My First Million How I built a $3B AI Startup + 7 AI Business Ideas
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May 28, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, Guillermo Rauch, the founder and CEO of Vercel, shares his journey from a young coder to leading a billion-dollar AI startup. He dives into innovative AI business ideas, including a platform for easy game development and revolutionary approaches to captcha systems. Guillermo also highlights how AI can enhance the user experience in forms and photography, and discusses the potential of smart autocomplete to boost coding productivity. His insights on technology's evolution and financial strategies are thought-provoking and inspiring.
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Guillermo's Early Career Journey
- Guillermo Rauch was a high school dropout from Argentina who found early success in open source JavaScript projects.
- He received a job offer from Facebook as a teenager but stayed in Argentina before eventually accepting a startup role in Switzerland.
Why JavaScript Won
- JavaScript won as a universal web language due to its simplicity and ability to run in all browsers.
- Its evolution followed Darwinian principles: starting simple, becoming more powerful over time, beating out complex alternatives.
Maximize Iteration Velocity
- Focus obsessively on iteration velocity when building software products.
- Reduce the time from idea to live deployment to seconds as Vercel does with rapid shipping pipelines.