---
title: How we got here
slug: how-we-got-here
description: "The story of how Resend came to be."
humans: ["zeno-rocha"]
updated_at: "2026-05-01"
created_at: "2024-06-04"
---

## Aug 2022: Reimagining email

Bu and I were using multiple email tools, but they all felt outdated, slow, and built for marketers, not developers.

We also had to deal with emails landing in the spam folder and felt the pain of building a beautiful email template that would work everywhere.

So, we started playing with the idea of building the “Stripe of Email” as a side project.

![Zeno Rocha (left) and Bu Kinoshita (right) writing the first lines of code for Resend](/static/handbook/how-we-got-here-1.jpg)

## Sep 2022: First customer

Once we had a working MVP, we shared it with a friend who was working at another startup. He liked it and started using it in production. We sent him a $10 payment link as a way to validate if the product was really good or not.

To our surprise, he paid (!), which gave us the confidence to apply to Y Combinator.

## Nov 2022: Getting into YC

After pitching the idea to Gustaf, Harj, and Diana, they finally accepted our application!

We immediately quit our jobs and moved to San Francisco to join the YC Winter 2023 batch.

## Dec 2022: Open source launch

We launched [react.email](https://react.email) because we were frustrated by how difficult it was to build modern email templates that worked well across all email clients.

This project [caught the attention](https://x.com/zenorocha/status/1603406791630520320) of a lot of people, and it became clear that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

## Jan 2023: Hello world

Resend was incorporated in January 2023, and we shared the news online.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and the [announcement tweet](https://x.com/zenorocha/status/1610655123063336961) alone had more than 1M views.

This was also the month <Human id="jonni-lundy" /> joined our founding team as Operations Manager.

<LinkCard
  title="Introducing Resend"
  description="Why are we doing this? What problem are we solving? Why now?"
  url="/blog/introducing-resend"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/introducing-resend.jpg"
/>

## Mar 2023: First launch week

We organized the first Resend launch week and shipped seven new features in seven days.

<LinkCard
  title="Launch Week 1: Wrap Up"
  description="All about the seven new features we launched in the last seven days."
  url="/blog/launch-week-1-wrap-up"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/launch-week-1-wrap-up.jpg"
/>

## Apr 2023: $3m seed round

After finishing Y Combinator, we raised a $3m seed round ([see full list of investors](/about#investors)).

We also had our [first team gathering](https://x.com/resend/status/1648688016766955524) in Lisbon, Portugal.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend raises $3M"
  description="Who invested on us. Where we're going. Why are we doing this."
  url="/blog/resend-raises-3m-seed-round"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-raises-3m.jpg"
/>

## May 2023: Welcoming Zeh

We announced that <Human id="zeh-fernandes" /> joined our founding team as Product Designer.

<LinkCard
  title="Welcoming Zeh Fernandes, our new Product Designer"
  description="We're thrilled to share the news that Zeh Fernandes is joining Resend."
  url="/blog/welcoming-zeh-fernandes"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/welcoming-zeh-fernandes.jpg"
/>

## Jun 2023: Public launch

After operating behind a waitlist, we finally [opened the product to everyone](https://x.com/resend/status/1668622792919773187).

## Sep 2023: Welcoming Vitor

We announced that <Human id="vitor-capretz" /> joined the team as a Software Engineer.

<LinkCard
  title="Welcoming Vitor Capretz, our new Software Engineer"
  description="We're thrilled to share the news that Vitor Capretz is joining Resend."
  url="/blog/welcoming-vitor-capretz"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/welcoming-vitor-capretz.jpg"
/>

## Nov 2023: Welcoming Krithika

We shared the news that <Human id="krithika-yetchina" /> joined the team as Customer Support Engineer.

React Email also [reached 10,000 GitHub stars](https://x.com/resend/status/1721906579145105409) that month.

## Dec 2023: 1,000 paying customers

We celebrated 1,000 paying customers as we closed the first year of Resend as a company.

## Jan 2024: Looking “Forward”

We organized our second launch week, and this time, we called it [Forward](/forward).

This marked the launch of marketing emails and turned Resend into a multi-product company.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend Forward: Wrap Up"
  description="All about the new features we launched last week."
  url="/blog/resend-forward-wrap-up"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-forward-wrap-up.jpg"
/>

## Mar 2024: Investing more in security

After months of work, Resend became SOC 2 Type II compliant.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend is SOC 2 Type II compliant"
  description="Our journey to becoming compliant and what it means for you."
  url="/blog/soc-2"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/soc-2.jpg"
/>

## Apr 2024: First 100,000 users

After 15 months since officially starting Resend, we reached 100,000 users.

