Hey everyone,
I want to take a moment to share the story of our journey building open-source AI, and it’s been quite a ride. The open-source movement is something that resonates deeply with me—there’s this electrifying synergy that comes from empowering people to create, adapt, and share ideas freely. Our team invests lots of effort in building open and composable AI, and what is the key thing that keeps us going? The vibrant community we meet and become part of along the way.
We are actually in the beginning of our journey, and it’s not about having all the answers. It is about asking the right questions and involving people who share our curiosity. In our early days, we threw ourselves into technical conversations—Transformers, file formats, database systems—you name it. We were at conferences and workshops, trying to share our insights, but what we quickly realized is that preaching to an audience doesn’t build a community. It’s the personal experiences and the shared journey that draws people in.
Instead of standing on a pedestal and shouting out technical conclusions, we decided to change our approach. It became less about presenting cold, hard facts and more about sharing personal stories. I mean, who cares if we give people the “right” answer if they already think they know it? What really matters is bringing them into the process. It’s like saying, "Hey, here’s how we learned this, here’s what worked, here’s what didn’t. Let’s talk about that."
And this is where things get exciting. Around each of us in the team, there are micro-communities forming—groups of people who see the world similarly, who understand where we’re coming from because they’ve been on similar journeys. Whether it's data engineers, developers curious about AI, or even people totally new to the tech space—everyone finds something to latch onto when they hear the personal side of the story.
As a startup, one of our core goals is growth. But here’s the twist: it’s not just about numbers. Sure, we want as many people as possible to know what we’re doing, but what we really care about them being truly inspired by what we do. We want people who get excited about the possibilities of open-source AI, who want to collaborate, contribute, and push boundaries with us.
Let’s be real—building an AI startup is not a short-term game. We’re talking months before some of the really transformative stuff we’re working on hits the public. But that doesn’t mean we sit on our hands and wait. No way. We’ve got stories about our ups and downs we want to share with you.
That’s why we’ve decided to embrace more personal storytelling formats. Whether it's podcasts, casual blog posts, or Discord conversations, our focus is on sharing these “aha” moments we’ve experienced—those times when things click for us and for the people we’re working with. Think of it like a documentary where you follow us, the founders, on this crazy journey, learning as we go.
For example, one of the best reactions we got was when we explained Transformer models in the context of databases to a seasoned database engineer. It was one of those lightbulb moments where you could see everything just fall into place for them. That’s the kind of engagement we’re after.
We’re not trying to build a massive, monolithic community for the sake of just having it. Instead, we’re thinking in terms of smaller, tightly-knit groups around our team, there’s a different crowd forming. It’s not about casting the widest net; it’s about finding the right people who connect with us and building from there. This personal, almost tribe-like approach is more scalable than you might think.
And that’s the essence of our journey— building open, compound and iterative AI world, evolving it with the help of a diverse community. Whether you’re an engineer, a domain expert or a curious onlooker, or someone completely outside the tech world, we want you to feel like you’re part of this. Because, ultimately, open-source isn’t just about code— it’s about how people coalesce to build the future.
Stay tuned, guys. There’s a lot more to come.
— AIFoundry.org Team 🚀