From GitLab to Kilo Code (Interview) - The Changelog Recap

Podcast: The Changelog

Published: 2026-01-07

Duration: 1 hr 17 min

Guests: Sid Sijbrandij

Summary

Sid Sijbrandij, founder of GitLab, shares his personal journey with bone cancer and discusses the launch of his new company, Kilo Code. The episode explores how Sid navigated his illness and continued to innovate in the tech industry.

What Happened

Sid Sijbrandij, founder of GitLab, faced a life-altering diagnosis of bone cancer in late 2022, discovering a six-centimeter tumor near his spine. Despite this challenge, Sid embarked on a rigorous treatment journey involving surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, supplemented by a single patient IND using a drug developed with click chemistry. His treatment path also included an experimental approach in Germany, resulting in significant tumor necrosis and shrinkage.

Sid's determination led him to travel to China for a B7H3 scan, influencing the development of a drug he was working on. Remarkably, his cancer is currently undetectable, and he has a therapeutic ladder of 30 medicines. During this period, Sid also focused on scaling treatments for others by founding six companies.

Sid's cancer journey is intertwined with his work in agentic engineering through his new venture, Kilo Code. Kilo is an all-in-one AI coding platform that supports over 500 models and offers functionalities like coding, code review, security review, and deployment. Sid emphasizes the platform's multimodal approach, allowing different AI models to be used for various tasks.

Kilo is designed to make software development more efficient and accessible, offering features in major editors like VS Code and JetBrains, and can be run in the cloud or on mobile. Sid predicts that by 2026, parallel agents will enable developers to manage multiple tasks simultaneously without boredom.

Sid's vision for the future includes humans burning up to $100,000 in tokens per year while being 100 times more effective. He also highlights the potential of AI in integrating knowledge across disciplines, making it easier to connect dots and gain insights.

Throughout the episode, Sid expresses optimism about the future of software development. He believes that creating software has never been easier or quicker, reducing the need for extensive programming knowledge. Sid's journey and innovations provide a compelling narrative of resilience and foresight in the face of adversity.

Key Insights