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Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Hard Tech Company | Qasar Younis, CEO of Applied Intuition | Ep. 9

(If you enjoyed this, please like and subscribe!) I had a blast sitting down with Qasar Younis, Co-Founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, a company that’s on a mission to accelerate the world’s adoption of safe and intelligent machines. The company builds software that makes it faster, safer, and easier to bring autonomous systems to market. Last valued at $6B, Applied Intuition has raised a total of $602M since its inception in 2017 and plays a critical role in both the commercial and defense sectors. Previously, Qasar was a Partner and COO of Y Combinator, the renowned startup accelerator that has invested in companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Stripe, among others. Prior to Y Combinator, Qasar founded a technology firm, which was later acquired by Google, and worked as an automotive engineer at General Motors and Bosch. Younis has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University (formerly known as General Motors Institute) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. We covered: - Radical pragmatism - Roots of the automotive industry - Complexities of being dual use - Fostering an intrinsically contrarian culture - Evolving with your work Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:31) Psychology of starting a company (17:04) Love for the automotive industry (22:54) Autonomous vehicle landscape (25:45) Deep partnership with customers (28:49) Complexities of being dual use (34:44) Culture being intrinsically contrarian (40:01) Gen AI and humanoid robotics (42:28) More noise than signal in investing (44:14) Evolving with your work (47:43) Companies working is a state in time Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: friends@uncappedpod.com

Qasar YounisguestJack Altmanhost
May 15, 202551mWatch on YouTube ↗

Episode Details

EPISODE INFO

Released
May 15, 2025
Duration
51m
Channel
Uncapped with Jack Altman
Watch on YouTube
▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

(If you enjoyed this, please like and subscribe!) I had a blast sitting down with Qasar Younis, Co-Founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, a company that’s on a mission to accelerate the world’s adoption of safe and intelligent machines. The company builds software that makes it faster, safer, and easier to bring autonomous systems to market. Last valued at $6B, Applied Intuition has raised a total of $602M since its inception in 2017 and plays a critical role in both the commercial and defense sectors. Previously, Qasar was a Partner and COO of Y Combinator, the renowned startup accelerator that has invested in companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Stripe, among others. Prior to Y Combinator, Qasar founded a technology firm, which was later acquired by Google, and worked as an automotive engineer at General Motors and Bosch. Younis has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University (formerly known as General Motors Institute) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. We covered:

  • Radical pragmatism
  • Roots of the automotive industry
  • Complexities of being dual use
  • Fostering an intrinsically contrarian culture
  • Evolving with your work

Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:31) Psychology of starting a company (17:04) Love for the automotive industry (22:54) Autonomous vehicle landscape (25:45) Deep partnership with customers (28:49) Complexities of being dual use (34:44) Culture being intrinsically contrarian (40:01) Gen AI and humanoid robotics (42:28) More noise than signal in investing (44:14) Evolving with your work (47:43) Companies working is a state in time Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: friends@uncappedpod.com

SPEAKERS

  • Qasar Younis

    guest

  • Jack Altman

    host

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Uncapped with Jack Altman, featuring Qasar Younis and Jack Altman, Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Hard Tech Company | Qasar Younis, CEO of Applied Intuition | Ep. 9 explores applied Intuition CEO on hard tech, culture, and defense markets Qasar Younis describes the mid-career decision to leave Google and then Y Combinator, weighing starting a fund versus founding Applied Intuition, and ultimately choosing the work he’d enjoy most with the right co-founder and domain fit.

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