Chris Wanstrath
Born 1985 · Age 40
American technology entrepreneur and programmer; co‑founder and former CEO of GitHub; founder of Null Games; creator of Atom, Resque, Mustache, pjax and Electron; board member at the Computer History Museum.
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Life & Career Timeline
Early interest in video games and computers
From a young age he loved video games and wanted to create his own — formative interest that shaped his career.
Graduated St. Xavier High School (Cincinnati)
Completed high school at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati.
Enrolled at University of Cincinnati (English)
Began studying English at University of Cincinnati; later took programming classes.
Self‑taught programmer milestone
Recognized as a largely self-taught programmer prior to his CNET role; gained formal industry experience at CNET.
Offered job at CNET; dropped out of university
Accepted a software developer job at CNET Networks in San Francisco and left college to work there.
Joined CNET Networks (GameSpot & Chowhound)
Worked at CNET on GameSpot and on the launch of Chowhound, gaining production/web experience.
Ran Ruby on Rails consulting shop with P. J. Hyett
Operated a Rails consulting business alongside future GitHub co-founder P.J. Hyett prior to GitHub's founding.
Met Tom Preston‑Werner at Ruby on Rails meetup
Chance meeting at a Rails meetup in San Francisco led to the collaboration that would create GitHub.
Begin intense planning and coding of GitHub
Spent approximately three months with Tom Preston‑Werner planning and coding the initial GitHub product.
GitHub private beta launched (co‑founded GitHub)
Launched GitHub's private beta; Wanstrath was a co‑founder alongside Tom Preston‑Werner and soon PJ Hyett.
Bootstrapped GitHub (early years)
GitHub operated as a bootstrapped company for approximately four years, charging individuals and companies.
PJ Hyett joins as third co‑founder of GitHub
PJ Hyett, who had worked with Wanstrath at CNET, became the third co‑founder shortly after private beta.
GitHub public launch
GitHub launched publicly in April 2008, offering Git hosting and social collaboration features for developers.
Reached ~2,000 beta users two months post‑launch
Within two months of public release GitHub had attracted roughly 2,000 users, signaling early product‑market fit.
Authored/created Mustache templating language (mentioned)
Wanstrath is credited as a creator/contributor to the Mustache templating language (date not specified in source).
Created Resque (Ruby job queue) (mentioned)
Wanstrath created Resque, a Redis-backed Ruby library for managing background jobs (date not specified in source).
GitHub hit 100,000 users
The platform grew to 100,000 users by July 2009, marking a major adoption milestone.
Created pjax JavaScript library (mentioned)
Wanstrath developed pjax, a technique/library for faster page loads using pushState + ajax (date not specified in source).
Stepped down as CEO; became President (post‑Series A)
Wanstrath served as CEO until the Series A and then took the President role while new operational leadership joined.
Reported revenue growth ~300% annually
By 2012 GitHub was reported to be growing revenue roughly 300% year-over-year, underpinning the large VC investment.
Series A funding: Andreessen Horowitz invests $100M
GitHub raised around $100 million in 2012 in what was Andreessen Horowitz's largest investment at the time.
Created Electron software framework (while at GitHub)
Wanstrath is credited with creating Electron (the cross‑platform desktop app framework) while working at GitHub.
Public speaker at Rails & developer conferences
Gave keynote talks at International RailsConf, Startup Riot Atlanta, Rails Summit Latin America and regional conferences (various years around this period).
Keynote: Esri Developer Summit
Delivered the keynote address at the Esri Developer Summit in 2014.
Returned to CEO role at GitHub
Wanstrath returned from President back to CEO in an executive role swap announced January 21, 2014.
Atom text editor v1.0 & 350K+ monthly active users
Atom reached 1.0 and was reported to have over 350,000 monthly active users as of June 25, 2015.
Keynote: GitHub Universe Conference (2015)
Delivered a keynote at GitHub's Universe conference in 2015 (also keynoted Universe in subsequent years).
Keynote: GitHub Satellite (2016)
Keynote speaker at the GitHub Satellite conference in 2016.
Keynote: GitHub Universe Conference (2016)
Delivered a keynote at GitHub Universe in 2016.
Keynote: GitHub Universe & Satellite (2017)
Keynoted GitHub Universe (2017) and GitHub Satellite (2017).
Estimated personal proceeds from GitHub sale (reported estimates)
Reports indicate Wanstrath as the largest individual GitHub shareholder received a significant portion of the $7.5B deal; various outlets estimate his proceeds in the low‑to‑mid billions.
Joined Microsoft as Technical Fellow (post‑acquisition)
Following the acquisition he transitioned into a technical role at Microsoft (described in reporting as a technical fellow role).
GitHub described as world's largest host for software code
At the time of acquisition GitHub was widely described as the world's largest host for software code.
GitHub size at acquisition: ~20M+ users, ~$300M ARR, ~1,000 employees
At acquisition GitHub reportedly had close to 1,000 employees, over 20 million users, and about $300M in annualized recurring revenue.
Microsoft announced acquisition of GitHub for $7.5B
Microsoft announced an all‑stock acquisition of GitHub for $7.5 billion (deal reported June 4, 2018).
Stepped down as CEO of GitHub
Wanstrath stepped down as CEO in October 2018 following the Microsoft acquisition and leadership transition.
Listed in various 'under 40' and industry lists
Named/listed in America's richest entrepreneurs under 40, Fortune 40 Under 40, and CNBC's Disruptor 50 (various listings across years).
Net worth reported in some profiles (~$1.4B estimate)
Some sources (compiled bios) estimated Wanstrath's net worth around $1.4 billion circa 2020 (varies by outlet).
Founded Null Games (games publishing studio)
Announced a new games publishing studio, Null Games, in February 2023 to support indie game developers with marketing, ports, development costs and publishing.
Null Games stated publishing policy (no mobile/gambling/loot boxes)
Null publicly stated it will not publish mobile games or games containing gambling, loot boxes, or other player‑hostile mechanics.
Announced development of Void game developer platform
Announced a new game developer platform called Void, with an initial target launch date in 2024.
Reported net worth range per Forbes ($1.8–$2.2B)
Wikipedia cites Forbes estimating Wanstrath's net worth at roughly $1.8–$2.2 billion (date of estimate not specified; treated as a modern estimate).
Board of trustees, Computer History Museum (listed)
Wanstrath is listed as a member of the board of trustees for the Computer History Museum.
Null Games first published title: Tape to Tape
Null's first released title was Tape to Tape (an ice hockey rogue‑lite) developed by Excellent Rectangle.
Tape to Tape sold 34,020 units in first week
The game's first‑week sales numbered 34,020 units, an early commercial success for Null Games' publishing model.
Launched Ladybird Browser Initiative (with Andreas Kling)
Wanstrath and Andreas Kling launched the Ladybird Browser Initiative, a non‑profit project to develop a new web browser free from corporate deals and advertising.
Public retrospectives and profiles continue
Multiple profiles and interviews (blogs, startup sites) documented Wanstrath's path from college dropout to tech entrepreneur and investor.
Announced expected Ladybird browser release: Summer 2026
Publicized an anticipated browser release window in Summer 2026 for the Ladybird browser project.
Reported donation/investment to Ladybird: $1,000,000
Press reporting (iX Magazin) noted a $1,000,000 contribution from GitHub founder to support the Ladybird web browser project.
Founder profile retrospectives (media)
Founder stories and retrospectives (e.g., profiles published about Wanstrath's journey and philosophies) circulated in startup media.
Key Achievement Ages
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