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Max Hodak

Max Hodak

@max-hodak · 40 positions · 1 change of mind · On ppll ↗

Co-founder and chief executive of Science, a neurotechnology company whose retinal implant restores sight to blind patients; before founding it he spent five years at Neuralink.

Max Hodak did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

The ideas Max Hodak's claims keep coming back to. The labels are ours; every quote is Max Hodak's own words.

The brain is literally a computer, so engineering it directly is more powerful medicine than drugs

Our label. 5 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

The brain is very literally a computer, and so is the universe -- this is not a metaphor.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science Like, the brain very literally, very clearly, plainly is a computer in in my understanding of the world. I also view the universe generally as a computer. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 10:12 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsLike, the brain very literally, very clearly, plainly is a computer in in my understanding of the world. I also view the universe generally as a computer.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 10:12 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Treating the brain directly as a computer produces effect sizes medicine does not otherwise see — a deep brain stimulator takes a patient from unable to hold a cup of water to writing cursive in ten seconds.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science It gives you these effect sizes that you just don't really see in medicine. Like if you have a patient on on a dopamineergic drug for Parkinson's that works for some period of time, but it's a it's a relatively small effect after a little while. You turn on a deep brain stimulator and a patient goes from not being able to hold a cup of water to being able to write cursive in like 10 seconds. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 41:08 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsIt gives you these effect sizes that you just don't really see in medicine. Like if you have a patient on on a dopamineergic drug for Parkinson's that works for some period of time, but it's a it's a relatively small effect after a little while. You turn on a deep brain stimulator and a patient goes from not being able to hold a cup of water to being able to write cursive in like 10 seconds.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 41:08 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Putting a device into the brain works in an hour, which makes it far more amenable to biology than drug discovery.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science It's like if I put electrodes in M1, you will probably be using a computer in an hour. Um and so it's just it's easier, it's more amenable to biology in many ways. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 8:16 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsIt's like if I put electrodes in M1, you will probably be using a computer in an hour. Um and so it's just it's easier, it's more amenable to biology in many ways.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 8:16 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Humanity is not good enough at molecular biology to make drugs that restore vision or hearing or stop Parkinson's.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science People have spent huge amounts of time and money looking for drugs to restore vision or to restore hearing or to stop Parkinson's or to to help paralyzed people move again. Understanding the like the biology and the molecular detail required to make a drug has been very difficult. Humanity just isn't that good at that, to be totally honest. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 7:13 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsPeople have spent huge amounts of time and money looking for drugs to restore vision or to restore hearing or to stop Parkinson's or to to help paralyzed people move again. Understanding the like the biology and the molecular detail required to make a drug has been very difficult. Humanity just isn't that good at that, to be totally honest.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 7:13 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

The brain is the only organ that cannot even in principle be transplanted; the heart, liver and lungs are support characters.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science the only organ that you can't even in principle transplant is the brain. The like the heart, pancreas, the liver, the lungs, as far as I'm concerned, they're really support characters. They're there to keep the brain activity interesting and and going. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 25:33 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsthe only organ that you can't even in principle transplant is the brain. The like the heart, pancreas, the liver, the lungs, as far as I'm concerned, they're really support characters. They're there to keep the brain activity interesting and and going.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 25:33 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Getting the senses in and out of the brain is the whole game, and makes consciousness an engineering problem

Our label. 4 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

Getting vision, hearing, balance and motor signals in and out of the brain is an end in itself, because the world you experience is generated in there.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science That world is is generated by the brain. And so, if you can get visuals the visual signal, auditory signal, balance, motor, like somatic sensory motor in and out of the brain, that is that is an end in itself. That is the central object. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 26:47 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsThat world is is generated by the brain. And so, if you can get visuals the visual signal, auditory signal, balance, motor, like somatic sensory motor in and out of the brain, that is that is an end in itself. That is the central object.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 26:47 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Vision, hearing, balance and a kilobit per second of motor control would get you halfway to the Matrix.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science because if you can if you get vision, hearing, balance, and a kilobit per second of motor control, you're halfway to the Matrix. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 14:03 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsbecause if you can if you get vision, hearing, balance, and a kilobit per second of motor control, you're halfway to the Matrix.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 14:03 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Consciousness is a practical problem rather than a philosophical one: given a brain-computer interface that could read and drive every neuron, we would work it out quickly.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science Now, if we had a tech if we had a magical BCI that allowed me to see the instant state of every neuron in the brain and and drive them, I think we'd figure out consciousness pretty fast. I don't think I think this is a practical problem, not a philosophical problem. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 31:54 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsNow, if we had a tech if we had a magical BCI that allowed me to see the instant state of every neuron in the brain and and drive them, I think we'd figure out consciousness pretty fast. I don't think I think this is a practical problem, not a philosophical problem.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 31:54 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

