The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
00:21:39 · Grace Brown
[00:21:39] S1: Well, when I was really young, I always enjoyed maths, like really enjoyed maths. I think between first to fourth grade, I would pretend to hate maths because none of the kids liked it, but I've always really enjoyed maths. And then in high school, we had an engineering subject where we had to build this robotic arm. And that project was such a turning point for me because it was just so much fun. You didn't have to go off and just build the robot arm, but you had to prove it out theoretically first. And then you'd go to the workshop and gather all the resources and materials that you need, and you'd cut and you solder and you'd build the whole system. And then you test it and you get it to work, and it was just such a... It was just an awesome project. And and I remember saying that in tenth grade. I was like, if this is what engineering is, like, this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life. So that was pretty significant for me. And so when we were choosing our courses to go into university, everything I chose was either maths or robotics engineering. I chose specifically mechatronics because it was a mix between software, electrical, and mechanical, and I couldn't quite... I don't think I understood myself well enough to know which discipline I'd be most engaged with and also which one would be best suited to my strengths. So I really like the idea of choosing mechatronics. And I remembered you had to pick six courses... Six degrees in one of your university courses, and I only chose something like three. Like, it was maths at this UQ... Master engineering at UQ, master engineering at Melbourne uni. And the career adviser was like, you have to choose more in case you don't get in. And I was like, if I don't get in, I have bigger problems because that's the only thing I wanna do. Like, I don't wanna pick five or six that I don't wanna do. Like, these are the only courses I wanna do. But they really advised me to try and pick more, and I just... I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm like, I'm picking these ones, and if I don't get in, I I don't know. Like, I have to get in because this is all I wanna do.
00:23:31 · Vidit Agarwal, Grace Brown
[00:23:31] S0: I feel like there are two trains of thought on the practical application of what he studied at university, right? Like some people say it really helps with your new career, or some people go, no, it didn't help in any way and you learn on the job or learn as you're building your company. How's it been in your context? Like, can jump around here. If you think of the... I think you've been building Andromeda for five years now, is that right? [00:23:54] S1: Five years, yeah, four years. [00:23:55] S0: Four years. So if you think of those four years, and we'll come to Andromeda in a moment and go deep on that, but how much of the university or college time helped with the company building? Has that... Is there a direct correlation? [00:24:08] S1: It was helpful for some of the foundations of how to... Being an engineer and the theory and the literature. But to be honest, university... The way university was structured, I think it taught me exactly what I didn't want. It it was helpful to know what didn't really work for me and what kind of system didn't really... It's not that it didn't bring out the best in me. Like, my marks were great, but I... Yeah. I just... I wanted more. I wanted to do more. I wanted the projects to be more exciting. I wanted to go faster in some areas. I felt very limited by tertiary education. And so to me, yeah, it it was informative in helping me understand myself better, but not necessarily direct information that helped me build my company better today.
00:24:08 · Grace Brown, Vidit Agarwal
[00:24:08] S1: It was helpful for some of the foundations of how to... Being an engineer and the theory and the literature. But to be honest, university... The way university was structured, I think it taught me exactly what I didn't want. It it was helpful to know what didn't really work for me and what kind of system didn't really... It's not that it didn't bring out the best in me. Like, my marks were great, but I... Yeah. I just... I wanted more. I wanted to do more. I wanted the projects to be more exciting. I wanted to go faster in some areas. I felt very limited by tertiary education. And so to me, yeah, it it was informative in helping me understand myself better, but not necessarily direct information that helped me build my company better today. [00:24:55] S0: So I asked you earlier if I met you at age 18, what would I assume you'd have done if I met you at the end of your university degree? What what... By that point, was company building the clear path? [00:25:07] S1: Yeah. I sort of... I pretty much started Andromeda before I'd even finished uni. I So was already working on... Like, Abi started during university, and then when the business idea came, it was... To me, uni was secondary to... Was becoming secondary very quickly to Andromeda and Abi because it was a way for me to be able to be completely creative and express myself and just get into that flow state. It's what I enjoy doing more than anything. So, yeah, it was very clear at the end that I was going to be doing my own startup. And... Yeah. So
00:25:07 · Grace Brown, Vidit Agarwal
[00:25:07] S1: Yeah. I sort of... I pretty much started Andromeda before I'd even finished uni. I So was already working on... Like, Abi started during university, and then when the business idea came, it was... To me, uni was secondary to... Was becoming secondary very quickly to Andromeda and Abi because it was a way for me to be able to be completely creative and express myself and just get into that flow state. It's what I enjoy doing more than anything. So, yeah, it was very clear at the end that I was going to be doing my own startup. And... Yeah. So [00:25:43] S0: And this was also during COVID. Right? This was 2020, I believe?
00:25:49 · Grace Brown
[00:25:49] S1: Yeah. I started building Abi during during the pandemic. So Abi and the business are quite different. To me, they're almost different stories. And so when people... Actually, I'm sure other founders must have this as well. When people ask me when did it start, it's actually so hard to answer that question. I come up with an answer, I usually talk about the date the business was incorporated and, you know, the journey that we went on. But Abi started in COVID, and everything leading up to Abi also... Like, to me, that's all the start. Like, the start was, to your point, like, the experiences that you have when you're really young, the fascination that I had with, you know, math and science. And, you know, through my adolescent years, I knew I wanted to build something. I did not as an engineer build, but I knew I wanted to create something in this world that was really significant and greater than myself and greater than, like, just anything. I don't know how to quite describe it. But I read in a book or listened to a podcast recently where it said, actually, everyone is born with that fire, but the difference between the people who, you know, do go on to do do go on to greatness and the people who don't is that fire, they never let it die. Whereas some people go through experiences and just kinda let it die. But yeah, so for me, I always knew I wanted to build something significant. And so, yeah, the starting point is a little bit nebulous to answer if I'm gonna be very specific about when it started.
00:27:08 · Vidit Agarwal, Grace Brown
[00:27:08] S0: Because I because I also have heard the story about during COVID, you were in Melbourne in Australia, I believe, living in student accommodation. And there was a sense of, like, looking for a companion. And apparently, that's also Abi's origin story. Is there a trick to that? [00:27:25] S1: Yeah. No. That's entirely true. I was in my student accommodation at the time. I hadn't had any any meaningful social interaction for many months. I'd FaceTimed my friends, called my friends, but the lockdowns are really restrictive. And so... Yeah. And this was when I really loved skateboarding, actually. So I also had lots of tools around me that I'd used to build my electric skateboard, but I'd also hacked around at different projects... Other projects. And... Yeah. And I guess I just... It was after watching just completely consuming all these Disney Pixar movies that I was like, oh, I really wish one of these characters were, like, alive and real and next to me. And that's when I sort of just had the idea to build Abi. She wasn't named Abi at the time, but I just wanted to build myself a robot that could keep me company.