<LinkCard
  title="What's next after 100,000 users"
  description="How we got here and where we're going next."
  url="/blog/what-is-next-after-100-000-users"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/what-is-next-after-100-000-users.jpg"
/>

## Jun 2024: Opening our strategy to the world

After months of work, we launched our [handbook](/handbook) and shared 35 articles on how we approach engineering, design, support, and marketing.

We also announced that <Human id="felipe-volpone" /> joined the team as a Software Engineer.

<LinkCard
  title="Handbook"
  description="The process behind Resend."
  url="/handbook"
  image="/static/cover-handbook.jpg"
/>

## Jul 2024: Improving data privacy

Resend became GDPR compliant and we wrote about the journey to get there.

We also shared that <Human id="brian-kerr" /> joined the team as a Customer Success Engineer.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend's journey to GDPR compliance"
  description="Our path to complying with GDPR and continuing our commitment to protecting your data."
  url="/blog/gdpr"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/gdpr-compliance.jpg"
/>

## Aug 2024: Third launch week

We celebrated our third launch week by shipping 6 new features in 7 days.

Schedule Email API, Vercel Integration, and React Email 3.0 were some of the highlights.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend Forward 3: Wrap Up"
  description="Everything we launched during the third launch week."
  url="/blog/resend-forward-3-wrap-up"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-forward-3-wrap-up.jpg"
/>

## Oct 2024: Pricing updates

We rolled out a new pricing tier for high-volume senders.

We also announced that <Human id="chris-pennington" /> joined the team as a DX Engineer.

<LinkCard
  title="Introducing the Scale plan"
  description="What changes with the new plan that starts at 100,000 emails."
  url="/blog/introducing-the-scale-plan"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/introducing-the-scale-plan.jpg"
/>

## Nov 2024: Offsite in Floripa

Our team of 10 people flew to Brazil to spend a week together. A lot of great insights came from that.

We also shared that <Human id="danilo-woznica" /> joined the team as a Design Engineer.

<LinkCard
  title="Reflections on my first Resend offsite"
  description="A week of connection, strategy, and learning."
  url="/blog/reflections-on-my-first-resend-offsite"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/reflections-on-my-first-resend-offsite.jpg"
/>

## Dec 2024: $18m Series A

After 18 months since the public launch, Resend raised a Series A round.

We also announced that <Human id="alexandre-cisneiros" /> joined the team as a Software Engineer.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend raises $18M Series A"
  description="How we got here. Where are we going. Why we exist."
  url="/blog/series-a"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/series-a.jpg"
/>

## Feb 2025: Introducing new.email

We shipped [new.email](https://new.email), a new way to build beautiful, responsive, and cross-platform emails using natural language.

We also announced that <Human id="pauline-chin" /> and <Human id="jp-valery" /> joined the team as Customer Success Engineers.

<LinkCard
  title="Introducing new.email"
  description="Why are we doing this? Why now?"
  url="/blog/introducing-new-email"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/introducing-new-email.jpg"
/>

## Mar 2025: Fourth launch week

We organized the fourth Resend launch week and shipped five new features in five days.

We also announced that <Human id="anna-ward" /> and <Human id="joao-melo" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend Forward 4: Wrap Up"
  description="Why are we doing this? Why now?"
  url="/blog/resend-forward-4-wrap-up"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-forward-4-wrap-up.jpg"
/>

## Apr 2025: Mergent Acquisition

We announced the acquisition of [Mergent](https://mergent.co), the serverless background job service.

We also shared that <Human id="isabella-aquino" />, <Human id="carolina-josephik" />, <Human id="cassio-zen" />, and <Human id="rehan-van-der-merwe" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend acquires Mergent"
  description="A major step in becoming the best communication platform for developers."
  url="/blog/resend-acquires-mergent"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-acquires-mergent.jpg"
/>

## May 2025: Humans behind Resend

Companies should feel more human.

That's why we shipped new [Humans pages](/humans) for every person at Resend.

