Dan Shipper
I'm the co-founder and CEO of Every, an applied AI lab exploring the future of work. I write Chain of Thought, a weekly column about AI read by more than 130,000 people, and host AI & I, a podcast about how the smartest people in the world use AI.
Before Every, I co-founded Firefly, a customer-support software company I started while a student at Penn and sold to Pegasystems in 2014. I've been writing online since 2010. I live in New York City.
Now
Every is a living laboratory for what great human work looks like after automation. We publish a daily newsletter read by 130,000+ builders, and we make software—Cora (email), Sparkle (file organization), Spiral (writing), Monologue (dictation), Proof (collaborative editing), and Plus One (an AI agent in Slack). We also train executive leadership teams at the top tech companies and financial services in the world how to use and implement AI at work.
Selected writing
- May 2026After AutomationWe automated almost everything at Every—and tripled our headcount. An 8,000-word essay on why AI creates more human work, not less.
- Sep 2025Every's Master Plan: Part IIThe only subscription you need to stay at the edge of AI.
- Mar 2025Why Generalists Own the FutureIn the age of AI, it’s better to know a little about a lot than a lot about a little.
- Jul 2024Every's Master PlanWriting our way to a big business.
- Jan 2024The Knowledge Economy Is Over. Welcome to the Allocation Economy.In the age of AI, every maker becomes a manager. The essay that coined the term “allocation economy.”
- Jan 2024ChatGPT and the Future of the Human MindAI is a lever that becomes a lens—on what chatbots reveal about how we think.
- Sep 2023Admitting What Is Obvious“I’m a writer—what are you?” On finally claiming an identity you’ve been living all along.
- Jun 2023What I Do When I Can't SleepAI, insomnia, and the articulation of taste.
- May 2023AI Is Transforming Media Forever, Here's HowDispatches from the frontier of technology and the written word.
- Apr 2023Against ExplanationsAI can make progress where science has struggled.
- Mar 2023GPT-4 Is a Reasoning EngineReason is only as good as the information we give it—an early framework for thinking about what LLMs actually are.
- Jan 2023Can GPT-3 Explain My Past and Tell My Future?Ten years of journal entries loaded into GPT-3—then the questions started.
- Jan 2023GPT-3 Is the Best Journal I've Ever UsedA slow and steady progression to living out the plot of 'Her.'
- Jan 2023The End of OrganizingHow AI will turn your notes into an actual second brain—and why organizing information is over.
- Nov 2022AI and the Age of the IndividualWhen intelligence is cheap, individuals win. The first Chain of Thought column.
Everything I write lives at every.to/@danshipper. My old startup blog (2010–2016) is preserved in the archive.
Press
- 2026Lenny's PodcastThe AI paradox: More automation, more humans, more work
- 2026The New York TimesSmaller Is Better in Silicon Valley's 'Tiny Team' Moment
- 2026AxiosAnthropic's viral new work tool wrote itself
- 2026AxiosAnthropic's Claude Code transforms vibe coding
- 2025The New YorkerWhy Can't A.I. Manage My E-Mail?
- 2025MercuryWhat Comes Next? Dan Shipper Is Figuring It Out
- 2025Lenny's PodcastThe AI-native startup: 5 products, 7-figure revenue, 100% AI-written code
- 2025The New York TimesWill Writing Survive A.I.? This Media Company Is Betting on It.
- 2023TEDThe Unexpected Key to Boosting Your Productivity (The Way We Work)
- 2021AxiosThe 'Everything' Bundle Is the Latest to Leave Substack for Its Own, More Robust Technology
- 2015First Round ReviewThis 23-Year-Old Built and Sold His Startup While in School — Here's What Made the Difference
- 2014TechCrunchPegasystems Acquires Co-Browsing Tool Firefly, the First Investment by First Round's Dorm Room Fund
- 2013The New York Times (You're the Boss blog)A Start-Up Fund That Lets College Students Make the Decisions
- 2012Business InsiderStartups Are Flinging Job Offers at Dan Shipper, but the 20-Year-Old Philosophy Major Would Rather Stay at UPenn
More coverage from the last fifteen years on the press page.