Bryant Cruse, New Sapience — From Hubble Ops to Rethinking “AI”
Who he is: Bryant Cruse is a veteran space-systems engineer turned three-time founder who studied AI in the late ’80s and never stopped building. Today he’s the Founder & CEO of New Sapience, a company creating “sapiens” — technology aimed at turning computers into thinking machines that manage knowledge to help owners collect their data and information.
Why he matters: Bryant has lived multiple AI cycles—from symbolic expert systems on the Hubble Space Telescope to today’s machine-learning boom. His journey blends deep technical chops with hard-won startup wisdom on when to bootstrap, when to raise, and why solving real problems beats chasing hype.
Key Takeaways from the Episode:
AI runs in boom–bust waves: symbolic expert systems in the ’80s, an AI winter, then today’s connectionist/neural-network surge—and plenty of hype along the way.
Don’t start with “cool tech.” Start with a real problem; Bryant’s first venture even pivoted its AI tooling into networking middleware that solved customers’ needs.
Bootstrapping vs. VC: bootstrap when the first step is feasible with customer revenue; raise when the “first step” is too big or speed to market matters.
Machine learning ≠ intelligence: large language models generate convincing text patterns but lack comprehension—communication still originates with the human user.
New Sapience positions “sapiens” as a different path: domain-specific, knowledge-producing systems designed to help individuals and businesses manage information.
👉 Watch the full episode now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvtnyXbgoCo
Memorable Quote:
“Have a real problem… don’t do it because you have a cool idea.”