Joe Fitzsimons
3 Apr 2026OpenAI $852B, Legora $100M ARR, SpaxeX IPO, April Fools Award
Joe Fitzsimons: Horizon Quantum's Nasdaq Listing (Ticker HQ)
Joe Fitzsimons introduces Horizon Quantum, which builds the software infrastructure — tools, languages, compilers, runtime — to compile conventional code onto quantum computers, right after the team's Nasdaq listing under ticker HQ, with a quantum computer visible behind him. He recounts his PhD, Oxford and Singapore research years, then leaving his professorship to register the company in January 2018 with a seed round led by SGInnovate, 'speed-running' 80-plus years of computer science history for quantum. On timelines, he notes today's machines have roughly the memory of an Atari 2600, but about 200 low-error qubits could tackle problems classical computers can't, with error correction only demonstrated in the last 18 months.
Horizon Quantum's Hiring Philosophy and Company Principles
Fitzsimons explains his largest team is physicists, mostly transitioning from academia, and describes rewriting a values document that wasn't driving behavior, taking cues from Amazon's leadership principles and Google's 'things we know to be true'. The eight resulting principles — including 'tackle hard problems and persevere', 'debate, discuss, disagree, then commit', and 'drive progress and get your hands dirty' — encode startup logic where the real risk is moving too slowly. The principles are published on the website and used to screen for alignment when hiring.