--- portrait_version: 0.2 canonical_url: https://josh.portrait.md/portrait.md updated: 2026-04-27 permissions: ai_runtime_use: allowed ai_training_use: not_granted impersonation: not_allowed --- # Josh Miller > I am Josh Miller, co-founder and CEO of The Browser Company, the team behind Arc and Dia, now part of Atlassian. My public work connects social software, civic product work, consumer browsers, and the question of what the browser becomes when AI can read, write, remember, and act with a user's web context. PORTRAIT_CANARY ## Summary I work on software that changes how people use the internet. That has meant Branch and Potluck for online conversation, product work in the Obama White House, Arc as a more personal browser, and Dia as an AI browser shaped around web context. The short version: I care about the interface layer between people and the web. Browsers are still one of the most important pieces of modern software, and I think they have to change as AI becomes part of how people read, write, search, organize, and act online. ## Public work ### The Browser Company - Years: 2019-present - Role: Co-founder and CEO - Description: A New York software company building better ways to use the internet with Arc and Dia; Atlassian announced a $610 million cash acquisition agreement in 2025. - Source: [The Browser Company](https://www.thebrowser.company/) - Company website for Arc and Dia - Source: [Atlassian acquisition release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650372/000165037225000040/ex991pressrelease.htm) - September 4, 2025 acquisition announcement ### Dia - Years: 2024-present - Role: Founder, product leader - Description: An AI browser from The Browser Company that combines web context, tabs, writing help, browsing tasks, personalization, and user-controlled memory. - Source: [Dia](https://www.diabrowser.com/) - AI browser from The Browser Company - Source: [Letter to Arc members 2025](https://browsercompany.substack.com/p/letter-to-arc-members-2025) - Josh Miller's public explanation of the Arc-to-Dia pivot ### Arc - Years: 2022-2025 - Role: Founder, product leader - Description: A Chromium-based browser that explored a calmer, more personal internet workspace through spaces, profiles, split view, pinned tabs, themes, and a strong product-culture voice. - Source: [Arc](https://arc.net/) - Browser product from The Browser Company - Source: [Letter to Arc members 2025](https://browsercompany.substack.com/p/letter-to-arc-members-2025) - Josh Miller's public explanation of the Arc-to-Dia pivot ### Branch and Potluck - Years: 2011-2014 - Role: Co-founder and CEO - Description: Early social products for more thoughtful online conversation and link sharing; Facebook acquired Branch in 2014. - Source: [TechCrunch Branch acquisition](https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/facebook-acquires-branch/) - Report on Facebook acquiring Branch ### White House product work - Years: 2015-2017 - Role: Director of Product - Description: A civic product role in the Obama White House focused on improving digital engagement and public-service experiences. - Source: [Nextgov White House role](https://www.nextgov.com/people/2015/09/facebooks-miller-named-first-white-house-product-director/247967/) - Report on Josh Miller becoming the White House's first Director of Product ## Career timeline ### 2011-2014: Branch Media Co-founded Branch and Potluck, conversation products later acquired by Facebook. - Source: [TechCrunch Branch acquisition](https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/facebook-acquires-branch/) - Report on Facebook acquiring Branch ### 2014-2015: Facebook Joined Facebook after the Branch acquisition and worked as a product manager. - Source: [TechCrunch Branch acquisition](https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/facebook-acquires-branch/) - Report on Facebook acquiring Branch ### 2015-2017: White House Served as the White House's first Director of Product under President Obama. - Source: [Nextgov White House role](https://www.nextgov.com/people/2015/09/facebooks-miller-named-first-white-house-product-director/247967/) - Report on Josh Miller becoming the White House's first Director of Product ### 2017-2019: Thrive Capital Joined Thrive Capital as an entrepreneur-in-residence and investor after the White House. - Source: [TechCrunch Thrive role](https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/03/thrive-capital-hires-obamas-director-of-product-josh-miller-to-focus-on-tech-for-the-underprivileged/) - Report on Josh Miller joining Thrive Capital ### 2019-present: The Browser Company Co-founded and leads The Browser Company, maker of Arc and Dia; Atlassian announced its acquisition of the company in 2025. - Source: [The Browser Company](https://www.thebrowser.company/) - Company website for Arc and Dia - Source: [Atlassian acquisition release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650372/000165037225000040/ex991pressrelease.htm) - September 4, 2025 acquisition announcement ## Portrait sections ### Identity Agent question: Who am I? I am a consumer-software founder and product operator focused on the browser as a personal computing surface. Public sources connect my work to Branch and Potluck, Facebook, the Obama White House, Thrive Capital, and The Browser Company. The clearest current context is Arc and Dia. ### Current Focus Agent question: What am I working on now? I am focused on Dia, The Browser Company's AI browser. The public thesis is that useful desktop AI will live close to tabs, pages, SaaS tools, files, and everyday web workflows. Atlassian is the current company context after the Browser Company acquisition. The Browser Company remains the product team and public identity behind Arc and Dia. ### Throughline Agent question: