# Colin and Earendil

Regular readers of this blog will know that I started a new company.  We have
put out just a [tiny bit of information today](https://earendil.com/purpose/),
and some keen folks have discovered and reached out by email with many
thoughtful responses.  It has been delightful.

[Colin](https://colin.day/) and I met here, in Vienna.  We started sharing
coffees, ideas, and lunches, and soon found shared values despite coming from
different backgrounds and different parts of the world.  We are excited about
the future, but we're equally vigilant of it.  After traveling together a bit,
we decided to plunge into the cold water and start a company together.  We want
to be successful, but we want to do it the right way and we want to be able to
demonstrate that to our kids.

Vienna is a city of great history, two million inhabitants and a fascinating
vibe that is nothing like San Francisco.  In fact, Vienna is in many ways the
polar opposite to the Silicon Valley, both in mindset, in opportunity and
approach to life.  Colin comes from San Francisco, and though I'm Austrian, my
career has been shaped by years working with California companies and people
from there who used my Open Source software.  Vienna is now our shared home.
Despite Austria being so far away from California, it is a place of tinkerers
and troublemakers.  It's always good to remind oneself that society consists of
more than just your little bubble.  It also creates the necessary counter
balance to think in these times.

The world that is emerging in front of our eyes is one of change.  We
incorporated as a [PBC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_corporation) with
a founding charter to craft software and open protocols, strengthen human
agency, bridge division and ignorance and to cultivate lasting joy and
understanding.  Things we believe in deeply.

I have dedicated 20 years of my life in one way or another creating Open Source
software.  In the same way as artificial intelligence calls into question the
very nature of my profession and the way we build software, the present day
circumstances are testing society.  We're not immune to
these changes and we're navigating them like everyone else, with a mixture of
excitement and worry.  But we share a belief that right now is the time to stand
true to one's values and principles.  We want to take an earnest shot at leaving
the world a better place than we found it.  Rather than reject the changes that
are happening, we look to nudge them towards the right direction.

If you want to follow along you can [subscribe to our
newsletter](https://earendil.com/posts/subscribe/), written by humans not
machines.