<LinkCard
  title="Humans"
  description="We're a team of makers who believes in building great software that inspires others."
  url="/humans"
  image="/static/cover-humans.png"
/>

## Jul 2025: Rebranding Resend

We unveiled Resend's new logo, product visual identity, and brand new [wallpapers](/wallpapers).

We also shared that long-time open source contributor <Human id="gabriel-miranda" /> joined the team as a Software Engineer.

<LinkCard
  title="Rebranding Resend"
  description="The unveil of Resend's new visual identity."
  url="/blog/rebranding-resend"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/rebranding-resend.jpg"
/>

## Aug 2025: Briefer Acquisition

We announced the acquisition of [Briefer](https://briefer.cloud), the data analytics platform.

We also shared that <Human id="lucas-costa" /> and <Human id="lucas-vieira" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend acquires Briefer"
  description="An important step in evolving how Resend processes terabytes of data at scale."
  url="/blog/resend-acquires-briefer"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-acquires-briefer.jpg"
/>

## Sep 2025: First Hackathon

We organized the first Resend Hackathon and invited developers to explore the creative limits of using the [Resend MCP](https://github.com/resend/mcp-send-email) to send emails.

We also announced that <Human id="erin-levine" /> and <Human id="christina-martinez" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend MCP Hackathon"
  description="Explore the creative limits of using the Resend MCP to send emails"
  url="/blog/resend-mcp-hackathon"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-mcp-hackathon.jpg"
/>

## Nov 2025: Fifth launch week

We organized the fifth Resend launch week and shipped six new features in six days.

<LinkCard
  title="Resend Forward 5: Wrap Up"
  description="Everything we launched during the fifth launch week."
  url="/blog/resend-forward-5-wrap-up"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/resend-forward-5-wrap-up.jpg"
/>

## Dec 2025: Offsite in Italy

Our team of 28 people flew to Tuscany, Italy, to spend a week together.

We cooked gnocchi together, went truffle hunting, and had a lot of fun together.

![Resend offsite in Tuscany, Italy](/static/handbook/how-we-got-here-2.jpg)

## Jan 2026: Email Skills

We launched [Email Skills](/blog/introducing-email-skills), bringing Resend to every major AI agent, from Claude Code to Cursor, Gemini, and more.

We shared that <Human id="za-scalon" /> and <Human id="slater-smith" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Introducing Email Skills"
  description="Empower your AI Agents to create, send, and manage emails."
  url="/blog/introducing-email-skills"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/introducing-email-skills.jpg"
/>

## Feb 2026: Broadcast Automation

We launched the ability to [create and send broadcasts via API](/changelog/create-and-send-broadcasts-via-api), unlocking programmatic access to bulk email.

We also shared how to set up [email automation for OpenClaw](/blog/email-automation-for-openclaw-using-resend), making Resend the go-to email provider for AI agents.

We announced that <Human id="mateusz-wos" />, <Human id="felipe-freitag" />, and <Human id="alec-ventura" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Create and Send Broadcasts via API"
  description="Programmatically create and send broadcasts using the Resend API."
  url="/changelog/create-and-send-broadcasts-via-api"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/create-and-send-broadcasts-via-api.jpg"
/>

## Mar 2026: New CLI and Email Editor

We shipped a [completely rebuilt email editor](/changelog/introducing-the-new-email-editor) for broadcasts and templates.

We also launched the [Official CLI for Resend](/changelog/cli), with 53 commands across 13 resources, built for both humans and AI agents.

We shared that <Human id="derich-pacheco" />, <Human id="evan-thibodeau" />, <Human id="anxhela-carciu" />, and <Human id="trey-knowles" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Official CLI for Resend"
  description="Built for humans and AI agents. Manage your emails from the terminal."
  url="/changelog/cli"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/cli.jpg"
/>

## Apr 2026: Sixth launch week

We organized the [sixth Resend launch week](/launch-weeks/6) and shipped five new features, and announced [Resend Forward](/forward), our first in-person conference.

We also shared that <Human id="ahmed-tolba" />, <Human id="aneil-singh" />, <Human id="lucas-motta" />, <Human id="pedro-ivo-hudson" />, <Human id="diel-duarte" />, and <Human id="areia-spinner" /> joined the team.

<LinkCard
  title="Launch Week 6: Wrap Up"
  description="Everything we launched during the sixth launch week."
  url="/blog/launch-week-6-wrap-up"
  image="https://cdn.resend.com/posts/launch-week-6-wrap-up.jpg"
/>