Why You Should Join The Browser Company
Why You Should Join The Browser Company
An operating system for the internet.
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Why You Should Join The Browser Company
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If you were to stack rank the most important pieces of software from 20th century, an operating system would probably be near the top.
For developers, early platforms like MS-DOS abstracted away large amounts of hardware, preventing them from worrying about things like disk storage, network interfaces, or process management. For users, they offered a more convenient and efficient way to run and manage all their programs (i.e. Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint).
With time, operating systems centralized the tools and workflows of office workers.
You can see their impact every day on your desktop.
If you were to stack rank the most important pieces of software from 21st century, a web browser would probably be near the top.
For developers, early browsers like Internet Explorer offered an easy way to distribute software globally and instantly to millions of people. For users, they offered a more convenient and efficient way to run and manage all their web apps (i.e. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides).
With time, web browsers centralized the tools and workflows of office workers.
You can see their impact every day on your desktop.
You might not have noticed, but browsers today handle a lot of what operating systems used to do. Ever since our workflows began moving from the desktop to the cloud, we’ve been relying more on our browsers to manage web apps and less on our operating systems to manage their desktop counterparts. For users and developers, this meant tabs were replacing windows, network requests were replacing downloads/installations, and Javascript threads were replacing processes.
In other words, browsers have surpassed operating systems as the dominant application environment: even before the pandemic and remote work, 37% of information workers were spending 60% of their time completing tasks on a web browser. Remote/hybrid work accelerated that shift: if you’re a student, engineer, or creative, you know what it’s like to spend all day switching between Drive, Notion, Slack, Jira, Figma, Github, Spotify, and Youtube.
By consolidating all the separate apps we used to use under one, browsers have become this natural successor to operating systems. As a result, they’re easily the most widely and deeply used piece of software today.
But was the browser designed for this massive responsibility?
If you’re one of 45% of people juggling at least 20 tabs (or 21% juggling at least 30), you probably have your reservations.
Like early operating systems, the browser as it exists today wasn’t meant to be more than a basic portal for interfacing with apps. Windows 1.0 had no desktop, no taskbar, and no user accounts — it was one screen letting you open and use apps by clicking on them. This worked well when you were only using your computer for VisiCalc once or twice a day, but it broke down when people began using their computers for more time and more tasks.
If you’re managing 10-20 different programs and windows, an interface like this holds you back:
That’s why as more people became power users of their computers, later operating systems introduced things like desktops, taskbars, profiles, searchbars, recycling bins, and wallpapers to help users organize, optimize, and personalize their machines. As computers became more central to peoples lives and the workflows they handled more complex, these abstractions and personalizations were necessary to help manage that complexity.
Browsers have become similarly central, the workflows they handle similarly complex.
But unlike modern operating systems, they don’t do anything across applications to help organize and manage that complexity. Like Windows 1.0, your browser remains essentially a giant list of all your tabs.
Browsers have become the natural successor to operating systems, adopting a similarly central place in the lives of both developers and users.
But unlike operating systems, they haven’t grown beyond a thin shell around the applications they host — a problem because users need something to help manage the internet’s ballooning complexity.
There’s a sizeable opportunity in modernizing the most used piece of software in the world.
The Browser Company has made the most promising attempt so far.
Background
As you might guess, The Browser Company is building a next-generation web browser.
Called Arc, the product was designed to feel almost more like an operating system than something like Google Chrome. For instance, a “favorites” section for your tab bar serves the same purpose as pinned apps on your Macbook’s dock. Spaces and profiles function similarly to spaces and profiles on your computer, making it easy to group tabs and accounts specific to different parts of your life.
Arc has been extremely popular since release: the product saw ~10% week over week growth across the first 9 months, a further 2x growth in Q2 2023, and now serves “hundreds of thousands” of users five days a week.
If you hang around tech or design circles, you’ve almost certainly heard about the product. Arc’s userbase is considerably more passionate about their browser than the average Chrome user:
But why?
