# David Stout

> David Stout is the co-founder and CEO of webAI, an Austin-based company building private, on-device artificial intelligence that runs on hardware people already own instead of centralized cloud data centers. Raised on a cattle ranch in northern Michigan, he taught himself to compress large AI models onto phones, laptops and edge hardware, and founded webAI in 2019 with Ethan Baird and Tyler Mauer. The company reached a $2.5 billion valuation in January 2026 on the thesis that the most valuable AI of the future will be sovereign, distributed and local rather than rented from Silicon Valley hyperscalers.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at webAI
- **Organizations:** webAI, Ghost House Technology, Council on Foreign Relations
- **From:** Michigan, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Studied (attended), Davenport University, Online AI/ML coursework (did not complete), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads webAI, described as the first end-to-end private AI platform, Grew webAI to a $2.5 billion valuation by January 2026, Pioneered techniques to compress large AI models to run on consumer and edge devices

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Founded Ghost House Technology in Michigan, working on neural networks and frequency technology
- **2019** — Co-founded webAI in Austin, Texas with Ethan Baird and Tyler Mauer
- **2024** — Closed $43M Series A (Sept 10, 2024), reaching a roughly $700M valuation with backers including Forerunner Ventures
- **2025** — Became a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations; webAI announced partnership with Divergent
- **2026** — webAI reached a $2.5 billion valuation after a high double-digit million raise with TIME Ventures, Atreides Management, Forerunner and OXCART Ventures

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads webAI, described as the first end-to-end private AI platform
- Grew webAI to a $2.5 billion valuation by January 2026
- Pioneered techniques to compress large AI models to run on consumer and edge devices
- Developed innovations including Guided Attention, Attention Steering, and the Large Infrastructure Model (LIM)
- Built products including Navigator (drag-and-drop model training), webAI Assistant, and webFrame (model distribution across Apple devices)
- Named a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations in June 2025

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — webAI reached a $2.5 billion valuation following a high double-digit million funding round backed by TIME Ventures, Atreides Management, Forerunner and OXCART Ventures.
- **2025-06** — David Stout became a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
- **2025-04** — webAI announced a partnership with Divergent to advance human-AI collaboration.

## Links

- Website: https://www.webai.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpstout

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-stout
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-20