided their apartment after a prank call claiming a stabbing was in progress. This highlights the novel challenges of live streaming and the new forms of online harassment it enabled. As Justin.tv evolved, gaming became a prominent content category, leading to the creation of Twitch. Vogt recalls Emmett Shear's proactive approach of directly contacting users and incorporating their feedback into the product roadmap, which contributed to Twitch's success.
As Twitch grew, Vogt's interests shifted away from live streaming, as the core technical challenges were largely solved. He began exploring other ideas, including a Gmail competitor, but ultimately was drawn back to the field of self-driving cars, inspired by his earlier experience with the DARPA Grand Challenge.
He left Twitch and founded Cruise, driven by the belief that a lean startup approach could succeed where Google's research-focused efforts had struggled. Initial skepticism from investors led to 120 pitches before Vogt secured funding. He emphasizes his pitch strategy, which addressed investor concerns. His Y Combinator demo showed that Cruise cars could lane keep, and that rapid technical progress was possible.
The toughest challenge at Cruise was navigating the legal and liability issues associated with retrofitting cars with self-driving technology. The company pivoted to focusing on fully autonomous cars for the ride-hailing market, which led to a significant investment from Spark Capital.
Vogt discusses Cruise's safety standards, emphasizing a data-driven approach to ensuring its technology was significantly safer than human drivers. This involved extensive testing and a gradual expansion of operational areas. He acknowledges that launching in San Francisco, despite its engineering talent pool, presented unexpected challenges due to political pushback.
The acquisition of Cruise by GM aimed to accelerate its growth and manufacturing capabilities. However, the company was later spun out again, with a new CEO, Dan Ammann, to provide more direct leadership. Vogt stresses the importance of understanding the institutional knowledge within large corporations, and how they can have their bureaucracy can both help and hinder the growth of a startup.
In response to the question of recruiting other people to lead the company Vogt explained that at the executive level, it's difficult to know if someone will really fit the role. He also went on to the tell what to do when someone doesn't. He said when executives were hired and there were issues with the hiring, the executives would be corrected or let go.
The discussion ends with Vogt's current status as an "unemployed" entrepreneur, actively exploring new ideas. He reflects on the differences between being a younger and older founder, acknowledging the challenges of balancing family life with the demands of a startup. Ultimately he expresses optimism and the need for experienced founders to approach new ventures with optimism and determination, regardless of the challenges. He concludes by sharing his experience from his marathon running and pushing himself beyond his limits.