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Who is Vinay Hiremath, Indian-origin co-founder who sold startup for $975 million?
Vinay Hiremath, co-founder of Loom, sold his startup for $975 million to Atlassian in 2023 but feels confused about his future despite newfound wealth.
Vinay Hiremath, the India-origin co-founder of Loom, sold his startup for $975 million to an Australian software company in 2023. In a blog post, he has written that he has "no idea" what to do with his life.
"I am rich and have no idea what to do with my life," the title of his blog post read.
"Life has been a haze this last year. After selling my company, I find myself in the totally un-relatable position of never having to work again. Everything feels like a side quest, but not in an inspiring way. I don’t have the same base desires driving me to make money or gain status. I have infinite freedom, yet I don’t know what to do with it, and, honestly, I’m not the most optimistic about life," Hiremath wrote in a long post.
Who is Vinay Hiremath?
Hiremath's journey started at the University of Illinois where he dropped out two years into college. Following this, he had a short stint at Facebook as a software engineering intern for four months.
Vinay Hiremath's first big break as an engineer came in August 2012 when he joined a startup called Backplane. This is where Hiremath says he learned how to “hack”. This is also where he met Shahed Khan, with whom he went on to develop Loom, a video messaging company, reported Forbes.
After spending a little over a year there, in September 2013, Vinay Hiremath joined another startup called Upthere, where he enhanced his technical skills and knowledge before finally co-founding Loom with Shahed Khan and Joe Thomas in 2015. He was the head of engineering at his startup for over four years before getting promoted to chief technology officer in April 2020.
What is Loom?
Loom is a video-messaging platform that describes itself as “the easiest screen recorder you’ll ever see” but also “so much more than a screen recorder”. It has over 25 million users across 400,000 companies worldwide. Loom allows users to record and share AI-powered videos with their teammates and customers.
In 2023, Loom was acquired by Australian software company Atlassian for $975 million.
What more for Vinay Hiremath?
Apart from being a successful engineer and entrepreneur, Vinay Hiremath describes himself as an investor who is willing to offer help to founders he “vibes” with “for free and for no allocation”.
According to the about section of his blog vinay.sh, he is a “big fan of capitalism”. He is also into cold plunge, sauna therapy and meditation. He also likes to “ride motorcycles, box, lift weights, travel, throw parties, and meet people from all walks of life.”
