# Adam Smith

> Adam Smith is the co-founder and founding CEO of Xobni, later its CTO, and the founder of AI coding assistant Kite. An MIT EECS graduate and seed investor in companies including Dropbox and Rescale, he writes about engineering, company building and decision-making. Xobni was acquired by Yahoo in 2013; Smith says the Kite team was acquihired by Affirm in 2021, where he subsequently served as a VP of engineering.

- **Role:** Seed investor and independent writer
- **Organizations:** Xobni, Kite, Affirm, Vira Tech Development, Swift Ride Technologies, Rescale
- **From:** Dallas, United States
- **Education:** Undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and computer science; subsequent master’s studies not completed, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded Xobni, acquired by Yahoo in 2013., Named an MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 in 2008., Lead author of a 2004 MobiSys indoor-location research paper.

## Career timeline

- **Age 13** — Began selling software online through Vira Tech Development.
- **2004** — Lead author of Tracking Moving Devices with the Cricket Location System, published at MobiSys.
- **2005** — Worked with Greg Duffy on Swift Ride Technologies, a traffic-navigation startup that ended that spring.
- **2006** — Co-founded Xobni with Matt Brezina and joined Y Combinator’s summer batch; left MIT master’s studies.
- **2008** — Moved from founding CEO into technical leadership after Jeff Bonforte became CEO; named an MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35.
- **2010** — Left Xobni’s day-to-day operations; Peter Monaco succeeded him as CTO.
- **2013** — Yahoo acquired Xobni.
- **2014** — Founded Kite, an AI-assisted programming company.
- **2016** — Kite publicly launched with a reported $4 million seed round.
- **2021** — Kite team acquihired by Affirm, according to Smith’s current biography; he became VP of engineering there.
- **2025** — Published The Four Styles of Confidence on Teams.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Xobni, acquired by Yahoo in 2013.
- Named an MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 in 2008.
- Lead author of a 2004 MobiSys indoor-location research paper.
- Completed MIT undergraduate studies in five semesters.
- Founded Kite in 2014.
- Seed investor in Dropbox, Rescale, Modern Treasury, Cruise and Fathom, according to his personal biography.

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Published The Four Styles of Confidence on Teams on August 28, advocating confidence calibrated to evidence and teams that allow people to change their minds.

## Links

- Website: https://adam.net/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsmith314
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/asmith
- GitHub: https://github.com/adamsmith

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/adam-smith-xobni
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25