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Thanks for posting this. Happy to answer questions!
by sytse 6mo ago
Thanks for posting this. Happy to answer questions!
- rvwaveren 6mo agoHow are you now?
- sytse 6mo agoDoing well. We've not seen the cancer for 10 months (not for lack of trying) and I'm enjoying an international trip for pleasure!
- rvwaveren 6mo agoGlad to hear! After losing my wife to cancer (highly aggressive brain tumor, she only had six weeks), I'm happy that you had the time, resources, strength, will to take cancer by the lurven
- sebmellen 6mo agoNot my thread, but I just wanted to express my condolences for losing your wife. That must be so tough. My wife is my best friend and I cannot imagine how painful it would be for me to lose her or vice versa. I’m praying for you both and hoping that you’ve found peace and comfort since she passed. And I hope that you are doing well. I know she would be proud of you for keeping on!
- Imustaskforhelp 6mo agoI am so sorry that you had to go through this tragic event, Here's a hug my friend, that must've been incredibly tough on you, I am not religious but I know that She is in Heaven and watching you from above and she will always be within your heart and all the cherished memories you had together.
- neal_jones 6mo agoYea, it is incredible to see what could be accomplished with time and technology. Someone in my immediate family had Glioblastoma, it felt like fighting a hurricane.
- gault8121 6mo agoSo sorry to hear that. I'm providing caretaking for my mother, who has GBM now, and we've been lucky to get to month 15 now. It's such a difficult disease to grapple with.
- _joel 6mo agoFantastic. Wishing you all the very best. A very close family member just with Stage 4 just got the pass for the next 3 months. We're 3 years in now. For them, the immunotherapy seems to be working, the radiotherapy has actually left the area affected worse (althogh we'd have never known the outcome if it wasn't tried, so it was a price worth taking).
- silentsea90 6mo agoHow do you deal with setbacks both in work and life, and show resilience and belief you can find a solution? Is this innate or something you worked on? Also, are there things you think are impossible for you to do?
- sytse 6mo agoI have a stoic mindset, I try to not care about things that are outside my sphere of influence. While the cancer was unfortunate it was out of my control. Having my YCW15 batchmate step up for me during my initial set of treatments to get me Shasqi opened my eyes that I could help create and take new medicines. It was within my sphere of influence. When I reached the end of standard of care I stepped down from the CEO role of GitLab and pushed to do this for me. While it was hard it was easier than I expected and I created companies to help other patients in the same way (maximum diagnostics and single patient IND pathway).
- WJW 6mo agoPhilosphical treatments have got a bad rap because it is so easy for conmen to convert them into fake hope, but when properly applied they are still amazingly effective. It's just that "properly applied" is very often not profitable because all the applicable texts and practices have been quite literally known for thousands of years and are available through well known texts in the public domain. And Sytse if you read this: beterschap en als dat niet helpt: sterkte. Cancer sucks.
- sytse 6mo agoDank je!
- swyx 6mo agohow do you handle GitLab + Kilo + all this personal work? what system have you figured out? sorry if you've written about this somewhere, i think there's a meta lesson you have that we all can use.
- sytse 6mo agoAll of these companies (including the Even One Ventures and Open Core Ventures ones) have CEOs who run them day to day. I try to help with positioning and setting ambitious goals. Y Combinator really opened my eyes to how helpful setting clear and hard to reach goals is.
- swyx 6mo agothanks Sid! i think a lot of people incl myself aspire to be where you are - I have effectively 3 businesses and have only hired one GM (on track to be CEO), but the other 2 I am effectively CEOing. yet I have this maybe misguided asian/protestant theory that I haven't "earned the right" to multicompany yet, and if i take my hands off the wheel the whole thing might be at risk. With GitLab obviously you were driving for many years and it feels like only with your cancer diagnosis you started letting go. no question in there, just a comment, love your openness and giving back to the community, wish you full success and recovery.
- nextos 6mo agoThis is very impressive, top labs doing research often don't have experimental designs that are this elaborate. Was the TCR and BCR-seq you conducted helpful to design cell therapies, neoantigen vaccines, and monitor progress? Given that you carry the HLA-B*27:05 allele, you might have been blessed by being predisposed to a better response. But probably you want to keep an eye on future autoimmunity issues. Talking from experience...
