Tech bro pulls out laptop for work at his wedding: ‘Sad as hell’

A photo shared by the founder of a US-based start-up has been dubbed “one of the most depressing LinkedIn posts out there”, sparking hundreds of appalled comments from social media users.

The post was uploaded by Torrey Leonard, co-founder of AI company Thoughtly, who praised new groom Casey Mackrell for bringing out a laptop at his wedding to get some work done.

“My co-founder Casey has built a reputation for himself as ‘the guy who sits on his laptop in bars’ from SF to NYC,” Leonard wrote.

“Last week Purposely brought in a client who was due out within 2 weeks. He just got married within that 2 week period.

“So here he is completing a pull request. At his wedding. Congratulations Casey – now please go get some rest.”

The post was accompanied by a photo showing Mr Mackrell in a suit sitting at a table with his laptop in front of what appear to be dancing wedding guests.

Unsurprisingly, the post quickly went viral, garnering hundreds of comments on LinkedIn before being shared on other social media platforms and even meme sites.

Many have described the image as “dull” and “sad”, with some even going so far as to label it as grounds for divorce.

Now, in an interview with news.com.au, Mr. Leonard defended the post and Mr. Mackrell for going online during such an important personal moment.

“As a company, what we do is very high. Every single one of our customers, they depend on us to run perfectly, 24-7, around the clock, no questions asked,” he explained.

“We work with many publicly traded companies across the globe and spend long hours at night, early mornings, monitoring these calls, proactively fixing issues, fixing problems, building new features.

“The context of this post, he had to solve a problem, and it was really just something he could solve. It was a three to five minute task.

“We understand that this lifestyle is not for everyone. It’s definitely something that’s a lot of work, but it’s something that we love.”

The reality that some commentators seem to be overlooking is that groom or not on the day, Mr Mackrell is the co-founder of a large and fast-growing company that started just over a year ago, he said.

“If you’re a co-founder, if the person below you and the person below them and the person below them can’t solve the problem, it’s not like it just goes away,” Leonard added.

“The problem still exists. And so we either accept, okay, we’re going to fail a customer, or we’re going to make a customer happy. And so we always do the latter in any situation. No question.”

Mr Leonard revealed that Mr Mackrell’s daughter-in-law, Grace, was unfazed by their happy day being cut short.

The couple is now baffled by the avalanche of Internet attention they’ve been monitoring from time to time since their honeymoon on a cruise.

“Casey is as committed to Grace as he is to the company,” he said.

“If she needs something, he does the same. He would drop everything for her. And so she understands him, and she likes him.

“They had been dating for many years, so she has seen him pull out a laptop at a restaurant dinner table. I mean, it seems crazy, but that’s exactly Casey. She’s obviously fine with it.”

The groom himself even commented on the LinkedIn post, writing: “Don’t worry, I’m back to dancing and champagne 2 seconds later.”

But these assurances that Mr Mackrell was not away from his wedding celebrations for long were not enough to placate other LinkedIn users.

One wrote: “So your company has such a terrible work/life balance that you can’t DASEM without having to work? That’s just sad as hell.”

Many users found the whole situation so ridiculous that they questioned its authenticity, suggesting that it might have been done simply to generate engagement.

One person claimed the photo had to be staged as they couldn’t believe someone would be “so ridiculous and disrespectful to his bride and family”.

Another said: “Besides the fact that this is probably staged, pushing people to sacrifice their private lives and mental health is not what you think it is.”

One commenter joked that it was “really sad” that Mr Mackrell wasn’t committed enough to cancel the wedding entirely to focus on work.

“Someone who actually knows how to grind would have canceled it the moment the contract was signed,” they said.

Mr. Leonard is unfazed by criticism of his post, except for comments that have crossed the line.

“When people make really inflammatory and negative comments about their relationship, comments that are just profane in nature, it definitely bothers me and I’ve done my best to remove anything that’s just awful.”

Mr. Leonard and Mr. Mackrell, along with his co-founder David Khaydatov, launched Thoughtly in July 2023 with a mission to “build the best-in-class AI voice agents on the market.”

“If you call any enterprise today and realize what sounds like a human but is actually an AI, you’re getting a thinking agent,” Leonard said.

“And it’s only possible with the kind of dedication and hard work that Casey has shown, because we’re at the very beginning of this technology even becoming possible. And so it’s only hard work that makes this possible.”

Since its founding, Thoughtly has raised millions of dollars in seed funding and rapidly onboarded customers from across the United States and globally.

“As founders, we certainly have a different working mentality. We’re trying to create something big and that can’t be achieved in a 40-hour week.

“Again, it’s not for everyone and there’s no judgment. This is what we do.”

He admitted it has been “surreal” to be in the middle of a social media storm less than a day after the post went live.

“It’s interesting to get messages from friends, family, people I haven’t spoken to in years saying, you know, no way. It’s surreal, but it’s also wonderful. I have reconnected with many people. I like that part of it.”