– The retweeted post chronicles Peter Steinberger’s career, from founding PSPDFKit in 2011—which grew to serve nearly 1 billion users via apps like Dropbox—to selling it for ~€100M in 2021 and launching Clawdbot in January 2026, an open-source local AI assistant that’s amassed over 20,000 GitHub stars in weeks.
– Clawdbot enables proactive tasks like email management, calendar updates, and flight check-ins through chat interfaces, running self-hosted on devices like Mac Minis to prioritize user privacy, differentiating it from cloud-dependent AI tools.
– Steinberger’s return to full-time coding after a break highlights a trend in AI development, where experienced engineers leverage open-source models to create accessible, viral tools amid growing demand for local AI solutions.
The Story of Peter Steinberger (Clawdbot Founder):
> Born in Austria
> Studied engineering and computer science
> Taught Mac and iOS development
> Worked as iOS engineer in San Francisco
> Came back to Europe
> Started freelancing
2011:
> Built PSPDFKit solo
> Slowly turned it into a company
> Team grew to ~70 people
> Used by Dropbox, Evernote
> Reached nearly 1B users
Oct 2021:
> Sold most of the company
> Deal worth ~€100M
> Became advisor, stepped back
> Took long break
> Lived in London and Vienna
> back to coding
2025:
> Returned full-time
Jan 2026:
> Launched Clawdbot
> Open-source AI assistant
> Runs locally
> Right now, it is viral on the internet
> Everyone is posting their Mac Mini and ClawBot setup posts
– Clawdbot enables proactive tasks like email management, calendar updates, and flight check-ins through chat interfaces, running self-hosted on devices like Mac Minis to prioritize user privacy, differentiating it from cloud-dependent AI tools.
– Steinberger’s return to full-time coding after a break highlights a trend in AI development, where experienced engineers leverage open-source models to create accessible, viral tools amid growing demand for local AI solutions.
The Story of Peter Steinberger (Clawdbot Founder):
> Born in Austria
> Studied engineering and computer science
> Taught Mac and iOS development
> Worked as iOS engineer in San Francisco
> Came back to Europe
> Started freelancing
2011:
> Built PSPDFKit solo
> Slowly turned it into a company
> Team grew to ~70 people
> Used by Dropbox, Evernote
> Reached nearly 1B users
Oct 2021:
> Sold most of the company
> Deal worth ~€100M
> Became advisor, stepped back
> Took long break
> Lived in London and Vienna
> back to coding
2025:
> Returned full-time
Jan 2026:
> Launched Clawdbot
> Open-source AI assistant
> Runs locally
> Right now, it is viral on the internet
> Everyone is posting their Mac Mini and ClawBot setup posts
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