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Inside Factory: The Secret AI Platform Silicon Valley Engineers Are Using
Can you really build an $8 billion startup by yourself using AI agents?
Nathan Lands
May 29, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Hi everyone,
This is Lore Brief, your edge in the age of AI.
Thanks for being one of 36,000+ builders and techno-optimists tuning in.
Today's special issue features Matan Grinberg, a physicist turned AI founder who's built Factory, one of Silicon Valley's best-kept secrets that's been quietly serving enterprise clients for two years.
Today, it’s available for anyone to use, and we have special coupon codes for 14 days free and 10M bonus free tokens! Use this link.
Software development is more than just coding.
Introducing Droids -- the world's first software development agents. 🤖
Starting today, Droids are available for general access.
Factory integrates with your entire engineering system (GitHub, Slack, Linear, Notion, Sentry) and
— Factory (@FactoryAI)
3:51 PM • May 28, 2025
What you'll learn
How Factory's specialized "droids" automate the entire software development lifecycle beyond just coding
Why the hybrid local/remote agent approach gives you both superpowers and team scalability
How enterprise teams are using AI agents to eliminate tedious engineering tasks and focus on high-leverage work
The fundamental behavior shift coming to software development (hint: it's not just better autocomplete)
Why agency, not IQ, may become the key differentiator in an AI-powered world
Key takeaways
Live demo magic: Watch Matan build a fully functional DocuSign competitor with user authentication, document upload, signature workflows, and activity logging in under 20 minutes using only natural language
Enterprise-first strategy: Factory spent two years perfecting their platform with large companies before releasing to everyone—the opposite of most AI startups
Beyond coding: The platform handles requirements gathering, planning, PRDs, design docs, code review, testing, and maintenance—not just code generation
The new software paradigm: Instead of living in IDEs writing every line, developers will shift to understanding constraints, planning, and testing AI-generated solutions
Barrier elimination: Tools like Factory dramatically lower the barrier to building the next $8 billion company by eliminating the need for large engineering teams
X/Twitter → @matansf / @factoryai
Website → factory.ai
Episode guide
(00:00) Enterprise-Focused Product Expansion - Why Factory stayed stealth while serving big companies
(05:45) Engineering Task Automation Tools - The four specialized droids and their unique capabilities
(07:01) Quick Project Setup Outline - Live demo begins: building DocuSign from scratch
(10:43) AI Revolutionizing Software Development - The coming paradigm shift beyond IDE-based coding
(14:29) Customer-Centric Problem Solving - Why constraints and customer understanding matter more than syntax
(18:10) Progress Through Efficiency Improvements - The Henry Ford quote and why step-function changes are net positive
(19:22) Agency: The New Success Metric - How drive and persistence may matter more than raw intelligence
(24:54) Expanding Product to Small Teams - Factory's general availability launch at $40/month
(25:38) Unified Platform for Software Development - The vision to replace fragmented dev tools (GitHub, Slack, Linear, etc.)
(30:44) Importance of Foundational Knowledge - Why kids should still learn to code (and physics)
(33:55) Technology: Rise, Apex, and Decline - Matan's prediction for 2050: tech becomes invisible
(35:40) Future Technology Beyond Smartphones - Why the iPhone won't be humanity's last device
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