The State of Organizations 2023 - Flipbook - Page 74
CHAPTER 2: LESSONS FROM LEADERS
Shooting for
the moon: How
PsiQuantum
forged its own path
Dr. Jeremy O’Brien, cofounder and
CEO of PsiQuantum, discusses defying
conventional wisdom, attracting worldclass talent, and staying focused on a vision.
P
siQuantum is on a mission to
build the first useful quantum
computer, a machine that can
solve impossible problems beyond the
capabilities of anything that exists today.
More specifically, it is developing a
utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum
computer with a silicon photonics-based
architecture that enables manufacturing
in a conventional silicon chip foundry.
Photonic qubits have significant
advantages at the scale required to
deliver a fault-tolerant quantum computer,
and PsiQuantum partnered with
semiconductor company GlobalFoundries
to achieve this objective. With core
quantum components already in volume
production, this is an unprecedented
economic signal of maturity for a
technology that is often viewed as being
at the early research phase.
Since its founding in 2015, the company
has expanded to more than 200
employees and has raised more than
$700 million in private capital, bringing
its valuation to more than $3 billion. We
spoke with cofounder and CEO Jeremy
O’Brien about his vision for the company
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and the people, culture, and mindsets
that enable its success.
belief has always been the guiding light for
everything we do, and it’s why the smartest
people want to come work with us.
What drives you and your organization?
We founded this company on the
conviction that quantum computing is
the most profoundly world-changing
technology that humans have discovered
and that to do anything useful, you need
a million-plus-qubit quantum computer.1
This was contrary to the dominant
thinking at the time, which was to scale
up from ten qubits to maybe 100 or 1,000.
If you think the goal is to get to the top
of the Empire State Building, you build
longer ladders. If you realize that the
goal is to reach the moon, you take a
completely different approach. That’s
what we did. Seven years later, the
consensus is that we were right.
We are still fanatical about getting to a
million-plus qubits, and we have a viable
path to deliver on that promise. Our
commitment to this goal is driven by our
understanding that only at such scales
will quantum computers address the
substantive problems impacting health, the
environment, and innovative materials. This
The State of Organizations 2023
Let’s talk more about finding the best
talent. What do you think has enabled
your organization to attract the right
people with the right skills?
My two main reports—our chief
operating officer and chief business
officer— are multiventure CEOs. They
are vastly more experienced than me in
the semiconductor industry and in the
broader tech industry. I think there’s
something about the organization that
attracts people like them. In addition
to the vision, we have an extremely
profound technology, a unique approach
to delivering it, and a focused discipline
to maximize progress against our
end goal. I’ve heard some colleagues
describe it as a less-than-once-in-alifetime opportunity.
When I talk to colleagues about what
keeps them here, it’s the people and
our bold vision. We’ve recruited these
supersharp, technically gifted individuals
who are collaborating in the most