
The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source
Pivoting to Retool (Interview)
Jul 17, 2025 · 1 hr 21 min · 118.2 MB
0:00-1:21:57
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David Hsu from Retool joins Adam to discuss how he built Retool. From the pivot in YC, to building the most widely used internal tools platform, to now being the platform for AI agents in the enterprise—on this episode we cover David journey from YC to building agents for the enterprise.
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Sponsors:
- Auth0 – The identity infrastructure for the age of AI. Built by developers, for developers—Auth0 helps you secure users, agents, and third-party access across modern AI workflows. Token vaulting, fine-grained authorization, and standards-based auth, all in one platform.
Start building at Auth0.com/ai - CodeRabbit – AI-native code reviews, built for the modern dev stack. — CodeRabbit is your always-on code reviewer—flagging hallucinations, surfacing smells, and enforcing standards, all without leaving your IDE or GitHub PRs. Trusted by top teams to ship better code, faster.
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Featuring:
Show Notes:
- Retool on Y Combinator – YC-backed company building internal tools fast
- Retool Agents – Use AI Agents to automate workflows with natural language and data access
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
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- 0:00This week on The Changelog
- 1:07Sponsor: Auth0
- 2:40Start the show!
- 8:56Y Combinator experience
- 11:56What is an internal tool
- 14:06Pivoting to Retool
- 17:48Ah ha! moment
- 24:18Has the mission changed at all?
- 35:47Sponsor: CodeRabbit
- 38:31Agents in the Enterprise
- 44:52What agents are being built?
- 53:53Agent framework
- 57:27Internal tools templates
- 1:02:39Internal tools at Retool
- 1:06:12Can AI build my Retool tools?
- 1:09:12App from DB?
- 1:18:21Wrapping up
- 1:19:55Closing thoughts and stuff