Anton Sten

fractional design partner

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

Here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to since I left:

Three years ago I was consulting but ended up joining one of my clients, Summer Health, full-time. First as the founding designer, then Head of Design.

I led design for two major projects, Care App and CareOS — https://t.co/TNd4QHjRWQ

I left Summer Health in December 2025 to return to consulting.

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@shkliarau negative 🤣

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

$6.6M in revenue per employee is the most insane stat I've seen in a very long time.

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

My quick takeaways on the Anthropic S-1:

1. This is a historical moment

2. $6.6M in revenue per employee!! Hard to even comprehend how good that is but Anthropic is AI native as it gets so makes sense.

3. I always thought OpenAI would drop their S-1 first

4. Customers spend about 9x more after a year. Net Revenue Retention is approximately 900% as of Sep 30, 2026. Good SaaS companies brag about 120%.

5. Cowork is growing faster than Claude Code did. Goes to show you the demand for consumer products. Duo will probably rip.

6. 3 years ago this company did $41M in revenue. In the first six months of 2026, it did $16.3 billion. I don't think anyone has a mental model for that curve yet, I sure don’t.

7. Nearly half of revenue comes through cloud marketplaces. About 48% comes from customers buying through them. Big companies buy where their budget already lives, and the lesson for founders selling to enterprises is to get listed where your buyers already spend.

8. Their run rate formula is published: the last 28 days of usage times 13, plus subscriptions times 12, which i guess is the new ARR math for founders?

9. It looks like They're merging Cowork into Claude dot au which tells you the chat box era is ending and the "go do the work for me" era is here.

10. Thousands of Anthropic employees are about to become liquid at once, so expect the biggest wave of new AI startups and angel checks San Francisco has ever seen. Reminds me when Facebook went public but this is way bigger.

Let’s go!

11. Buried in the filing, Anthropic says the gap between what Claude can do and how widely it's used is one of its biggest growth opportunities, so the company itself is telling you the models are ahead of the market and someone has to close that gap for dentists, landlords, and plumbers.

12. Whatever happens, exciting times to be building in AI.

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@KatieLangerman made the same point on Complementary: the reasoning behind a token "can't just be in your head." https://t.co/yM73ty3z7p - well worth a listen!

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

Building a design system by hand used to double as memorising it. With an agent doing most of the production work, I now have to look things up in the system I'm building. The upside is that the rules have to be written down instead of living in my head.

https://t.co/7PoLQ2zKZO

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

This started with a conversation with @buzzusborne, who wrote about rebuilding Help Scout's design system so LLMs can use it: https://t.co/GSWPNND76A

[Wes @WesleyBancroft]

I don’t use Figma anymore.

For the past six months I’ve been uploading my consciousness directly into the ether and allowing the work to manifest through minor disturbances in the electromagnetic field. You think you are seeing the aurora borealis that's actually my brain waves.

It’s a much more intuitive process. I sit completely still in my office until a founder somewhere develops a sudden inspiration for their brand positioning but in reality it was me clipping them in their brain stem, smiling down on them like one of God's children.

People keep asking what tools I’m using. I understand the question. I used to think that way too. But asking me what tools I use is like asking a glass of water what software is wetness. Its a meaningless question.

I don’t design anymore. I am the pixels. I am the logo. I am the little bit of space between the 'r' and the 'n' that you better make sure is kerned properly. When you increase the font size I experience physical growth. When you cut a vector point, my consciousness goes into quantum superposition.

This is where the industry is going. If you're not on board, you're going to get left behind.

My entire design system now lives in the collective unconscious. There’s no documentation. Your team will simply wake up knowing the button radius. If someone uses the wrong shade of blue they’ll hear a high pitched ringing sound until they correct it.

Developer handoff has been so smooth since I started working this way. My effigy appears at the foot of the engineer’s bed and I open my mouth. The CSS comes out at a frequency only their fillings can receive. We’ve eliminated all meetings.

I no longer send clients presentations. I enter their dreams as a white horse with an already complete interactive brand guidelines. They’re free to leave feedback by speaking into a bowl of room temperature water. I receive it immediately and disagree with it on a cellular level. Transcending this outdated material plane is my standing Tuesday meeting.

Some people are uncomfortable with this. A procurement manager recently asked whether I could provide an SVG of the logo and I just told her to close her eyes and remember the first time she felt truly understood. She looked annoyed and just said their print vendor needed an SVG by today.

A big adjustment has been personal. My wife asked if I could help bring in the groceries. I explained that I now exist simultaneously across every customer touchpoint.

I think there’s a lot of fear right now about what happens when designers stop needing tools. But the people who adapt will be fine. You just have to be willing to let go of a few outdated ideas. Like having a body. Being legally distinguishable from a gradient.

Anyway I am open for new branding projects this quarter.

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Sean Goodwin @TheSeanGoodwin]

Really proud of the entire team I worked alongside for this work. Design is making a huge impact at Harvey

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@bot @PeterRosdahl Kan du fråga din bot varför det här funkar för dig men inte för mig

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@PeterRosdahl Min hänvisar till https://t.co/XdNFJOFqaE och säger att mitt konto är registrerad i Sverige så det funkar inte

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@PeterRosdahl Du är väl ”speciell” 😎

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@PeterRosdahl Fan får det inte att funka, säger bara att det inte är tillgängligt i Sverige?

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@PeterRosdahl @bot are you seeing this?

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@PeterRosdahl Visste inte att @bot replies funkade i EU?

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@dafeld Bjuder på en från morgonen framför brasan

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

Sunday, zero complaints rn

(My wife made the pastries!)

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@shkliarau @bookingcom damn hope it sorts out for you and your family!

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@nlevin Yes, this!! Almost went insane pausing the show waiting for the sound.

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

@chase_mccoy @claudeai Noticed this, looks great!!

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

Credit where credit is due - The Claude desktop app has received some serious polish love over the last week. It's actually looking _really_ great now.

[Anton Sten @antonsten]

Credit where credit is due - The Claude desktop app has received some serious polish love over the last week. It's actually looking _really_ great now.

[Ben Barry @benbarry]

This aligns with my experience. 2026 is one of the most exciting times in my entire career. I feel more empowered than ever before. Things that used to be slow, difficult, or impossible are now almost effortless. If you can articulate your ideas clearly, they can probably exist.