Phind —Search engine that just gives you the answers. Powered by generative AI and large language models.

Phind envisions a future where the boundary between curiosity and discovery dissolves, making deep technical knowledge instantly accessible through intelligent search. We are dedicated to transforming how developers and creators interact with information, shaping a world where the right insight is only a question away.

By harnessing the power of large language models and generative AI, Phind builds a real-time, collaborative search experience that understands intent and context beyond mere keywords. Our technology unlocks detailed, actionable solutions tailored specifically for the complexities of programming and software development.

At Phind, we are driving a new era of technical knowledge discovery that accelerates creativity and progress for developers, researchers, and creators worldwide, changing how expertise is sourced and applied in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

We've been watching Phind since its Y Combinator days, and frankly, we're impressed by how they've carved out their niche. While everyone else was building yet another ChatGPT wrapper, founder Michael Royzen had the insight to focus specifically on what developers actually need: precise, contextual answers to complex programming questions.

The story behind Phind is classic startup hustle. Royzen and his cofounder built their first demo as UT Austin seniors in early 2022, but had to shut it down after 10 days because they couldn't afford the compute costs. That's when you know you've hit something real — when students are willing to go broke for 10 days just to prove their concept works.

What Makes It Click

Here's where Phind gets clever: instead of trying to be everything to everyone, they laser-focused on the developer experience. Their AI doesn't just regurgitate Stack Overflow answers — it actually reasons through multi-step programming problems and cites reputable sources.

We tested it with some gnarly debugging scenarios, and the results were surprisingly solid. The engine seems to understand context in ways that generic AI search tools miss, probably because they've trained specifically on code datasets and technical documentation.

The Infrastructure Story

What caught our attention is how they've managed costs while scaling. Building on AWS with NVIDIA EC2 Spot Instances shows they're thinking like engineers, not just AI enthusiasts. That early financial scare clearly taught them to be smart about infrastructure from day one.

With just 4 people on the team and $500K in funding, they're running lean and mean. That's either going to be their superpower or their limitation, depending on how fast the developer AI space heats up.

Who Should Pay Attention

If you're a developer who spends too much time hunting through documentation or crafting the perfect Google query to solve coding problems, Phind deserves a spot in your toolkit. The premium features add image analysis and enhanced processing, which could be game-changers for visual debugging.

We see this as particularly valuable for teams working across multiple programming languages or dealing with complex integrations where context really matters. It's not going to replace your IDE, but it might just replace a few browser tabs.