Amjad Masad grew up in Amman, Jordan, learning to code at internet cafes on borrowed computers. He became the founding engineer at Codecademy in 2011, then a tech lead at Facebook where he built core JavaScript infrastructure (Babel.js, Jest, React Native packager). In April 2016, he founded Replit with his wife Haya Odeh and brother Faris Masad.

The Long Grind

The original prototype of Replit (a browser-based coding environment) had gone viral on Hacker News years earlier, but turning it into a business was painfully slow. YC rejected them four times before accepting them for Winter 2018. Even after $180M+ in VC funding from a16z and Coatue, revenue barely grew. By early 2024, they were stuck at $2.8M ARR with a team they'd already cut by 50%.

The AI Inflection

In September 2024, Amjad launched Replit Agent — an AI coding assistant powered by Anthropic's Claude that could build entire applications through conversation. It was the product the platform had been waiting for. Revenue went from $2.7M ARR in April 2024 to $16M by end of year to $70M ARR by April 2025 — a 2,493% year-over-year increase.

Making Coding Fun

Amjad's philosophy was always that coding should be fun and accessible, inspired by his own experience of limited access growing up. Replit made coding social and shareable — users creating and sharing projects brought in new users naturally, growing 122% year-over-year in 2019 through pure word of mouth.

• Founded: April 2016
• YC rejections: 4 (accepted W18)
• $2.8M ARR: Early 2024 (8 years in)
• Staff cuts: 50% reduction
• Replit Agent launch: September 2024
• $70M ARR: April 2025 (25x in 12 months)
• $253M ARR: October 2025
• Valuation: $9B (late 2025)