I worked at Ab Initio for two years before I left about a year ago. It is the successor to Thinking Machines that is referenced by the article but not mentioned by name. Today, Ab Initio is wildly successful but nobody knows about it because that’s how Sheryl has engineered both the internal and external culture of the company. The paranoia and bureaucracy the article discusses are very much alive and well at Ab Initio. But so are Sheryl’s culinary taste and aesthetics.<p>Sadly, the Ab Initio Wikipedia section that discusses its Thinking Machines connection (no pun intended) has been scrubbed recently. I don’t know if that’s because the company’s current culture is too reminiscent of the past or just an attempt at rebranding.<p>Ab Initio is a great tech company and I would recommend people to check it out (unfortunately you cannot apply there directly; they have a way of finding people). I left because it wasn’t the right place for me.