Geoffrey De Smet, creator of OptaPlanner and now Timefold.ai, shares how IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat forced him to turn his open-source project into a company. He explains why ChatGPT can’t solve real-world scheduling, what makes heuristic AI different, and how Timefold is saving companies millions of hours through smarter planning. Chapters 00:00 – Introduction 01:00 – Origins of OptaPlanner 03:00 – The First Breakthrough 05:00 – Red Hat & The Open Source Journey 07:00 – IBM Acquires Red Hat 10:00 – Becoming a Founder 13:00 – Finding a Co-Founder 15:00 – Why ChatGPT Can’t Do Scheduling 17:00 – The Math Behind the Madness 19:00 – How Timefold Solves Real Problems 21:00 – AI Hype Cycles 23:00 – Saving Hours and Dollars 26:00 – “Would You Rather” 29:00 – Closing