For anyone who’s never used Arc, it’s not obvious what the product’s killer features are, which exact chord they’ve struck with so many different people.
To us, the best way to understand The Browser Company’s product philosophy and Arc’s appeal would be the parallel we’ve drawn so far to operating systems:
Web browsers today (i.e. Chrome) are like early operating systems (i.e. Windows 1.0). Both became dominant application environments, which naturally led to significant workflow complexity. Both were also too simple to help users manage that complexity.
Web browsers of the future (i.e. Arc) are like modern operating systems (i.e. macOS Ventura). Both were designed for heavy usage and offer a suite of abstractions, personalizations, and optimizations across apps to help manage that complexity.
These parallels exist more concretely across Arc’s feature set and, as Arc’s users have discovered, are invaluable when you spend lots of time in the browser. For instance:
macOS offers a dock, a desktop, and separate spaces to help group and organize your desktop applications (windows). Arc offers a “favorites” section, a “pinned” section, and separate spaces to help group and organize your web applications (tabs).
macOS offers Spotlight Search to help you to search across your apps, documents, emails, and everything else. Arc offers a Command Bar to help you search across tabs, actions, history, and everything else.
macOS offers different user profiles on the same computer to help separate different accounts/contexts (i.e. work vs personal). Arc also offers profiles to help you separate different browser accounts/contexts (i.e. work vs personal).
macOS offers built-in utilities like Notes, Stickies, and Messages so you don’t have to find and download as many separate apps. Arc offers built-in utilities like Easels and Notes so you don’t need to leave the browser as often.
macOS offers stylistic personalizations around your background, screensaver, and accent colors. Arc lets you set custom icons for tabs, background colors for spaces, and HTML/CSS/JS for entire websites using a more advanced version of Chrome extensions called Boosts.
On top of these principles drawn from traditional operating systems, Arc has built out a number of optimizations unique to their web-native environment. For instance, a built-in media player lets you adjust music no matter which tab you’re on. Picture in picture mode keeps calls/videos visible even if you’re on a different tab. Site search lets you search within specific sites (i.e. Youtube) from the Command Bar, and built-in support for split screen lets you tile different windows right next to each other.
So why has Arc been so popular?
It’s because for their users, Arc is the operating system for the internet they’ve always needed, offering features to help manage/organize/personalize their web apps like their operating system used to do for their desktop apps. In doing so, Arc has filled a lot of gaps/pain points people used to feel when dealing with web-first workflows.
To put it another way, Arc is to Chrome what Windows 10 was to Windows 1.0.
Although the company isn’t charging for anything yet (we’ll dive into potential business models later), you can imagine there’s probably some way to make money if they can maintain their trajectory and re-invent the most popular piece of software in the world.
The Browser Company was founded by Josh Miller and Hursh Agrawal in 2019. The two had previously worked together to found Branch, a link-sharing app acquired by Facebook. After working at Facebook together for a few years, Josh went on to be a Director of Product at the White House and an investor at Thrive, and Hursh founded a software development consultancy called Enso Code.
The company’s ambitious vision helped them to raise a $5 million Seed Round in 2020 from Thrive Capital and individual investors like Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn), Ev Williams (Medium), Dylan Field (Figma), Jason Warner (GitHub), and Akshay Kothari (Notion). In 2021, they followed up by raising a $13 million dollar Series A from operator-investors like Patrick Collison (Stripe), Eric Yuan (Zoom), Bret Taylor (Salesforce), Mike Krieger (Instagram), Emilie Choi (Coinbase), and Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn).
The Browser Company has stellar traction, clouted investors, and (as we’ll see in a bit) one of the most stacked teams ever assembled in startups. They’ve got a vision to transform how we interface with the internet and a mission to build the operating system of the future.
But can they build a sizable business off of it all? Especially when no one’s paying for their web browsers today?
We think they have a shot.
