floating questions
'floating questions' is a podcast where curiosity guides conversations, venturing into unknown destinations. It's a gateway to inquire and learn more about an array of subjects, including tech, AI, business, investing, and dashes of philosophy, spirituality, and art.
Join thinkers, innovators, and storytellers as they share insights and tales. This podcast is your invitation to share in the joy of spontaneous discovery, wherever that might lead. Subscribe to float along on this journey.
Ideas and collaboration proposals are welcome at floating.questions.podcast@gmail.com.
floating questions
Timothy Chen: From “Not Good Enough for Microsoft” to Building Trust in Code and Capital
Timothy Chen’s story isn’t your typical Silicon Valley success arc.
He didn’t start as a hotshot coder - Microsoft once slotted him into the IT track, nothing more. Yet he went on to become a member of the Apache Software Foundation, contribute to open-source projects like Kafka and Mesos (the one-time rival to Kubernetes), and now runs Essence VC, where he backs infrastructure founders with a hands-on approach.
In this episode, we talk about:
- The underdog mindset that turned rejection into reinvention.
- How working in dysfunctional and even toxic environments taught him what builds a great startup.
- The messy reality of politics and consensus-building in open source - and why, contrary to myth, it’s the trust circle, not the crowd, that makes progress happen.
- How he’s building the fund he wished existed when he was a founder.
- A thrilling story of Mesos vs. Kubernetes - and how arrogance, not tech, killed the former.
This conversation blends the human and the technical - a reflection on what it means to build trust, whether in code or in capital.