Kieran Klaassen
Kieran Klaassen is a general manager and co-founder of Cora, an AI-powered email assistant at Every. He is known for developing the methodology of Compound Engineering, which treats every development task as an investment that accelerates future work.
Background
Klaassen has an unconventional career path blending creative and technical disciplines:
- Film composer for 10 years while simultaneously pursuing software development
- CTO and VP of Engineering at previous organizations
- General Manager and Co-founder of Cora at Every
- Based in Chicago
His creative background as a composer directly informs his engineering philosophy and approach to product design.
Philosophy & Approach
Compound Engineering
Klaassen pioneered Compound Engineering, a development methodology that inverts the traditional view of technical debt. Rather than each feature adding complexity, his approach ensures every completed task teaches the system and accelerates future work.
Key aspects of his methodology:
- Treats tasks as investments, not one-off efforts
- Codifies workflows so AI can replicate and improve them
- Uses natural-language pattern capture instead of brittle automation
- Employs Claude Code for autonomous agent orchestration
- Small teams achieve output comparable to much larger organizations
Development Philosophy
Klaassen advocates for building software aligned with personal passion and authentic needs. He emphasizes that:
- Developers creating products they genuinely love produce higher-quality software
- Authenticity translates into products that resonate more deeply with users
- This approach aligns with achieving “flow” (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept) where productivity and fulfillment increase naturally
AI Agent Orchestration
Uses voice input to Claude Code rather than typing, having agents:
- Research best practices and codebase patterns
- Create detailed implementation plans
- Spawn parallel agents for different components
- Work autonomously while humans handle architecture decisions
Product: Cora
Co-founded Cora, an AI-powered email assistant that:
- Auto-archives ~80% of incoming emails
- Drafts personalized responses matching user voice
- Delivers twice-daily email briefs
- Launched after Claude 3.5 release
- Priced at ~$20/month
Technical Expertise
- Primary tool: Anthropic’s Claude Code for agentic development
- Specialized knowledge: Deploying AI agents effectively at small scale
- Focus area: Sustainable team velocity through compound learning
Key Insight: Managers as Orchestrators
One of Klaassen’s important observations is that managers are particularly well-positioned to orchestrate AI agents because they:
- Understand task decomposition
- Practice team coordination
- Recognize cross-functional dependencies
- Identify risks and bottlenecks
This reframes management as a core technical discipline in the AI era.
Impact
Klaassen’s work at Every demonstrates that small teams using Compound Engineering principles can achieve development velocity typically associated with much larger organizations. His approach is actively shaping how engineering teams think about AI-assisted development and sustainable productivity.
Last updated: January 2025
Confidence: High (public interviews and Every product announcements)
Practical relevance: Key thought leader in AI-first software development