- sytse 6mo agoThanks for the warning, I hope that it wasn't a personal experience for you. Thanks for the compliment about the elaborate design. I think that when you make something for one or a few patients it is easier to be more elaborate, even with the same knowledge and equipment. Maybe the TCR and BCR-seq was most helpful for mRNA design and effectiveness monitoring, but hopefully someone else on my team will answer that better.
- jacobjstern 6mo agoThe TCR sequencing has been helpful for downselecting TCRs for a TCR based cell therapy, and for monitoring response to various immune therapies (including the vaccines)
- nextos 6mo agoInteresting, thanks for your replies. You should consider publishing a patient case report somewhere, as I believe there are lots of valuable conclusions to be extracted from your work.
- DEDLINE 6mo agoI have worked as an architect in HCLS technology for 10 years with Google and AWS. Listening to you stitch all the technology and innovation together, moving from the information world to the physical world, as a patient, almost brought me to tears. You said this will be the standard of care in 30-years, but the capability is here today. Listening to your recording is a profound moment in my life. Thank you for sharing your journey.
- appstorelottery 6mo agoThanks for the inspiration! Is there anything new you've learned about fibrosis in your journey?
- sytse 6mo agoI'm not knowledgable able fibrosis except that my tumor expresses a lot of FAP and it is a workable target for radio and immune drugs.
- appstorelottery 6mo agoI have sent you an email - any help you can provide in this area.
- sytse 6mo agoThanks, I replied to your email.
- appstorelottery 6mo agoI'm humbled. Thank you!
- bob_theslob646 6mo agoMy pleasure! How does someone support someone going through cancer? I would especially like to know how to best support someone upon initial diagnosis. It seems like you have an amazing support system and I would like to be that for someone.
- sytse 6mo agoOf course it depends on what they need but please email cancer@sytse.com with a screenshot of this message and we can discuss.
- robomartin 6mo ago[flagged]
- rand846633 6mo ago[flagged]
- robomartin 6mo ago[flagged]
- stef25 6mo ago> Just trying to help someone in dire need Sorry your lost your mom. This person in need is obv more intelligent and driven than most of us and is using resources that go way above YT videos.
- stef25 6mo agoNot the time nor the place
- robomartin 6mo agoI was afraid of that. I hope you find a path. Having lost several members of our family to cancer over the last several decades, including my mother, I sometimes question where all the money going into cancer research has gone. Maybe what has been lacking are motivated patients with both the means and the intellectual capacity to drive for solutions. Again, I hope you find a path.
- RS-232 6mo ago> Fasting (1 to n weeks) is said to provide potential benefits for certain types of cancer treatments. Pre-cancer, it is said to potentially prevent cancer onset. This is potentially powerful for those of us with a family history with cancer. It makes sense. Cells need nutrients for the cell cycle, similar to the way computers need RAM to execute programs. Fasting not only deprives cancer cells of nutrients, but also triggers a homeostatic response in the entire body. This response includes putting its garbage collection system (autophagy) into overdrive mode so that it can reclaim the limited resources it has left to survive. Fasting is a reductive treatment, like purging oxygen from a server room on fire. It might help slow it down, but it can take healthy inhabitants along with it. Additive treatments offer more options. If you catch the fire early and it’s contained (non-metastatic), you can target it with a fire blanket (surgery, stem cell transplantation) or a fire extinguisher (small molecules, biologics, peptides, gene therapy, etc.) to put it out. The sprinklers are a last ditch effort for larger fires (chemotherapy, radiation), which could save the building, but result in significant collateral damage.
- zie1ony 6mo agoHave you just "ordered the cancer vaccine" or this is not yet that easy?
- agumonkey 6mo agoHave you run into other people doing the same ? it could be a nice new movement. take care
- sytse 6mo agoYes, I’ve met many people already. Feel free to reach out if you have questions cancer@sytse.com
- seehafer 6mo agoSid — I’m at FDA and would like to talk to you about your proposals to make industry more patient friendly. Will reach out to this address unless there’s a better one.