Let’s have a deeper look at why.
The Opportunity
In 2022, there were 5.3 billion internet users worldwide, representing 66% of the global population. 3.3 billion of them accessed the internet via Google Chrome, and over a billion of them accessed it from Safari.
Browsers are the most popular piece of software in the world.
Unfortunately for browser startups, almost no one’s paying for their browsers today. Every notable web browser is free: Chrome was mostly a strategic push to help Google maintain dominance over search, and Safari was just a way for Apple to keep up with Microsoft.
So for the Browser Company to become a successful business, they need to achieve two non-trivial things:
Get lots of people to switch to Arc.
Get lots of people to pay for Arc.
In other words, they’ve got to show Arc can create value (people will switch) and that they as a business can capture value (someone will pay). If they can pull this off, the opportunity is almost unbounded: browsers are the most popular piece of software in the world, so there’s almost no limit on their total user base.
Let’s start with the first task.
Creating Value
Like any product, Arc can get lots of users to switch if they create value for lots of users.
What kinds of people get value out of Arc?
Power users.
Arc’s various optimizations and organizational features are most helpful if you’re juggling Slack, Linear, Rippling, Github, Outlook, and Drive like a modern office worker — they’re not nearly as helpful if all you’re doing is using Facebook a few times a day. Its the same reason your operating system wouldn’t be useful if you were only using Microsoft Excel — you might as well just leave that open 24/7.
Breaking things down further, we think Arc will create value for lots of people because:
More people are becoming power users.
Existing browsers aren’t equipped to handle power users.
Powerful Users
More people are becoming browser power users not because they love Chrome, but because they have to: every app is shifting to the browser.
You know Google Docs, Salesforce, and Asana are all web apps, but did you know the real-time transit maps on BART trains were also? Or that the crew interfaces on the Dragon 2 spacecraft were written with HTML/CSS/Javascript?
If you’re building something with a 2D user interface, the odds you’ll do it with something besides browser technologies are almost none. This is for four reasons:
Standardized UX. The HTML DOM and Javascript have reached critical mass in developer mindshare/experience, making web technologies a de-facto standard for anything with a user interface. It’s gotten to the point where even mobile (React Native) and desktop (Electron) apps are being built with web technologies. If you’re designing, it’s easiest to leverage the browser.
Expansive Ecosystem. A bottomless stack of frameworks, modules, and APIs means it’s faster to build a web app than any other at this point. A deep pool of web developers means it’s easier to build a team also. If you’re building, it’s easiest to leverage the browser.
Standardized Distribution. Everything can run browsers now, from laptops to cell phones to Samsung refrigerators. With browsers, you can write your software once and deploy it seamlessly to billions of people, all of whom can access it without a download. If you’re distributing, it’s easiest to leverage the browser.
Structural Advantages. Making your app cloud-native enables real-time collaboration, infinite storage, and continuous updates, all table stakes for modern software. These unique features mean more apps are being built or refreshed with the browser in mind. If you’re scaling, it’s easiest to leverage the browser.
At this point, only the most compute-intensive of applications (i.e. video games, video editing) are still run locally - everything else lives in the browser. But even these apps are slowly shifting also - constantly improving bandwidth and new web standards (HTML5, WebGL, WASM) are making web apps more powerful all the time. Figma’s collaborative editor, for instance, was uniquely enabled by a custom rendering engine written in WebGL.
As a result, more people are using more webapps all the time, and the number of browser power users is increasing.
Weak Browsers
Unfortunately, this poses a problem: as we’ve explored, most browsers aren’t great at handling lots of apps and lots of tabs.
In particular, the lack of organization holds them back: having tons of indistinguishable tabs open at once can be stressful and inefficient for users. That’s why operating systems come with spaces, docks, and desktops — by helping you prioritize, organize, and search through apps, you only see/use what you need to. This reduces mental load and increases efficiency, which is huge for anyone who uses their browser a lot.