If this work succeeds, the sense of jeopardy that comes with having a body will simply fade.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And I think that if we're successful, what will happen is that sense of jeopardy will fade. Like we will be we will just become much less fragile. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 27:59 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd I think that if we're successful, what will happen is that sense of jeopardy will fade. Like we will be we will just become much less fragile.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 27:59 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

AI models and brains work alike, so studying AI is now the best way to study the brain

Our label. 3 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

The most fertile way to study neuroscience today is to work on AI models rather than on brains.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science Well, I mean ironically it's probably working on AI. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 22:09 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsWell, I mean ironically it's probably working on AI.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 22:09 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

  2. Kevin Kelly Founding executive editor of Wired and author of What… I'd bet we learn more about our own brains from building a thousand AIs under a real theory of intelligence than we've learned from a century of neuroscience. Without a theory of intelligencekk.org · 17 Aug 2026All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsI'd bet we learn more about our own brains from building a thousand AIs under a real theory of intelligence than we've learned from a century of neuroscience.

    ↗Without a theory of intelligencekk.org

    17 Aug 2026

Intelligence looks like a fact of physics: apply enough compute to matter and you get something that thinks.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science I mean it feels like a lot of physics. Like if you apply enough compute to matter, you get this thing that looks like intelligence. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 21:06 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsI mean it feels like a lot of physics. Like if you apply enough compute to matter, you get this thing that looks like intelligence.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 21:06 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Concepts are represented with strikingly similar geometry inside large AI models and inside brains.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And so when you look inside these big AI models, the mathematical objects that you see look a lot like the things that you see in neuroscience. So if you look at how do how do these AI models represent um just like represent concepts and you look at the parts of the brain that represent concepts, you see these you see very similar geometry. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 20:20 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd so when you look inside these big AI models, the mathematical objects that you see look a lot like the things that you see in neuroscience. So if you look at how do how do these AI models represent um just like represent concepts and you look at the parts of the brain that represent concepts, you see these you see very similar geometry.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 20:20 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

A faster brain-to-text link is not the prize: attention and thinking itself are the limits

Our label. 3 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

A brain keyboard may go the way of AR glasses: attention was already fully occupied, so moving the interface closer changes nothing.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science It might turn out to be like AR AR glasses where it's just we were our attention was already fully 100% occupied and putting it on the face didn't really change that. We were already consuming all of the available time. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 30:40 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsIt might turn out to be like AR AR glasses where it's just we were our attention was already fully 100% occupied and putting it on the face didn't really change that. We were already consuming all of the available time.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 30:40 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Talking and writing are not read-outs of a finished thought -- they are the thinking, so a faster brain-to-text channel would not make you think faster.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science Well, I mean first of all, I think that talking or writing is thinking. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 29:18 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsWell, I mean first of all, I think that talking or writing is thinking.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 29:18 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

You want to command a device explicitly, not have it act on a thought you happened to have.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science It'd be pretty annoying if they just start like spontaneously getting notifications during meetings that like, "Oh, it thought that you were thinking about an Uber, therefore it decided to summon summon two for you." And so you'll probably want these to be pretty explicit. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 13:32 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsIt'd be pretty annoying if they just start like spontaneously getting notifications during meetings that like, "Oh, it thought that you were thinking about an Uber, therefore it decided to summon summon two for you." And so you'll probably want these to be pretty explicit.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 13:32 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript

Deep-tech companies live or die on boring internal systems: purchasing, budgets and spending rules

Our label. 5 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

Deep tech companies rarely fail because the technology does not work; they fail because nobody built the systems to run the organisation around it.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science It's like it's it's uncommon that these deep tech companies that fail because the technology doesn't work. They fail because once you end up with this organization of hundreds of people and thousand hundreds of thousands of square feet of physical infrastructure, you haven't built the systems to manage that. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 19:53 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsIt's like it's it's uncommon that these deep tech companies that fail because the technology doesn't work. They fail because once you end up with this organization of hundreds of people and thousand hundreds of thousands of square feet of physical infrastructure, you haven't built the systems to manage that.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 19:53 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

A startup's speed is set by boring internal infrastructure — purchasing, recruiting, spending — and that matters as much as understanding the technology itself.

