PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Michael Chiang

Michael Chiang is a software builder whose work helps developers run open AI models on their own computers. As a college student near Waterloo, he co-founded Kitematic with Jeff Morgan and Sean Li; Docker acquired the open-source tool in March 2015, and its founders moved to San Francisco to keep developing it. In June 2015, he published a Docker tutorial using Kitematic; in 2021, he worked with Morgan at Infra on a Kubernetes access-control idea. Ollama launched in 2023 as an open-source tool for running open-weight language models on personal computers and in the cloud, with Chiang as a co-founder. As of October 2026, he is an active co-founder of Ollama.

Now at
Ollama
Photo of Michael Chiang

Timeline

  1. By 2015

    A college startup

    The Kitematic idea takes shape while Chiang and co-founders Jeff Morgan and Sean Li are college students; by 2015, they are building it as a startup.

  2. By 2015

    An open-source Docker tool

    By 2015, Kitematic is an open-source tool designed to work with Docker.

  3. March 2015

    Kitematic joins Docker

    In March 2015, Docker acquires Kitematic; Chiang and his co-founders move to San Francisco and continue developing the product inside Docker. Their work becomes part of Docker Desktop.

  4. June 2015

    Writing a Docker tutorial

    In June 2015, Chiang publishes a Docker guide that shows readers how to set up a Minecraft server through Kitematic.

  5. 2021

    An infrastructure startup

    In 2021, Chiang and Jeff Morgan take part in Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch as Infra founders with a plan to make Kubernetes role-based access control easier.

  6. 2023

    Launching Ollama

    Ollama launches in 2023 as an open-source tool that lets developers run open-weight language models on personal computers and in the cloud; Chiang is one of its co-founders.

  7. As of October 2026

    Ollama co-founder

    As of October 2026, Chiang is an active co-founder of Ollama, an open-source tool for running models locally and in the cloud.

Sources and credits

Photo: docker.com; Michael Chiang | Docker; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: docker.com. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Three 20-Somethings Sell College Project To Docker techcrunch.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Kitematic founders nab $65 million USD to help devs run AI models with Ollama betakit.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Michael Chiang | Docker docker.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. infra technovangelist.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Popular open source AI developer tool Ollama raises $65M, grows to nearly 9M users techcrunch.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Ollama: Get up and running with large language models. | Y Combinator ycombinator.com. Checked 14 October 2026.