Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders

S5 E30: Adam Wiggins, Muse

Jan 4, 2022

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Adam Wiggins was from California originally, but has lived in Berlin for the last decade. Earlier in his life, he did burning man art installations and was a DJ. Now, he is a middle aged family man, so he focuses on his family, his daughter, his adorable dog and his career/software projects. His partner is also an immigrant, whom he met while in Berlin.

Adam loves Berlin, and in fact, loves European cities in general, for their focus on quality of life. He mentions that in the states, there is a large amount of economic freedom but some inequality and more highs and lows to speak of. The culture in Berlin specifically is full of history, culture, and a bohemian element which is very attractive to music and art.

Adam is most well known for starting Heroku, which completely simplified the way developers think, interact and use infrastructure. Post its acquisition by Salesforce, he found himself thinking about the future of computing, and started a research lab called Ink & Switch. The area they landed on was computing interfaces, and usage around screen touch. After a few prototypes, they landed on something that they though was a solid combination of desktop precision with touch screen mobility.

This is the creation story of Muse.