Mental modelBottlenecks

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And so speed determines success and failure and speed is determined by infrastructure. This is driven by really boring sounding things like how well do your purchasing and recruiting and spending processes work. This is as important as how well do you understand understand the object level technical content of the thing that you're building. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 19:27 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd so speed determines success and failure and speed is determined by infrastructure. This is driven by really boring sounding things like how well do your purchasing and recruiting and spending processes work. This is as important as how well do you understand understand the object level technical content of the thing that you're building.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 19:27 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

If nobody can say what an experiment costs, everyone behaves as though experiments are free — it does not cost dollars, it costs media, and media comes from the fridge.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And so if nobody knows how much an experiment costs, like every time you like grow up a new cell line or every time we make a new a new probe in in the fab, how much does that loop cost? Nobody knows. Therefore, experiments are free. Um, it doesn't cost dollars. It costs media. And media comes from the fridge. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 6:54 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd so if nobody knows how much an experiment costs, like every time you like grow up a new cell line or every time we make a new a new probe in in the fab, how much does that loop cost? Nobody knows. Therefore, experiments are free. Um, it doesn't cost dollars. It costs media. And media comes from the fridge.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 6:54 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Approving purchases one at a time is the wrong place to control burn; spending review belongs earlier, in a budget people can make their own trade-offs inside.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And so what you realize is not only is this very hard to keep burn under control, but also it's just this is the inappropriate place to exercise spending review. Spending review has to come earlier. You have to have some concept of budgeting. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 4:44 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd so what you realize is not only is this very hard to keep burn under control, but also it's just this is the inappropriate place to exercise spending review. Spending review has to come earlier. You have to have some concept of budgeting.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 4:44 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Making a highly paid team wait a week to buy a tool at half price destroys far more value than it saves.

Mental modelTrade-offs

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science then you also remember that you've hired some very highly paid and talented employees. And are you saying they can't get the tools that they need? That you're spending $100,000 a week. If you wait a week to get a power supply half off, you have certainly dwarfed any possible benefit from getting it. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 4:25 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsthen you also remember that you've hired some very highly paid and talented employees. And are you saying they can't get the tools that they need? That you're spending $100,000 a week. If you wait a week to get a power supply half off, you have certainly dwarfed any possible benefit from getting it.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 4:25 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Hiring and review work better as consistent, company-wide votes than as gatekeepers and annual cycles

Our label. 4 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

Performance review is best done as a PageRank-style computation over continuous company-wide votes, not as an annual HR cycle.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science This is a little bit different than actually literally I vector centrality but it's very similar and so we call this technique IGEN reviews and I've become convinced that this is more or less the right way to do performance reviews. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 17:38 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsThis is a little bit different than actually literally I vector centrality but it's very similar and so we call this technique IGEN reviews and I've become convinced that this is more or less the right way to do performance reviews.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 17:38 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

The annual performance review is disruptive and surfaces nothing you did not already know but had avoided acting on.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science Um which based on my experience is like this is a a very disruptive process that doesn't tend to surface issues that you don't already know about but haven't acted on because you knew that thing was there. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 16:00 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsUm which based on my experience is like this is a a very disruptive process that doesn't tend to surface issues that you don't already know about but haven't acted on because you knew that thing was there.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 16:00 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Any one person or small group placed at the top of the hiring funnel will bottleneck the whole organisation, so first-round review should be distributed across the company as a vote.

Mental modelBottlenecks

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And so we can distribute the voting across a lot of the company for this initial review, which is essential because if you're doing anything cool, by the time you get a couple years into it, that top of funnel is overwhelming. And if you place any in any small group of employees or any one person in the way as a bottle bottleneck on this, they will absolutely bottleneck the whole rest of the organization. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 11:47 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd so we can distribute the voting across a lot of the company for this initial review, which is essential because if you're doing anything cool, by the time you get a couple years into it, that top of funnel is overwhelming. And if you place any in any small group of employees or any one person in the way as a bottle bottleneck on this, they will absolutely bottleneck the whole rest of the organization.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 11:47 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

There is no right hiring process, but there is a wrong one: not having something you do religiously as a company.

