Produced by W2D1 Media. Work with us →
Adrian Macneil

Adrian Macneil

Co-Founder & CEO at Foxglove

Founder

Adrian Macneil is co-founder and CEO of Foxglove, which builds developer tools and an agentic data platform for robotics engineers, aiming to speed up how teams bring robots to market. Before Foxglove, he was Director of Infrastructure at self-driving car company Cruise and the first Director of Engineering at Coinbase, and earlier led engineering at Roomz. He founded and sold Exp:resso, an e-commerce tool for the ExpressionEngine content management system, in 2014. Macneil holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Massey University. On Diaspora NZ with David Booth, he discussed developer tools for robotics and why ambitious Kiwis should go overseas and come home smarter.

Watch the episode Jump to key moments LinkedIn ↗

In their own words

From S3 | E8 – Adrian Macneil (Co-Founder & CEO at Foxglove) on Developer Tools for Robotics, and Why Ambitious Kiwis Need to Go — and Come Back Smarter · Diaspora NZ
Don't start a startup unless it is something that you're ready to work on for 10 years.
▶ S3 | E8 – Adrian Macneil (Co-Founder & CEO at Foxglove) on Developer Tools for Robotics, and Why Ambitious Kiwis Need to Go — and Come Back Smarter

Career

  1. Now Co-Founder & CEO · Foxglove
  2. Earlier · Scale-up Director of Infrastructure Engineering · Cruise
  3. Earlier · Scale-up Director of Engineering · Coinbase
  4. Until 2014 · Startup Founder · Expresso

Sources: councils.forbes.com

Key moments

Jump straight to the part of S3 | E8 – Adrian Macneil (Co-Founder & CEO at Foxglove) on Developer Tools for Robotics, and Why Ambitious Kiwis Need to Go — and Come Back Smarter you want.

  1. 3:30 When an internal tool became a startup idea
  2. 7:42 Cruise vs GM: Startup chaos inside a legacy giant
  3. 12:47 Foxglove’s customer base: From tractors to warehouses
  4. 16:15 Why Foxglove won’t build robots — and what they’re building instead
  5. 21:54 The “1980s PC” moment for robotics
  6. 27:41 If not Foxglove — what robotics startup would Adrian build?
  7. 30:15 From kiwifruit packhouses to automation inspiration
  8. 36:35 Why ambitious builders still need to go to Silicon Valley
  9. 41:36 The 10-year mindset needed to build a real company
  10. 47:50 How the Kiwi diaspora can supercharge the next generation

Heard on

▶
Diaspora NZ · 2 May 2025 S3 | E8 – Adrian Macneil (Co-Founder & CEO at Foxglove) on Developer Tools for Robotics, and Why Ambitious Kiwis Need to Go — and Come Back Smarter

Foxglove on Day One

Foxglove Foxglove's interactive visualization and data management capabilities empowers robotic developers to understand how their robots sense, think, and act in dynamic and… 1 person · 1 episode →

Connections

Spot something wrong? Suggest a correction Updated 25 September 2026

Produced by W2D1 Media

Want a show of your own?

W2D1 Media — the team behind the Day One Network, which helped build Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts — builds and produces podcasts for funds, founders and operators. If you want a show built around your brand, let's talk.

Start a show →
—