Paul Buchheit
The creator of Gmail and a partner at Y Combinator, who is a proponent of 'vibe coding' and believes AI will democratize technology creation, enabling more people to build startups.
entitydetail.created_at
7/26/2025, 6:41:54 AM
entitydetail.last_updated
7/26/2025, 6:43:45 AM
entitydetail.research_retrieved
7/26/2025, 6:43:45 AM
Summary
Paul T. Buchheit, born November 7, 1977, is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur widely recognized for creating the email service Gmail and developing the initial prototype for Google AdSense during his tenure at Google as employee #23. He also influenced Google's early corporate culture by suggesting their former motto, "Don't be evil," in a 2000 meeting. More recently, as a partner at Y Combinator, Buchheit has been a prominent voice in the AI landscape. At the 'Winning the AI Race' event in Washington D.C., he highlighted the emergence of physical AI companies and the increasing accessibility of software development through "Vibe Coding," enabled by advanced Foundation Models from companies like Google. He noted that this trend aligns with "The Bitter Lesson" in AI development and recalled Y Combinator's early support for OpenAI as a competitive option against major tech corporations, underscoring his continued engagement with cutting-edge technological advancements and startup ecosystems.
Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
Education
Case Western Reserve University (BS in Computer Engineering)
Known For
Creating Gmail, Developing Google AdSense prototype, Suggesting Google's 'Don't be evil' motto, Co-founding FriendFeed
Occupation
Computer engineer, Entrepreneur, Angel investor, Software developer
Date of Birth
1977-11-07
Place of Birth
Webster, New York, U.S.
Angel Investments
Over 200 companies
Google Employee Number
23
Exits from Angel Investments
29
Timeline
- Paul T. Buchheit was born. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Web Search)
1977-11-07
- The motto "Don't be evil" was initially coined by engineer Amit Patel. (Source: Wikipedia, Web Search)
1999
- Suggested Google's former company motto "Don't be evil" in a meeting on company values. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Web Search)
2000
- Created the email service Gmail while at Google. (Source: Summary, Web Search (Gmail launched April 1, 2004, development started earlier))
2000-2004
- Developed the original prototype for Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Web Search)
2000-2004
- Co-founded FriendFeed. (Source: Web Search)
Unknown
- FriendFeed was acquired by Facebook. (Source: Web Search)
Unknown
- Became a partner at Y Combinator. (Source: Summary, Web Search)
Unknown
- Commented on the rise of physical AI companies and the democratization of software development through 'Vibe Coding' at the 'Winning the AI Race' event in Washington D.C. (Source: Related Document)
Unknown
- Recounted Y Combinator's early support for OpenAI to provide a competitive alternative to large tech incumbents. (Source: Related Document)
Unknown
Wikipedia
View on WikipediaPaul Buchheit
Paul T. Buchheit (born November 7, 1977) is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created the email service Gmail. He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested Google's former company motto Don't be evil in a 2000 meeting on company values, after the motto was initially coined in 1999 by engineer Amit Patel.
Web Search Results
- Paul Buchheit - Wikipedia
Paul T. Buchheit (born November 7, 1977) is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created the email service Gmail. He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested Google's former company motto Don't be evil in a 2000 meeting on company values, after the motto was initially coined in 1999 by engineer Amit Patel. ## Early life and education [...] Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia ## Contents # Paul Buchheit | Paul Buchheit | | | --- | --- | | | | | Born | Paul T. Buchheit (1977-11-07) November 7, 1977 (age 47) Webster, New York, U.S. | | Education | Case Western Reserve University (BS) | | Occupation(s) | Angel investor Software developer | | Employer(s) | Google Facebook FriendFeed Y Combinator | | Known for | Gmail Frienders Don't be evil motto | | Website | paulbuchheit.blogspot.com | [...] Buchheit was born on November 7, 1977, in Webster, New York. He attended the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio where he studied computer engineering and was part of the college's rowing crew. ## Career
- Y Combinator Partner & Gmail Creator, Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is a partner at Y Combinator and an angel investor in over 200 companies, with 29 exits. He was employee #23 at Google where he created Gmail and also came up with the “Don’t be evil” motto. He shares his early Google experiences and key investing insights with Capital & Growth.Any guess what weapon Paul is wielding? First correct answer gets a prize! You came up with Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto in 2000. Sixteen years later, do you feel they have stayed true? [...] ConversionMagic™ # Y Combinator Partner & Gmail Creator, Paul Buchheit: The Surprising Thing I’ve Learned from Investing in 200+ Startups [...] The idea was that email in the early 2000s hadn’t advanced in a long time. There were these clunky desktop programs and webmail was terrible–Hotmail gave you 2MB of storage, Yahoo gave you 4MB and the interfaces were slow and inefficient. I wanted to make a great product that I would want to use, while also incorporating modern features like search and conversations. Google made what was then a controversial decision by targeting people with ads in email. Was that part of the original vision?
