Michael Silver

ceo @joinkaizen | led infra @gather_town, databases @SingleStoreDB, infra @Meta, siri @Apple | co-directed @HackMIT, ai @MIT_CSAIL, cs @MIT

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

Exactly a year ago, @aquariusacquah asked to grab coffee at a small café in Hayes Valley, San Francisco, while I was visiting town. It was the week of Halloween, children were running around SF, and the city was flourishing.

He said, “Today’s my last day at work. I want to start something of my own.” Then he added, “They say, talk to your smartest friends — so that’s why I’m talking to you.”

The year since has flown by. In January, I moved to SF. February, we got into @ycombinator. March, we incorporated @joinkaizen. April, we started YC. May, we raised our seed from @8vc.

Over the past six months, we’ve made incredible progress. @joinkaizen is deployed across public companies, healthcare organizations with 1,000 clinicians, and vertical software juggernauts like @tryaugie and @assort_health.

In the last month, we’ve 4x’ed the workflows executed on the platform and we’re only just getting started.

Today, we’re incredibly excited to open @joinkaizen to the public. We can’t wait to see what you’ll never have to do again.

P.S. We're hiring! Send me a note if you or someone you know would like to join our incredible team — working alongside @conorxmccormack, @nmfaulkner_, @_niksrc, @aquariusacquah, and I.

[ken @aquariusacquah]

Humans invented software to free ourselves from manual work.

Somehow, we still waste billions of hours clicking across websites.

Today, @joinkaizen launches to fulfill that original promise.

Announcing our $4M raise from @8VC and the public launch of the Kaizen platform.

[Get the Check @Getthecheckpod]

Everyone is talking about 996

@michael_silver the co-founder of @joinkaizen on why what works for him is something different

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

Random cast of hot people in SF who are AWS sales reps

In another era they’d be counts and duchesses, learning 9 foreign languages, hunting ducks, and riding horses

Instead they’re wrangling socially awkward venture funded founders to make spending commitments on AWS Bedrock

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

Bagel and Lox at Loveski Jackson Square probably saved my life today between a wall of back to back IRL meetings.

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@davefontenot @Kazanjy

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@enggirlfriend Nobody said anything about SF being cool lol

Just advantageous https://t.co/WykwBXseM5

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

To everyone trying to build a career in technology in New York, I sincerely wish you good luck.

Great city to drink eat and spend your life away. I’ll be back when I’m rich.

In the interim, San Francisco is where the future is being built, brick by brick, token by token.

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

If you form your opinion of SF off Twitter then yes, it’s a clown show

And then you show up, recognize the never ending sunshine and opportunity

San Francisco is, and always will be, the gold rush town. If you’re not here, you are being left behind in the dust.

[Engineer Girlfriend @enggirlfriend]

first the “ABGs”, then the dude kissing another dude for money, and then the corgi kid yapping about how big of a boner he has for 80hour work weeks

never felt a stronger desire to never move to SF

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

To everyone trying to build a career in technology in New York, I sincerely wish you good luck.

Great city to drink eat and spend your life away. I’ll be back when I’m rich.

In the interim, San Francisco is where the future is being built, brick by brick, token by token.

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@alyssakrejmas Schloks

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

When she says “I know a spot” and it’s literally Corgi Cafe

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

Would rather go to Guantanamo then Corgi Cafe

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@aquariusacquah gauchos ftw legggoo 🤠

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@ycombinator @jynniit @clairen19 @manny4c Let’s gooooooo

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@michlimlim Actually banger, sales gang struggles 🤝

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@Getthecheckpod @aquariusacquah @joinkaizen @johncoogan @MIT Thanks for having us on the pod!

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

Somebody dared to give me a mic and a spotlight

A year after YC, @aquariusacquah and I sat down with @Getthecheckpod to share some hot takes, what drives us as a founders, and our progress at @joinkaizen

Kaizen now works with the nation's largest healthcare providers to eliminate the $1,000,000,000,000 admin overhead.

[Get the Check @Getthecheckpod]

every ai agent startup right now is hiring FDE

@aquariusacquah and @michael_silver think that's the wrong call

@joinkaizen is helping automate the hardest healthcare workflows without FDE

tune in to find out how

00:15 @johncoogan's stage presence
02:03 Meeting at @MIT
08:35 Starting @joinkaizen
13:01 Why you shouldn't drop out
14:02 Why pivoting during @ycombinator led to 2x MRR growth MoM
15:32 How Kaizen changes healthcare ops
19:46 Customers choosing Kaizen over Claude
23:46 What "whisper networks" really mean for GTM
24:24 Hot take: you don't need FDEs
27:40 Why pain tolerance matters
32:43 Do founders get to have hobbies?

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

Who tf needs $250/mo Equinox when you can get jacked with a $15 pull up bar off Amazon

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@adelwu_ “budget flexible” 👀

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

The Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai exactly 3,338 years ago

For my SF homies - this is like the system prompt for Jewish people.

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

Something about:
- Raised by parents with three doctorates
- A European mom
- MIT education in CS
- living in NYC for much of my 20s

Calibrated me to be a Services-as-Software vertical AI founder in San Francisco.

Nothing like a three martini lunch to drive lead gen🍸🤝🤣

[Michael Silver @michael_silver]

@aadilpickle Go to a French wine bar. Experience a tin there. Then reconsider your purchase of Kirkland’s finest albacore, 6 pack from Costco.