- sytse 6mo agocancer@sytse.com is a good address to reach out to. Thanks for reaching out. I look forward to discussing. You can find some of my ideas in slides https://share.icloud.com/photos/020eRAUd5TqDwlypQCT-qhK7w https://share.icloud.com/photos/020eRAUd5TqDwlypQCT-qhK7w
- d0mine 6mo agorelated: "ChatGPT and AlphaFold Help Design Personalized Vaccine for Dog with Cancer" https://www.the-scientist.com/chatgpt-and-alphafold-help-design-personalized-vaccine-for-dog-with-cancer-74227 https://www.the-scientist.com/chatgpt-and-alphafold-help-des...
- lzqqqqqq 6mo agoSuch an inspiring read. As a bioinformatics researcher I'm awed by the depth of the deck. How do feel about the process of learning cancer biology and bioinformatics? Ps. I work for BillionToOne oncology and we build some of the most sensitive liquid biopsy tests (https://www.northstaronc.com/ https://www.northstaronc.com/). Feel free to reach out if it pique your interest!
- sytse 6mo agoIt wasn’t easy to learn it while dealing with the side effects of chemo. But AI helped a lot, also see the OpenAI forum talked linked on the page. Love BillionToOne, also see https://osteosarc.com/timeline/ https://osteosarc.com/timeline/ MRD Northstar for my results with it.
- lzqqqqqq 6mo agoWow, honored to be a part of this.
- jenniferpenaNP 6mo agoThanks for your interest, we use Northstar monthly to track for Sid.
- jaredchung 6mo agoYour cancel journey is incredibly inspirational and I will share it on. But actually, I'm writing to tell you that many of the OTHER things you have done have had a huge positive impact. Gitlab foundation, for example, has been extraordinarily impactful on our organization and many others. This is the way!
- quietsegfault 6mo ago[dead]
- doctorpangloss 6mo agoin light of everything you've learned about the pharmaceutical industry and biotech venture, is there anything in particular about oncology that makes it well suited to venture? like why is it people with cancer? why isn't it people with muscular diseases?
- meew0 6mo agoSorry if this is too specific/personal, but I've been wondering, why does the treatment timeline include antibiotics (dalbavancin)? Does dalbavancin have any suspected antitumor effects, or was it simply to treat complications of surgery / catheter infections? (edit: actually now that I checked the treatment timeline again it seems to be gone now. It was there 2 weeks ago!)
- jenniferpenaNP 6mo agoChiming in from Sid’s care team, the Dalbavancin was used to treat an infection post surgery, thanks for asking!
- JakeSc 6mo agoThank you for sharing—very inspiring. I'm interested in the operations of starting and managing these companies in parallel. How did you go about finding people to run the companies? How much involvement do you have in their day-to-day operations? Are they "your" companies, or do you consider yourself just Customer #1?
- linohh 6mo agoI've met you at SHA 2017 in NL and I wish you all the Best!
- TiredOfLife 6mo agoWhy does Gitlab pay employees less based on their location, but doesn't adjust price based on location?
- xvector 6mo agoWhat an incredibly tone deaf question
- rand846633 6mo agoThe question is absolutely legitimate in nature and neutral in tone.
- tibbar 6mo agoSure, but this isn't really an AMA thread [despite the offer to "answer any questions"]. This is about Sid's journey with (extremely advanced) cancer. Airing grievances about Gitlab is just out of place here, you gotta read the room.
- TiredOfLife 6mo ago[flagged]
- xvector 6mo agoPaying different amounts for different regions is not being an asshole. Virtually every company on the planet does regional CoL adjustments. And get a grip - you are free to bring value to the world in your way if you're not happy to be an employee. Attacking others that have done nothing to harm you is entirely uncalled for, especially on a discussion about their own cancer. Please act like an adult.
- TiredOfLife 6mo agoBut they don't do CoL adjustment for Gitlab.
- devops000 6mo agoHave you ever found out the cause of the cancer? They say to eat a healthy diet, exercise, get enough sleep, and avoid smoking/alcohol. Have you discovered more specific reasons over the years? Were you lacking in any of these?
- david_shi 6mo agoCan't wait for the movie about this to come out.
