On the 13th, local time, at 11 a.m. at the San Francisco-based AI startup Gamma’s office, employees working on sofas and phone booths gathered in the central shared space. They were attending a company-wide meeting called “Show and Tell” ahead of a new product launch scheduled four days later. As the product team detailed new features, questions like “Why launch in March?” arose among employees. Gamma, which develops AI tools to automatically create documents, presentations, and webpages, became a unicorn last year with a $2.1 billion valuation five years after its founding.
How does a Silicon Valley unicorn startup prepare for a product launch? A reporter observed a day in the office. Time at AI startups building AI-related products seemed to flow 2–3 times faster than outside. Unlike South Korea’s 52-hour workweek system, most employees worked tirelessly day and night.
◇Working nonstop at high speed
Gamma’s strength lies in its flexible decision-making structure and rapid execution. While the company regularly releases new products in March and September, it effectively rolls out new features almost weekly. CEO Grant Lee said, “We aim to move like a ‘speedboat’ that can quickly pivot and test ideas the same day, not a ‘cargo ship’ with thousands of employees.”
Few employees work remotely, as face-to-face communication is faster and more efficient than emails or internal messaging. That day, employees were seen making quick decisions and sharing ideas in hallway conversations. For instance, a product development lead gave feedback to a designer near the coffee machine: “It would be better to make it more visually intuitive.”
The team preparing for the launch reportedly worked 80 hours per week for over a month. A week before the launch, around 10 core members retreated to a remote area four hours from San Francisco to stay and conduct final technical checks.
◇Building AI products with AI
Gamma is known for its small but efficient team in Silicon Valley’s AI startup scene. With 100 million global users, the company generates over 1 million content pieces daily—operated by only about 70 employees. As of November last year, when the company had around 50 employees, each generated $2 million in sales, showcasing high productivity.
AI enables rapid product development with a small team. All Gamma employees, regardless of role, can perform “Vibe coding.” They also form self-directed study groups called the “AI Coding Guild” to keep up with rapidly evolving AI tools. That afternoon, Korean designer Ahn Chaemin shared her experience applying Anthropic’s AI tool “Claude Code” to design tasks in front of about 10 employees.
The company’s slogan, “Don’t be boring,” encourages constant creativity and innovation. Many employees have unique hobbies like DJing or furniture making. Ahn said, “We often hold events to compete on who creates the most fun content using Gamma’s tools. Creative and fun people gather here to drive innovation.”
Source – https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2026/03/23/OJ37SJ6ZURD4JLBSGRP6CCFTZM/