Mental modelInversion

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science there's no one right answer, but this is a thing where you need a really defined process. There is no right answer, but a wrong answer for sure is not having something that you do very religiously as a company. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 10:09 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsthere's no one right answer, but this is a thing where you need a really defined process. There is no right answer, but a wrong answer for sure is not having something that you do very religiously as a company.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 10:09 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

A founder has to make their own calls, even alone against the consensus

Our label. 3 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

Copying the consensus drags you towards the average, and average is not good enough — so you have to make the decisions that make sense to you even when you are completely alone in them.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And so um in order to succeed your judgment has to be differentiatedly good. Now the reality might be that you don't know if your judgment is good yet. And so um one way or another you will have to find out and that means making decisions that make sense to you even when you are totally alone in that realization. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 21:08 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd so um in order to succeed your judgment has to be differentiatedly good. Now the reality might be that you don't know if your judgment is good yet. And so um one way or another you will have to find out and that means making decisions that make sense to you even when you are totally alone in that realization.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 21:08 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

A founder cannot delegate judgment: the chief executive has to make the decision that makes sense to them, however much momentum the alternative has.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science And one of the harder lessons as a startup founder, one of the harder things I think to to really deal with is the fact that you cannot delegate your judgment. As as the CEO, you must always make decisions that make sense to you, no matter how much momentum or inertia alternatives seem to have. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 20:30 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsAnd one of the harder lessons as a startup founder, one of the harder things I think to to really deal with is the fact that you cannot delegate your judgment. As as the CEO, you must always make decisions that make sense to you, no matter how much momentum or inertia alternatives seem to have.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 20:30 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Telling your investors after a Series A that you are going to vibe-code your own purchasing system is contrarian enough that any reasonable board would question it.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science Well, I mean, okay, even the whole basis of building Helix is contrarian. Like, I think that if you raise a series A and then you tell your investors that you're going to vibe code a purchasing system, I think that any reasonable board is going to like ask you what you're thinking. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 56:25 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsWell, I mean, okay, even the whole basis of building Helix is contrarian. Like, I think that if you raise a series A and then you tell your investors that you're going to vibe code a purchasing system, I think that any reasonable board is going to like ask you what you're thinking.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 56:25 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Fund deep tech decisively or not at all, and push it towards revenue early

Our label. 3 claims in Max Hodak's own words.

Even a long-horizon deep tech company should chase revenue sooner than it thinks, so that it is valued on its roadmap rather than on its probability of dying.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science you do need to think about how do you get to revenue so that not just you can do it forever, but then you'll be valued on your long-term road map, not not valued on your probability of dying. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 45:34 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsyou do need to think about how do you get to revenue so that not just you can do it forever, but then you'll be valued on your long-term road map, not not valued on your probability of dying.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 45:34 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Some ideas are worth funding with fifty million dollars or with nothing, and never with five million, because underfunding buys you an ambiguous outcome instead of an answer.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science there are definitely some ideas that are worth funding with $50 million or zero dollars, but not $5 million. Um you won't run the experiment. It'll be really frustrating experience. You'll get an ambiguous outcome. Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com · 7 Aug 2026 · 43:53 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsthere are definitely some ideas that are worth funding with $50 million or zero dollars, but not $5 million. Um you won't run the experiment. It'll be really frustrating experience. You'll get an ambiguous outcome.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 43:53 plays here

    ↗Max Hodak: Average Is Not Good Enoughyoutube.com

    7 Aug 2026 · video · 57m · spoken · machine transcript

Restoring vision to the blind is a good business, and a company doing it should aim to be profitable rather than permanently funded.

  1. Max Hodak Co-founder and chief executive of Science Yeah, well I mean becoming profitable or at least have like having the ability to do this forever is a super high priority. Restoring vision to the blind is pretty good business if you can actually do that. From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com · 20 Aug 2026 · 22:49 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Their wordsYeah, well I mean becoming profitable or at least have like having the ability to do this forever is a super high priority. Restoring vision to the blind is pretty good business if you can actually do that.

    Where this was said

    Watch from 22:49 plays here

    ↗From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodakyoutube.com

    20 Aug 2026 · video · 31m · spoken · machine transcript