Bob van Luijt's Lessons from Scaling Weaviate: Startup Growth & Hiring
Beyond Coding5 Helmi 2025

Bob van Luijt's Lessons from Scaling Weaviate: Startup Growth & Hiring

Scaling a startup is harder than it looks. From hiring and funding to execution, most founders underestimate what it really takes to grow a business.

In this episode,Bob van Luijt, CEO & co-founder of Weaviate, shares hishard-earned lessons from building an AI-native database company that has scaled to100+ employees worldwide.


What you’ll learn in this episode:
✅ Whyyour ability to sell a vision matters more than the idea itself
✅ Howopen source can fuel startup adoption before monetization
✅ Thereal role of funding—why investment isborrowing from the future
How to structure a winning startup team (and why hiring the right mix of people is critical)
✅ Whymost founders overthink instead of just starting


If you’re a founder, startup enthusiast, or thinking about launching your own business, this episode is amust-listen! 🚀

🎧Listen now & subscribe for more deep-dive tech conversations!


Connect with Bob van Luijt:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobvanluijt

https://x.com/bobvanluijt


Full episode on YouTube ▶️

https://youtu.be/iax1qipf9Hk

Beyond Coding Podcast with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🎙Patrick Akil⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Powered by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Xebia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Jaksot(238)

What Separates Good Engineers from Great Ones

What Separates Good Engineers from Great Ones

What's the real difference between a good software engineer and a truly great one? It’s more than just coding skill. It's a specific mindset, a disciplined approach to technology, and a deep understan...

22 Loka 202538min

From 6 Engineers to 2: Why Product and Engineering Are Merging

From 6 Engineers to 2: Why Product and Engineering Are Merging

What if the standard 6-person software team is now obsolete? AI tooling isn't just a productivity booster; it's fundamentally blurring the lines between product and engineering, enabling smaller, more...

15 Loka 202549min

How Hackathons Make You a Better Software Engineer

How Hackathons Make You a Better Software Engineer

What if you could turn a weekend project into a core product feature at a major tech company? We sit down with Behrouz Pooladrak, a software engineer and hackathon legend at Booking.com, to uncover ho...

8 Loka 202542min

AI Startup CEO Reveals What Really Kills AI Projects

AI Startup CEO Reveals What Really Kills AI Projects

What if the biggest obstacles to AI innovation aren't what you think? Deeploy CEO Maarten Stolk shares his controversial but effective strategies for building successful AI products and ecosystems, ch...

1 Loka 202544min

The Graph Problem Most Developers Don't Know They Have

The Graph Problem Most Developers Don't Know They Have

As a developer, you're trained to think in rows and tables. But what if that's the exact reason you're missing the most powerful connections in your data? There's a fundamental "Graph Problem" hiding ...

25 Syys 202554min

How Deepfakes are Evolving (And What You NEED to Know)

How Deepfakes are Evolving (And What You NEED to Know)

It takes just three seconds for AI to steal your voice and impersonate you in a way no one can detect. How can you protect yourself, your family, and your finances when seeing and hearing is no longer...

17 Syys 20251h 2min

From Pixels to Tokens: UX Is Not Enough Anymore

From Pixels to Tokens: UX Is Not Enough Anymore

What does it take to build AI features at the scale of Microsoft Copilot? Senior Product Manager Stéphanie Visser reveals the massive shifts in product development, from focusing on pixels to tokens a...

10 Syys 202547min

Stop Hiring Junior Engineers Because of AI?

Stop Hiring Junior Engineers Because of AI?

As AI accelerates development, many companies are halting junior hiring, believing AI tools can replace them. Shahin Shahkarami, Director of Data & AI at Ikea Retail, argues this is a massive mistake ...

3 Syys 202549min