As a result, it’s easy to understand why power users are switching to browsers like Arc. For power users, Arc offers three value propositions to make the experience working across apps easier and more pleasant:
Organization - features like favorites, spaces, pinned tabs, and profiles help you organize/prioritize your tabs, reducing mental load.
Optimization - features like split screen, in-website search, a built-in media player, picture-in-picture mode, and the command bar help you work more efficiently.
Personalization - features like custom backgrounds, icons, and boosts (website reskins) help make your browser feel more “yours”.
Unlike traditional browsers (designed when most people were casual users of the internet), Arc was built for power users of the modern internet. It’s easy to see why so many of them have been switching over.
Capturing Value
Arc is a popular product, but it’s also a free product.
This is potentially a problem because The Browser Company is a company (😲), and companies have to make money.
So what will they do?
Well, Josh himself has acknowledged how they don’t have a set plan here yet, which we’ll also acknowledge at this point is the biggest (highkey existential) risk to the business.
Even so, we have reason to believe they’ll figure something out.
If you believe the prior analysis, that Arc will continue growing and that more and more power users will switch over, The Browser Company will be in such a uniquely leveraged position that it’ll be tough for them not to make money.
Compared to literally any other software tool, a successful Arc will enjoy:
Unparalleled scale. Browsers are the most popular piece of software in the world, so even capturing 1% market share gives Arc a larger user base than almost any other software tool.
Unparalleled leverage. Browsers are the most foundational piece of software, impacting how every piece of software running on top is discovered, used, and perceived.
Unparalleled engagement. Browsers are the most used app in the workspace, and Arc’s users are more engaged than any other browser.
Startups are a game of what can go right, and we think that if things go right for The Browser Company, they can go very right.
Even so, we realize this is all kind of a cop-out answer. Before continuing, we’ll leave you with three more concrete ways they might be able to monetize.
Arc as an Enterprise Tool
Josh has said he thinks “Arc for Teams” is one way The Browser Company might monetize. Here are three potential wedges a “browser for enterprises” might lean into:
Security
The browser is the tool most used by enterprises, but it wasn’t built with security in mind. Arc might add security-focused features like:
Granular policies on networks requests/locations/assets.
Visibility over browser behavior (logs, incident traces).
Control over browser behavior (copy/paste/download/upload).
Other features might include built-in web isolation, web filtering, or zero-trust access. This would be useful in preventing cyberattacks for all employees, but especially for contractors or other workers who use their own devices.
Artificial Intelligence
The browser is an ideal insertion point for AI assistants since it has access to all the stuff you encounter online. Arc might add AI-focused features like:
An infinite memory assistant like Rewind.ai.
A system for running AI agents/action transformers natively in the browser. In contrast to the many AI-helpers being built into specific apps, a browser-based agent would be uniquely positioned to handle tasks across apps. This is way more helpful for approximating real, human workflows.
Collaboration
The browser is the most used tool in the workplace, but it remains relatively siloed. Arc might drive productivity by adding collaboration-focused features like:
Team-specific boosts and extensions.
Browser-native integrations with popular SaaS tools.
Shared easels, notes, and comments across websites.
Arc as an Individual Tool
While the core browser will always remain free, The Browser Company might offer a premium version of Arc with extra features for interested individuals. These might include:
Special boosts (website reskins/remixes), perhaps available on a marketplace for boosts/extensions.
Special features (i.e. an AI assistant, stronger ad/tracker blocking) that improve the core experience.
Arc as a Distribution Channel
Although less desirable, Arc can always be monetized as a distribution channel for other companies. For instance, Google is known for paying Apple 15 billion a year to remain the default search engine on Safari. The Browser Company could go down a similar path, perhaps being paid to integrate/recommend popular web apps to their users.