- jdcaron 6mo agoI wish you the best, my brother-in-law (also a close friend) lost his fight against cancer in 2019, it changed my perception of life forever. What we live is a bit like how we die, I had some of the best moments with him while he was more aware than myself about how we are all going to die, he changed my perception of caring much more about the uniqueness and the present moment. One of my favorite quotes is from Buckminster Fuller, "You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you ... (see full quote on Wikipedia)". Thank you so much for all the creation you have done in this world Sid, just for Gitlab it's plenty. I am a long time & very satisfied Gitlab customer, I switched a long time ago for its superior CI/CD integration and its super inspiring handbook. Another favorite quote is actually from you ... "My reasoning was I got to tell everyone what I do, and I want it to be a really good story." Lately I fundamentally changed my perception, the most important computer of all is the planet Earth, you seem to be aligned with this vision as well, correct me if my perception is wrong. I hope you keep going on with all those beautiful stories, we are lucky to have you with us.
- konaraddi 6mo agoFull quote from Fuller for others > You do not have the right to eliminate yourself, you do not belong to you. You belong to the universe. The significance of you will forever remain obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your significance if you apply yourself to converting all your experience to highest advantage of others. You and all men are here for the sake of other men.
- pantsonfire2 6mo ago[flagged]
- RS-232 6mo ago[dead]
- youaregullofit 6mo ago[flagged]
- ballstowall 6mo ago[flagged]
- junon 6mo agoGo somewhere else with this rhetoric.
- stingraycharles 6mo agoCan a mod flag this account please? This is really uncalled for.
- uncalledfor 6mo ago[flagged]
- lmaoreally 6mo ago[dead]
- clarkevans 6mo agoSid, Thank you for funding Arden Bio. Rheumatology patients and their clinicians are often left to throwing darts from afar, in series and often with significant & permanent function loss with each dart. Moreover, proper care of refractory rare diseases is not something that insurance funds: my otherwise excellent coverage expressly denies "investigatory" treatments, for example. As a small fiber neuropathic vasculitus patient with secondary Sjögren's I really look forward to progress in this field, it cannot happen soon enough. Best of luck in your own care and profile. - Clark
- ctdinjeu8 6mo ago[flagged]
- ThePowerOfFuet 6mo agoWow, what a shitty thing to say. It was someone else who posted it to HN, too.
- tennysont 6mo agoLove how you approached and presented this. The data vis on https://osteosarc.com/ https://osteosarc.com/ is outstanding; such good explorability (is this some open source framework?) I do have concerns regarding the proposals for scaling personalized medicine. They mostly boil down to "how do you scale the skill set required to operate in high-noise-low-signal domains". In my experience, these are places where poor data/incentives/critical-thinking can easily overshadow the signal; e.g., compelling stories outnumber correct stories. There seems to be a trade-off: you can walk a bit further than others by keeping the probability distributions for low-quality results in your head, but go too far and everything starts getting overwhelmed by noise. It seems like the FDA's heavy gatekeeping is one way to solve this problem. If you forgo that gatekeeping, then you probably need to deal with the cascading quality issues that result. Personalized treatments will probably be much harder to evaluate. At least a black-box algorithm that maps `situation → suggested treatment` can have statistics applied to it. But how do you evaluate "individuals made their own decision; here's the list of `situation × outcome`"? Or is the idea that there's currently a wealth of good-solutions, and that we should be relaxing regulations for a while? Or perhaps we just want to push the regulator burden from "before small trials" to "before medium trials"? Then, these will be treated as case studies: good for experts to pull ideas from, but not high quality evidence for proving anything the third parties? I notice that your diagnostics were numerous, but the treatments were sparse and more sequential than parallel. If that's the norm, then maybe fairly usable data will emerge. Or do people just have a moral right to seek out their own treatment, regardless of footguns that may be lying in wait? For myself and my loved ones battling cancer, I deeply agree with these: > Maximize survival instead of the current practice of minimizing liability to the practitioner > Parallel treatments wherever reasonable, we don't need to know what cured you But I'm also glad that daily medical decisions are highly standardized and quality-controlled. It makes it easier to trust my doctor (or my loved ones' doctors) without independently investigating each recommendation.