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The personal cloud

Zo is a new kind of computer. Created by a new kind of computer company.

Our computer is cloud-native. Our goal is to give everyone the full power of the cloud. Previously, the great powers of cloud computing were only accessible to developers. The next billion developers are coming – and they need a cloud that's much simpler.

Our computer is also AI-native. Our goal is to make using Zo feel as powerful as having an entire software company at your command.

Who we are

Co-founders Rob & Ben met in 2013 on the early Venmo team.

Rob went on to become the founding engineer at Substack. Ben spent nearly a decade at Stripe.

They started a company together in 2023. First they built Substrate, an agentic inference platform for developers. Over time, Substrate evolved into something bigger: a personal AI cloud computer that lets anyone build with AI. They called it Zo.

How we work

We're a small team based primarily in Brooklyn, NY. These are our core values:

Our users are builders.

Though our users are "consumers," we see them as the next generation of developers. We're building a platform for this generation of builders, and we're obsessed with creating infrastructure you own, backed by abstractions that last.

A love for the craft.

Even as software industrializes, we stay obsessed with the art and science of software engineering. Software is a stack of abstractions designed for humans and machines. Machines don't care about elegance – so we must take extra care.

Thoughtful AI.

Automation is leverage. AI should be used as a tool for words, code, and work. We live on the bleeding edge of doing things with AI. But we also know that careless use creates fatigue, erodes trust, and carries real risk. We use AI deliberately.

Communicate with clarity and care.

We're operating heavy machinery. Real people depend on Zo for real work. We communicate with each other and our users with the same precision and care we put into building our software.

PS – We're hiring.

Try Zo
What inspires us
“The cozy web is Venkatesh Rao's term for the private, gatekeeper-bounded spaces of the internet we have all retreated to over the last few years.”
Maggie Appleton
Maggie Appleton
The Dark Forest and the Cozy Web
“Over the years I've been steadily accumulating and implementing "personal infrastructure hacks" for myself.”
Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram
Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure
“Being able to build a map of the coffee shops that your dog likes is obviously a very valuable reason to build your own personal data warehouse.”
Simon Willison
Simon Willison
Personal Data Warehouses
“There is one timeless way of building. It is thousands of years old, and the same today as it has always been.”
Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander
The Timeless Way of Building
“Complexity is an intrinsic measure of the meaning of the code, while complication refers to additional complexities introduced during the development process.”
Alan Kay
Alan Kay
Is it really 'Complex'? Or did we just make it 'Complicated'?