Competitive Landscape
The market for web browsers is highly competitive and includes some of the biggest players in the world. Now that we’ve dug into the specifics of Arc’s product and philosophy, let’s look at how they compare against their potential competitors. Like many markets, this space is developing rapidly, so please use this as a starting point for your own analysis.
Traditional Browsers
Chrome, Edge, and Safari are the three most popular browsers in the world, each backed by a major tech company (Google, Microsoft, and Apple). Because of this alone, we can’t really write them off - if any decide to put serious effort into building something resembling Arc, they’ll be tough to compete with.
But of course, the real question is will they do it?
We think it’s possible but less likely for a few reasons:
Browsers aren’t a core part of any of their businesses. Google’s focus is on ads, Microsoft’s is on their enterprise suite, and Apple’s is on their hardware. Beyond a lack of prioritization/focus, this can have a material impact on their products: Google, for instance, won’t do anything that harms their ads business (which is why Chrome is getting rid of ad blockers). The Browser Company has no such restrictions.
Arc represents a dramatic departure in design/philosophy from traditional browsers, who mostly render stuff for you and get out of the way. Popular browsers wouldn’t be able to make a leap in design as drastic as Arc without potentially confusing a large portion of their users. Even if the big players wanted to clone Arc, this would put them in an innovator’s dilemma-style bind.
Least satisfying but still important, building something as nuanced and avant-garde as Arc is just difficult at large companies. This isn’t because they don’t have great people (they do!) but because it’s hard to build conviction on something this new and intricate when you have lots of people.
If we had to throw a guess, Microsoft would be the most dangerous of the three. Besides having a history of ripping popular SaaS products (i.e. Teams vs Slack, Loop vs Notion), they’ve already demonstrated interest in improving browsers by introducing AI to Edge. Chrome would likely be the second, since they stand to lose the most from an insurgent web browser.
Even then, however, they might find it hard to steal Arc’s users. Switching costs with Arc are far higher than with most browsers: Arc users will have customized their browser with favorites, pinned tabs, spaces, custom backgrounds, and various boosts.
Startups
Startups building a next generation browser have generally taken one of two angles.
Security-focused browsers have traded Arc’s broad ambitions for a laser-like focus on improving cybersecurity. They don’t do much UI/UX-wise, but they do have a clearer value proposition and business plan. Some players here include:
Island - a security-focused, Chromium-based web browser for the enterprise. It comes with built-in security features like web filtering, web isolation, smart network routing, zero-trust access, and safe browsing. They came out of stealth last year with a $115 million Series B and a $1.3 billion valuation. If you’re interested in later-stage companies, this would be a promising one to join.
Talon - another security-focused, Chromium-based web browser for the enterprise. It comes with built-in security features (i.e secure authentication, data loss prevention, zero trust controls) and offers security teams deep visibility into browser and application activity.
There are companies in this camp that are strong and growing quickly, which is worth recognizing. While they don’t compete directly with the more UX/productivity-focused Arc (who’s trying to disrupt the idea of a browser itself), you can imagine them potentially going after the same enterprise users and budget someday.
Productivity-focused browsers are more similar to Arc in how they’re also trying to improve the fundamental browsing experience. Some players include:
SigmaOS - a WebKit-based, productivity-focused browser. Like Arc, it also allows you to rename, save, and group tabs in a more convenient way. They raised a $4 million seed round led by LocalGlobe in 2022.
Sidekick - a productivity-focused browser focused on enterprise workflows. It offers a dock-like sidebar, “AI based tab suspension”, and universal search across all your open tabs. They raised a $2 million seed round led by Kleiner Perkins in 2021.
We haven’t seen any products in this camp with the same traction, brand, community, or engagement as Arc. On most of the important dimensions, it looks like Arc is the leader in this group.
Execution
As discussed above, successfully re-imagining the browser effectively means competing with Google/Microsoft/Apple — and winning.
That takes a strong team.
