E18: Data Tool Disruption: Barry McCardel on Building Hex

In this episode, we chat with Barry McCardel, Co-Founder and CEO of Hex, as he shares how honing his leadership skills in college paved the way for his journey to becoming a founder. Barry discusses building his team with former Palantir colleagues and Hex's emphasis on design from its inception. He shares insights on Hex's rapid feature development, scaling challenges and his vision for the future of data tooling. The episode concludes with Barry's thoughts on emerging trends in data, infrastructure and AI. Highlights[0:30]: Barry's introduction via Hex's seed round lead investor.[01:15]: Barry's journey leading to his role as a founder, shaped by key experiences.[03:25]: The insights that sparked Barry's creation of Hex.[04:27]: Why Hex embodies the ultimate product Barry wished for at every career juncture.[05:47]: Barry's formation of his founding team, reuniting with former Palantir colleagues.[08:01]: Maintaining a strong focus on design in the early days of Hex and why branding and design is critical.[13:52]: Unveiling Hex 3.0 with its "magic" features, many powered by LLMs.[14:24]: Challenges faced while building internet-scale features with LLMs.[18:17]: Barry's vision for Hex and its future in the industry.-- Mark your calendars for May 12-14, 2026 and join us for Data Council AI, the technical conference built by engineers for engineers. It's the only event where you'll be able to connect with 2,000+ practitioners for 3 full days of technical deep dives, battle-tested architectures and production insights in San Francisco, the heart of the AI world. Visit us at https://www.datacouncil.ai/ for the latest updates or subscribe to the newsletter as we release more details about the 2026 event!

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