Episode Summary:
Adrian Macneil grew up packing kiwifruit in rural New Zealand, now he’s building the core infrastructure powering the future of robotics. After leading engineering teams at Cruise and Coinbase, Adrian co-founded Foxglove, a developer platform used by robotics companies worldwide, from autonomous tractors to warehouse bots.
In this episode, Adrian shares how Foxglove emerged from an internal Cruise demo, why robotics is finally having its “PC moment,” and what it really takes to build a startup that lasts. We cover:
• How Cruise helped pioneer self-driving cars (and what went wrong post-acquisition)
• Why developer tools are the missing layer holding robotics back
• Lessons from Coinbase, Cruise, and scaling teams from 30 to 1,200
• The case for Kiwi founders to leave New Zealand, at least for a while
• What robotics startups can learn from the rise of SaaS
• The value of building boring robots that just move rice
We also dive into Adrian’s early days hacking e-commerce in Thailand, how government jobs don’t prepare you for startups, and why he believes the robotics industry will 100x in the next decade.
Chapters:
03:30 When an internal tool became a startup idea
07:42 Cruise vs GM: Startup chaos inside a legacy giant
12:47 Foxglove’s customer base: From tractors to warehouses
16:15 Why Foxglove won’t build robots — and what they’re building instead
21:54 The “1980s PC” moment for robotics
27:41 If not Foxglove — what robotics startup would Adrian build?
30:15 From kiwifruit packhouses to automation inspiration
36:35 Why ambitious builders still need to go to Silicon Valley
41:36 The 10-year mindset needed to build a real company
47:50 How the Kiwi diaspora can supercharge the next generation
