Ex-Google Employees Bet Big On AI After ChatGPT Launch, Now Their Startup's Worth $100 Million

Two former Google employees made a bold move by shutting down their profitable startup, Create, which was raking in over $2 million annually, to pivot to AI. Their new venture is now valued at a whopping $100 million after securing $11 million in funding. The duo's decision was sparked by ChatGPT's launch in November 2022, which made them question the future of human software developers. Dhruv Amin and Marcus Lowe, both 33, now serve as the co-founders and co-CEOs of Anything, a startup focused on "vibe-coding" and have already hit a $2 million annualised revenue run rate, CNBC Make It reported. 

The decision to pivot the business came after what Amin describes as a turning point - the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. The generative AI chatbot's leap in capability compared to earlier models caught many off guard and signaled a shift in the potential of AI-driven tools.

By spring 2023, Amin and Lowe foresaw a future where AI could potentially match human developers in writing complex code. If that prediction proved true, it would make human engineers, and by extension, their original business model obsolete. However, shifting their focus entirely to AI carried its own risks. If the technology didn't evolve quickly enough, the new direction could fail, leading to a loss of clients and financial instability.

After several months of difficult decision-making, the duo chose to act. In October 2023, they began restructuring the company, which involved letting go of half their seven-person team and ending collaborations with freelance developers. Just two weeks later, they found themselves in an almost empty office, beginning again from the ground up.

"We went back to zero, so that was hard. We had to let go of half of the team. We had to shut down the developer marketplace and tell our customers we weren't going to do this with devs anymore," Amin told CNBC Make It. 

The duo's startup, initially known as Create, pivoted to AI and rebranded as Anything. They first launched an AI-powered tool for building app components, like login forms and calendars. By April 2025, they released a game-changer: a platform to build entire online businesses, including backend auth and payments, with no coding skills needed. 

"That was actually the moment where it felt like it really took off," says Amin. Within two weeks, the company touched a $2 million annualised revenue run rate. 

Amin thinks the AI coding space is still in its "extremely early" days, citing mixed reviews for vibe-coding services. However, he added that non-tech users have already built cool apps with Anything, like a hair salon's AI stylist app and a dental hygienist's gum health tracker.