- Gmail Creator and YC Partner Paul Buchheit on Joining Google ...
Paul Buchheit is an engineer and partner at Y Combinator. He was the 23rd employee at Google, where he built Gmail and the first prototype for Adsense. After leaving Google he co-founded Friendfeed, which was acquired by Facebook. Triplebyte co-founder and CEO, Harj Taggar, sat down with Paul to talk about how he got started with programming, joining Google, and becoming a great engineer. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. # On Becoming a Programmer [...] # On What it Takes to Become a Great Engineer [...] The story about Bret I most vividly remember is from our days at Google. He wasn't even an engineer there, instead he was a product manager for some reason. As the PM on Google Maps, he was frustrated that the JavaScript was really slow. It would take forever to load. So, one weekend he said, “I'm going to rewrite it”. And he rewrote the entire thing, making it 10 times as fast and a third of the size. He completely threw away the code that a team of engineers had been working on for months.
- Paul Buchheit (CWR '98; GRS '98, computer engineering)
Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University # Paul Buchheit (CWR ’98; GRS ’98, computer engineering) Paul Buchheit ## People Internet users send billions of emails daily, many of which can be traced to the ingenuity of Paul Buchheit, who invented Gmail. Buchheit, the #23 employee at Google, was also responsible for Friendfeed, a social networking site later acquired by Facebook, now Meta. [...] Buchheit is credited with coining Google’s former company motto, “Don’t be evil.” He actively supports startups as an angel investor and is partner emeritus at the Y Combinator business accelerator headquartered in San Francisco, California. ## Related Profiles Ted Castele Carroll Cutler Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Case Western Reserve University Logo with Tagline © 2025 Case Western Reserve University 216.368.2000 Legal Notice | Privacy Policy Title IX Notice of Non-Discrimination [...] map marker 10900 Euclid Ave. Cleveland, OH 44106-7093
- Paul Buchheit: YC Partner | Y Combinator
Y Combinator # Paul Buchheit Paul Buchheit twitter logo instagram logo yc logo ## YC stats [...] Bellabeat logo Coinbase logo Docker logo Checkr logo Segment logo Benchling logo Front logo DoorDash logo EasyPost logo GoCardless logo GOAT Group logo Helion Energy logo Apollo logo Instacart logo Twitch logo PagerDuty logo SmartAsset logo Amplitude logo Gusto logo Sift logo Webflow logo HigherMe logo Zapier logo Razorpay logo Teleport logo Go1 logo Outschool logo Astranis logo People.ai logo Rippling logo Solugen logo Retool logo Newfront logo Jasper.ai logo CoinTracker logo Vanta logo [...] ## Recent posts ## In the news ## Videos The path to $100B ## Footer Y Combinator ### Programs ### Company ### Resources ### Make something people want. © 2025 Y Combinator
Wikidata
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Instance Of
Date Of Birth
12/25/1913
DBPedia
View on DBPediaPaul T. Buchheit is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur who created Gmail. He developed the original prototype of Google AdSense as part of his work on Gmail. He also suggested Google's former company motto Don't be evil in a 2000 meeting on company values, after the motto was initially coined in 1999 by engineer Amit Patel.