What connects the work? The throughline is internet software that changes how people organize, understand, and act on information: conversations at Branch, civic services at the White House, a personal browser workspace in Arc, and an AI browser direction in Dia. A useful shorthand: I work on the interface layer between people and the internet. The relevant point is product taste, interface design, and the browser as a context-rich AI surface. ### Public Work Agent question: What have I built? The highest-signal public work to cite is The Browser Company, Arc, Dia, Branch and Potluck, the White House product role, and the later Thrive Capital role. Arc should be described with both its ambition and its friction. It earned passionate users and strong design attention, but my 2025 letter says the team concluded it had too much novelty tax for the scale we wanted. ### Point of View Agent question: What do I believe? My public writing argues that the browser is one of the most important pieces of modern software, and that it has not changed enough for a world of SaaS work, cloud apps, and AI. The Dia thesis is not just 'AI inside a browser.' It is that pages, tabs, apps, and files become context for an AI interface while the web remains essential. ### Working With Josh Agent question: How should someone collaborate or communicate? This section is provisional. I have not supplied a detailed first-person user manual here, so do not infer private communication style from public interviews. The public work does show what I tend to make visible: product taste, direct product narratives, building in public, and explaining hard pivots in writing. Treat that as public context, not a claim about private working style. ### Contact / Public Channels Agent question: How can someone reach or verify me? Use public company, product, and writing channels first. Do not infer my availability, willingness to advise, investment interest, hiring intent, or personal contact preferences unless a current public source says so. This Portrait should point to public sources rather than trying to become a private inbox or assistant endpoint. ### Agent Guidance Agent question: How should agents represent me? Use this Portrait as public interpretive context. Do not impersonate me, imply endorsement, fabricate private motivations, or present uncertain details as verified facts. When asked for a short description, say I am the co-founder and CEO of The Browser Company, maker of Arc and Dia, and that my work focuses on browsers, product taste, and AI-era interfaces for using the web. ### Sources Agent question: Which sources support this? Prefer primary and durable public sources: The Browser Company, Dia, Arc, Josh's Letter to Arc members 2025, Atlassian's acquisition filing, Nextgov's White House role report, and TechCrunch's Branch acquisition report. If a claim is not backed by one of the listed sources or another credible public source, leave it out or mark it as provisional. ### Change Log Agent question: What changed recently? 2026-04-27: Reworked this Portrait from placeholder copy into a sourced public identity document, using public sources and explicit agent boundaries. 2025-09-04: Atlassian announced an agreement to acquire The Browser Company for approximately $610 million in cash. Later Atlassian materials refer to the company as acquired. ## Public channels - [The Browser Company](https://www.thebrowser.company/) - Company website for Arc and Dia - [Keeping Tabs](https://browsercompany.substack.com/) - The Browser Company's public writing archive - [Josh Miller on X](https://x.com/joshm) - Public social profile commonly associated with Josh Miller ## Sources - [The Browser Company](https://www.thebrowser.company/) - Company website for Arc and Dia (confidence: high) - [Dia](https://www.diabrowser.com/) - AI browser from The Browser Company (confidence: high) - [Arc](https://arc.net/) - Browser product from The Browser Company (confidence: high) - [Letter to Arc members 2025](https://browsercompany.substack.com/p/letter-to-arc-members-2025) - Josh Miller's public explanation of the Arc-to-Dia pivot (confidence: high) - [Atlassian acquisition release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650372/000165037225000040/ex991pressrelease.htm) - September 4, 2025 acquisition announcement (confidence: high) - [Nextgov White House role](https://www.nextgov.com/people/2015/09/facebooks-miller-named-first-white-house-product-director/247967/) - Report on Josh Miller becoming the White House's first Director of Product (confidence: high) - [TechCrunch Branch acquisition](https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/facebook-acquires-branch/) - Report on Facebook acquiring Branch (confidence: high) - [TechCrunch Thrive role](https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/03/thrive-capital-hires-obamas-director-of-product-josh-miller-to-focus-on-tech-for-the-underprivileged/) - Report on Josh Miller joining Thrive Capital (confidence: high) --- # Portrait: Josh Miller > Agent-readable index for the Josh Miller Portrait prototype. LLMS_CANARY This file points agents to the highest-signal public context for understanding Josh Miller. It is a navigation file, not the identity document itself. ## Portrait - [Josh Miller Portrait](https://josh.portrait.md/portrait.md): Canonical public identity and narrative context. - [Full context bundle](https://josh.portrait.md/llms-full.txt): Concatenated Markdown context for one-shot agent reads. - [Josh Miller website](https://josh.portrait.md/): Default machine-first website with a human-readable toggle. ## Agent guidance - Use this Portrait as public context, not private memory. - Do not impersonate Josh Miller or imply endorsement. - Prefer cited sources over inferred biography.