Gabe Ravacci, CTO and co-founder at Internet Backyard, breaks down what the “computer economy” really looks like when you zoom in on data centers, billing, invoicing, and the financial plumbing nobody wants to touch. He shares how a rejected YC application, a finance stint, and a handful of hard lessons pushed him from hardware curiosity to building fintech infrastructure for compute.

If you care about where compute is headed, or you are early in your career and trying to find your path without overplanning it, this one will land.

Key Takeaways

• Startups often happen “by accident” when your competence meets the right problem at the right time

• Compute accessibility is not only a chip problem, it is also a finance and operations problem

• Rejection can be data, not a verdict, treat it as feedback to sharpen the craft

• A real online presence is less about networking and more about being genuinely useful in public

• Time blocking and single task focus beats grinding when you are juggling school, work, and a startup

Timestamped Highlights

00:28 What Internet Backyard is building, fintech infrastructure for data center financial operations

01:37 The first startup attempt, cheaper compute via FPGA based prototyping, and why investors passed

04:48 The pivot, from hardware tools to a finance informed view of compute and transparency gaps

06:55 How Gabe reframed YC rejection, process over outcome, “a tree of failures” that builds skill

08:29 Building a digital brand on X, what he posted, how he learned in public, and why it worked

13:36 The real balancing act, dropping classes, finishing the degree well, and strict time blocking

20:00 Books that shaped his thinking, Siddhartha, The Art of Learning, Finite and Infinite Games

A line worth keeping

“The process is really more important than any outcome.”

Pro Tips for builders

• Treat learning like a skill, ask better questions before you chase better answers

• Make focus a system, set blocks, mute distractions, and do one thing at a time

• Share what you are learning in public, not to perform, but to be useful and find signal

Call to Action

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