# Mike Krieger

> Michel Krieger is a Brazilian-American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Instagram in 2010 and scaled it from zero to 1 billion users as CTO before its $1 billion acquisition by Facebook. After leaving Instagram in 2018, he co-launched Rt.live (a COVID-19 tracker) and Artifact (an AI news app acquired by Yahoo), and now co-leads Anthropic Labs, where he's building experimental AI products at the frontier of Claude's capabilities.

- **Role:** Co-lead at Anthropic Labs
- **Organizations:** Anthropic, Instagram (former), Artifact (former), GiveWell, Open Philanthropy Project, Figma (former board member)
- **From:** São Paulo, Brazil
- **Nationality:** Brazilian-American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Symbolic Systems, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Instagram and scaled it from zero to 1 billion monthly active users as CTO, Built Instagram's infrastructure as the sole developer in its early days, Scaled Instagram's engineering organization from 0 to 300 people

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Moved from São Paulo, Brazil to California to attend Stanford University
- **2005** — Graduated from Stanford with BS and MS in Symbolic Systems
- **2006** — Worked as Program Manager Intern at Microsoft on PowerPoint team
- **2008** — Joined Meebo as User Experience Designer and Engineer
- **2010** — Co-founded Instagram with Kevin Systrom, served as sole developer initially
- **2012** — Instagram acquired by Facebook for $1 billion
- **2018** — Resigned from Instagram after scaling engineering org from 0 to 300 people and user base to 1 billion
- **2020** — Launched Rt.live COVID-19 tracker with Kevin Systrom
- **2023** — Co-founded Artifact, an AI-powered news aggregator app
- **2024** — Artifact shut down and acquired by Yahoo; joined Anthropic as Chief Product Officer in May
- **2025** — Joined Figma's board in July
- **2026** — Transitioned to co-lead Anthropic Labs in January; resigned from Figma board in April as Anthropic launched Claude Design

## Achievements

- Co-founded Instagram and scaled it from zero to 1 billion monthly active users as CTO
- Built Instagram's infrastructure as the sole developer in its early days
- Scaled Instagram's engineering organization from 0 to 300 people
- Successfully led Instagram through $1 billion Facebook acquisition in 2012
- Launched Rt.live COVID-19 tracker in just days during pandemic, helping millions track virus spread
- Co-founded Artifact, pioneering AI-powered news discovery (acquired by Yahoo)
- Joined Anthropic as CPO and now co-leads Labs, building experimental AI products
- Contributed to development of Claude Code, which reached $1B in value within 6 months
- Committed $750,000 to GiveWell and Open Philanthropy Project for effective altruism
- Active open-source contributor with projects on GitHub including saveourfaves and node-imessage-codes
- Helped fund the opening of Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Resigned from Figma board as Anthropic launched Claude Design; Claude Design powered by Opus 4.7 lets users create prototypes and designs using natural language
- **2026-02** — Announced at Cisco AI Summit that Claude is now effectively writing itself, with development being 100% Claude-generated for most Anthropic products
- **2026-01** — Transitioned from Chief Product Officer to co-leading Anthropic Labs alongside Ben Mann, focusing on experimental products at the frontier of Claude's capabilities
- **2025-07** — Joined Figma's board of directors
- **2024-05** — Joined Anthropic as Chief Product Officer
- **2024-04** — Yahoo acquired Artifact's technology and team for integration into Yahoo News

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekrieger/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mikeyk
- GitHub: https://github.com/mikeyk
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeyk/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/mike-krieger
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-03