The State of Organizations 2023 - Flipbook - Page 75
extreme ways. Then it’s the technical
and business rigor of what we’re trying to
achieve. Our team is remarkably humble,
especially as it faces solving problems of
unprecedented scale. No one pretends
to have all the answers, and yet we
continually strive to achieve results that
have never been done before.
We also care about bringing together a
diverse group of people—including those
with experience in different industries,
roles, and functions. Since my university
days, I’ve always been clear that ideas
can be generated at any level and
propagate in any direction. When you’re
tackling big questions with unknown
answers, you’ve got to allow that and
then filter those ideas. A big part of my
role is making sure everyone is heard.
Can you describe some of the cultural
or organizational elements that have
enabled you to deliver on this big bet
you’ve described?
My cofounders and I all came from the
academic research world, as did many
of our peers in the industry. We decided
early on to exorcise this academic
mentality and turn ourselves into a
relentless industrial machine. It comes
down to being a fanatic about impact—
every cent and every minute must be
spent on getting to the moon. We’re not
writing academic papers, and we’re not
interested in some cool demonstration of
an algorithm unless it’s useful.
It’s a balancing act. We need to stay
focused to this path that we’ve defined—
especially when we’re spending hundreds
of millions of dollars on building out our
capabilities. But at the same time, we
need to recognize when it’s time to be
flexible and change. There have been times
when employees have raised concerns
or challenged the prevailing thinking, and
we’ve listened and changed course.
How has your purpose informed your
approach to commercialization?
When it comes to the commercialization
of the technology, the guiding principle
is always, “How do we create the biggest
positive impact on the world as quickly
as possible?” There is huge value to be
created. We’re taking problems that
are otherwise impossible to solve and
suddenly making that possible. There are
plenty of spoils to go around.
It just doesn’t make sense to obsess
about capturing the maximum value
or being the singular entity in the
ecosystem. Of course, we’re a commercial
organization and we do have to think
about revenue, but we’re guided by
impact at a higher level. If we get that right,
then everything else will flow. It’s really an
extension of our “no distractions” policy.
Everything we do has to be focused on
the highest-impact applications with the
highest-impact partners who are going
to deploy this technology at scale in the
shortest time possible.
More about
Dr. Jeremy
O’Brien
Cofounder and CEO
of PsiQuantum
Dr. Jeremy O’Brien is cofounder and
CEO of PsiQuantum, a quantumcomputing company on a mission to
build the world’s first commercially
useful quantum computer and deploy
it to tackle some of the greatest
challenges we face across climate,
healthcare, life sciences, energy and
beyond. Jeremy has dedicated 25
years to this mission, having identified
quantum computing as the most
profoundly world-changing technology
due to its potential to unlock solutions
to otherwise impossible problems.
Prior to founding PsiQuantum, he was
a professor of physics and electrical
engineering at Stanford and Bristol
Universities and director of the Centre
for Quantum Photonics.
‘When I talk to colleagues about what
keeps them here, it’s the people and our
bold vision.’
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