
Guillermo Rauch: Innovating Web Development Through Open Source and AI

Guillermo Rauch is an Argentine developer based in San Francisco, best known as the founder and CEO of Vercel—the company behind the widely used web development framework Next.js. With a career rooted in the open-source ecosystem, Rauch has revolutionized modern web development by prioritizing developer experience, deployment speed, and the integration of artificial intelligence into tools like V0. His vision has positioned him as one of the most influential voices in today’s global tech landscape.
Origins and Early Career
Guillermo Federico Rauch was born in December 1990 in Lanús, an industrial city in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. From a young age, he demonstrated a keen interest in technology, teaching himself to code at home. At 17, he moved to Switzerland, and a year later, at just 18, he emigrated to the United States to launch his career in tech.
Professional Journey
During his early years in San Francisco, Rauch worked as a front-end engineer and actively contributed to open-source projects. He was a core member of the MooTools team and played a significant role in the development of tools like Socket.IO and Mongoose. He also founded Cloudup, a cloud-based file sharing platform that was later acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.
Founding Vercel and Building Next.js
In 2015, Rauch founded ZEIT, which would later be rebranded as Vercel. The company focused on enhancing the web development experience and released Next.js, a React-based framework designed to make it easier to build fast, scalable web applications. Vercel’s tools quickly gained traction, and the platform is now used by major companies such as GitHub, Nike, and Walmart. In 2024, Vercel reached a valuation of $3.25 billion following its Series E funding round.
AI Innovation: Launch of V0
In 2024, Vercel launched V0, a groundbreaking platform that enables developers to generate user interfaces using natural language descriptions. By leveraging artificial intelligence, V0 can convert sketches or verbal instructions into functional code, streamlining the design and development process for modern web applications.
Recognition and Business Philosophy
Guillermo Rauch has been widely recognized for his developer-first philosophy and his contributions to open-source software. In 2025, he was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Argentina, highlighting his global impact on the technology industry. Rauch’s leadership emphasizes efficiency, transparency, and empowering developers with intuitive, scalable tools.
Influence on Web Development and Open Source
Throughout his career, Rauch has been a key figure in shaping modern web development. His contributions to open-source projects and his visionary leadership at Vercel have helped democratize the creation of high-performance web applications. By fostering an ecosystem where innovation meets accessibility, he has enabled developers around the world to build faster and better—transforming not just how we code, but how we think about building for the web.