Joel Pendleton

Yo, have you heard about Joel Pendleton? The guy’s a total beast in the tech world. So, he’s one of the founders in YC’s S24 batch, and he’s the CTO over at Conductor Quantum – a startup that’s trying to do some advanced shit with quantum computers on silicon chips, all powered by AI. Yeah, I know, sounds crazy, but this guy is the real deal.

Here’s the scoop: Joel’s been deep in the tech game for a while now. He’s shipped software at four different deep tech companies, so he’s no stranger to the startup grind or modern tech. And he’s got hands-on with all kinds of crazy quantum devices – carbon nanotubes, superconducting circuits, you name it. Basically, he’s played with stuff most people haven’t even seen.

He studied Physics at UCL, which is no joke, and started a PhD at Oxford – but he dropped out to chase his own thing, which is how Conductor Quantum came to life. That’s some real entrepreneurial spirit right there. While he was at Oxford, he also co-launched Feynman.ai, an AI research assistant for scientists, and it blew up – got 300 signups in just a month. That shows he’s got that hustle and knows how to turn ideas into real products fast.

Now, he’s been working on quantum device control for about four years – half of that full-time, half part-time. So, he’s been grinding on this problem for a while, trying to crack the code on scaling quantum tech. Conductor Quantum, based in San Francisco, is all about automating how we create qubits at scale – a huge bottleneck in the quantum field. If they pull this off, it could totally change the game.

What’s crazy about Joel is that he’s not just some scientist nerd – he’s a builder, a coder, a founder, someone who jumped into the deep end because he saw a massive problem and said, “No cap, I gotta fix this.” His process from university labs to startups, from AI assistants to quantum chips, shows he’s all about pushing the boundaries and making the impossible happen.

Bottom line: Joel Pendleton is one of those guys who’s not just talking about the future, he’s building it. He’s motivated by a real desire to solve hard problems and bring significant tech to life. That’s why he’s so important – because he’s the type who doesn’t settle, keeps pushing, and is genuinely shaping what’s next in tech.