Mike Krieger

And I was sat there going, I want to work on interesting problems at scale at a company that I started, but I don't want to start a company. I kind of swirled a bit. I was like, what do I do next? And I definitely knew I did not want to just invest. Not that investing is a just thing, but it's just different. I'm like a builder at heart, as you all know. And so I was like,

this is going to be really hard. Maybe I need to take some time and then start a company. And then I got introduced to the Anthropic folks via the head of design here, who's somebody I actually built my very, very first iPhone app with in college. So I've known him for a long time. His name is Joel. I started talking to them, and I realized they

this is going to be really hard. Maybe I need to take some time and then start a company. And then I got introduced to the Anthropic folks via the head of design here, who's somebody I actually built my very, very first iPhone app with in college. So I've known him for a long time. His name is Joel. I started talking to them, and I realized they

this is going to be really hard. Maybe I need to take some time and then start a company. And then I got introduced to the Anthropic folks via the head of design here, who's somebody I actually built my very, very first iPhone app with in college. So I've known him for a long time. His name is Joel. I started talking to them, and I realized they

research team here is incredible, but the product efforts were so nascent that, you know, I'm not going to kid myself that I'm coming in as a co-founder, like the company's around for a couple of years. They were like already like sort of company values and the way things are working and they call themselves ants. Maybe I would have advocated for a different like employee nickname, but it's fine.

research team here is incredible, but the product efforts were so nascent that, you know, I'm not going to kid myself that I'm coming in as a co-founder, like the company's around for a couple of years. They were like already like sort of company values and the way things are working and they call themselves ants. Maybe I would have advocated for a different like employee nickname, but it's fine.

research team here is incredible, but the product efforts were so nascent that, you know, I'm not going to kid myself that I'm coming in as a co-founder, like the company's around for a couple of years. They were like already like sort of company values and the way things are working and they call themselves ants. Maybe I would have advocated for a different like employee nickname, but it's fine.

That ship has sailed. But I felt like there was a lot of product greenfield here and a lot of things to be done and built. So there was that comment. It was the closest combination I could have imagined to

That ship has sailed. But I felt like there was a lot of product greenfield here and a lot of things to be done and built. So there was that comment. It was the closest combination I could have imagined to

That ship has sailed. But I felt like there was a lot of product greenfield here and a lot of things to be done and built. So there was that comment. It was the closest combination I could have imagined to

the team I would have wanted to have built had I been starting a company, enough to do, so much to do that I wake up every day both excited and daunted by how much there is to do, and already momentum and scale so I could feel like I was going to hit the ground running on something that had a bit of tailwinds, where I felt like a lot of Artifact were headwinds somewhat outside of our control, and that was the combination.

the team I would have wanted to have built had I been starting a company, enough to do, so much to do that I wake up every day both excited and daunted by how much there is to do, and already momentum and scale so I could feel like I was going to hit the ground running on something that had a bit of tailwinds, where I felt like a lot of Artifact were headwinds somewhat outside of our control, and that was the combination.

the team I would have wanted to have built had I been starting a company, enough to do, so much to do that I wake up every day both excited and daunted by how much there is to do, and already momentum and scale so I could feel like I was going to hit the ground running on something that had a bit of tailwinds, where I felt like a lot of Artifact were headwinds somewhat outside of our control, and that was the combination.

The first one was big decision, what do I do next? Then the second one was like, all right, Is Anthropic the right place for it? And it was the sort of thing where every single conversation I'd have with them, I'd go back to them and be like, I think this could be it. I wasn't thinking about joining a company that's already running like crazy, but I want to be close to the core AI tech.

The first one was big decision, what do I do next? Then the second one was like, all right, Is Anthropic the right place for it? And it was the sort of thing where every single conversation I'd have with them, I'd go back to them and be like, I think this could be it. I wasn't thinking about joining a company that's already running like crazy, but I want to be close to the core AI tech.

The first one was big decision, what do I do next? Then the second one was like, all right, Is Anthropic the right place for it? And it was the sort of thing where every single conversation I'd have with them, I'd go back to them and be like, I think this could be it. I wasn't thinking about joining a company that's already running like crazy, but I want to be close to the core AI tech.

I want to be working on interesting problems. I want to be building, but I want it to feel like as close-ish to a co-founder kind of situation as I could.

I want to be working on interesting problems. I want to be building, but I want it to feel like as close-ish to a co-founder kind of situation as I could.

I want to be working on interesting problems. I want to be building, but I want it to feel like as close-ish to a co-founder kind of situation as I could.

And I think Daniela, who's the president here, maybe was trying to sell me, but she's like, you feel like the eighth co-founder that we never had that was like our product co-founder, which is amazing that they have seven co-founders and none of them are like the product co-founder. But whatever it was, it sold me. And I was like, all right, I'm going to jump back in.