Thankfully, The Browser Company has one, especially on design and especially at the senior level. If you’ve ever wanted to work directly with a former VP at Google or SVP at Slack who chose to join as ICs, now’s your (probably only) chance. Consider a sampling of their team outside the founders:
Peter Vidani - Product Designer
Peter was previously SVP of Design at Slack, SVP of Product at Salesforce, Head of Product at Quip (acquired by Salesforce for $750 million), and Head of Design at Tumblr.
Darin Fisher - Software Engineer
Darin was previously VP of Engineering at Google, where he helped build the Chrome browser and Chrome OS. He was also a Software Engineer at Neeva, IBM, and AOL (Netscape). He holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley.
Ben Cunningham - Design Engineer
Ben was previously Head of UI Design at Tesla. Before that, he was a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Tesla and a Tech Lead at Facebook. He holds a BS in CS from Stanford.
Tara Feener - Product Engineer
Tara was previously VP Product and Senior Director of Engineering at Vimeo. Before that, she was Head of Engineering at WeTransfer.
Jane Kelly - Data
Jane was previously Head of Growth at Retool, where she was one of the first 5 employees. Before that, she was Director of Data Products at Buzzfeed. She holds a BA in Geography, Art, and Art History from Colgate.
Dustin Senos - Head of Design
Dustin was previously Head of Design at Medium and Founder of Small Animal Studios, a digital product studio. He was also a Software Engineer at Disney, where he worked on Club Penguin.
Sébastien Marchand - Software Engineer
Sébastien was previously a Staff Software Engineer at Google, where he was for 11 years.
Dolapo Falola - Head of Engineering
Dolapo was previously a Director of Engineering at Slack, a Senior Engineering Manager at Instagram, and a Senior Engineering Manager at Facebook. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering from UT Austin.
Rebecca Grunberg - Data Scientist
Rebecca was previously a Data Science Lead at Quora and a Software Engineer at Stripe. She holds a Ph.D. and an MS from MIT in Management Research.
Dara Oke - Product Designer
Dara was previously a Product Design Lead at Netflix and Program Manager at Microsoft. She holds a BS in CS from UT Austin.
Brian Michel - Engineering Manager
Brian was previously a Senior Engineering Manager at Cash App, Twitter, and Tumblr. He holds a BS in Information Systems from Drexel.
Renato Mangini Dias - Software Engineer
Renato was previously a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Google, where he worked on Fuschia, Android, and Chrome.
Saleem Abdulrasool - Software Engineer
Saleem was previously a Senior Software Engineer at Google and Facebook. Before that, he was a Senior Member of Technical Staff at VMWare. He holds a BS in CS from UIUC.
Hiroshi Yamauchi - Software Engineer
Hiroshi was previously a Staff Software Engineer at Google, where he was for 16 years. He holds an MS in CS from Purdue.
Matias Seijas - Software Engineer
Matias was previously a Software Engineer Lead at Block (Square) and a Staff Engineer at Betterment. He holds an MS in Interaction Design from NYU.
Vivek Galatage - Software Engineer
Vivek was previously a Senior Principal Architect at Visteon, a Senior Chief Engineer at Samsung, and a Senior Software Engineer at Nokia.
Andrew Monshizadeh - Software Engineer
Andrew was previously a Senior Software Engineer at Slack, a Software Engineer at Facebook, and a Software Engineer at Instagram.
Having used Arc ourselves for a year this point, we can attest to how quickly this team ships. It’s almost annoying how often you have to update the product for new features.
Conclusion
Browsers are the most important piece of software in the world today.
They’ve surpassed operating systems as the dominant application environment, centralizing and amplifying the world’s collective software output. The internet as we know it wouldn’t exist without them.
For The Browser Company, meaningfully improving the browser is just the beginning. The broader vision is to build the first of what they call “internet computers” - imagine a computer living in the cloud, naturally syncing activity across your phone, computer, AR headset, refrigerator, and Tesla.
The future of the internet awaits.
They’re hiring.
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