# Michael Villar

> Michael Villar is the founder and CEO of Height, a New York-based project management platform that is trying to hand the tedious parts of running projects over to an AI reasoning engine. He is Belgian, was selling forum skins at 14, sold his previous startup Kickoff to Stripe in 2013, spent years designing and coding early Stripe products, and now runs Height as a lean team with a Series A behind it.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Height
- **Organizations:** Height, Stripe, Kickoff
- **From:** Belgium
- **Nationality:** Belgian
- **Known for:** Sold his first startup, Kickoff, to Stripe in 2013, Contributed to early versions of Stripe Checkout, the Stripe iPhone app, and Stripe Atlas, Raised $14M Series A for Height in September 2021

## Career timeline

- **~2005** — As a teenager in Belgium, sells online forum skins and builds software for international users
- **2013** — Co-founded productivity startup Kickoff, acquired by Stripe
- **2013-2018** — Early product designer and engineer at Stripe; works on Stripe Checkout, the Stripe iPhone app, and Stripe Atlas
- **2018** — Founds Height in New York
- **2021-09** — Height closes $14M Series A; total funding reaches $18.25M
- **2023** — Height pivots toward autonomous project collaboration powered by an AI reasoning engine

## Achievements

- Sold his first startup, Kickoff, to Stripe in 2013
- Contributed to early versions of Stripe Checkout, the Stripe iPhone app, and Stripe Atlas
- Raised $14M Series A for Height in September 2021
- Positioned Height as 'the world's first autonomous project collaboration tool'

## Latest updates

- **2023-XX** — Repositioned Height around autonomous project collaboration, driven by an AI reasoning engine
- **2021-09** — Closed Height's $14M Series A

## Links

- Website: https://michaelvillar.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-villar-b136ba168/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/michaelvillar

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-villar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-09