Peter Steinberger
Peter Steinberger is an Austrian software engineer and entrepreneur focused on AI-powered development tools and agents. He created OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent framework, and previously founded PSPDFKit, a PDF SDK company. He joined OpenAI in February 2026 to work on bringing AI agents to everyone.
Founding Story
Peter Steinberger's entrepreneurial journey began in 2010 when he was working as a freelance iOS developer. While building a PDF engine for a client, a friend requested the same engine, leading him to realize market demand. He refactored the code, set up a basic WordPress site, integrated a payment processor, and sold his first two copies via Twitter. This became PSPDFKit, which he bootstrapped and grew over 13 years. After exiting PSPDFKit and experiencing burnout, he took a three-year hiatus. In early 2023, he discovered AI coding assistants and returned to programming. In November 2025, he started OpenClaw as a weekend playground project to explore AI agents. Within weeks, it became the fastest-growing repository on GitHub, achieving viral popularity and leading to his recruitment by OpenAI.
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Leadership
Founders
Peter Steinberger
Austrian software engineer from Vienna. Studied engineering and computer science at Technische Universität Wien and HTL Braunau. Founded PSPDFKit in 2011, which became a successful PDF SDK company serving Fortune 500 companies. After selling PSPDFKit and taking a three-year break due to burnout (2020-2023), he returned to development and created OpenClaw, the fastest-growing open-source project in GitHub history. Joined OpenAI in February 2026.
Executive Team
Peter Steinberger
Researcher at OpenAI (as of Feb 2026); Founder of OpenClaw and PSPDFKit
Austrian software engineer with over 13 years of entrepreneurial experience. Founded PSPDFKit in 2011, grew it to 100+ employees and 1B+ end users. After selling the company and experiencing burnout, took a three-year break before returning to create OpenClaw. Known for 'AI-native' development workflow, making 6,600+ commits in January 2026 using AI agents. Joined OpenAI in February 2026 to work on personal AI agents.
Business Model
Revenue Model
PSPDFKit: B2B SaaS subscription model for SDK licensing to developers and enterprises. OpenClaw: Open-source foundation model, currently costs $10,000-$20,000 monthly to operate, sponsored by OpenAI.
Pricing Tiers
Shifted from one-time purchase to subscription SaaS model to ensure recurring revenue and continuous support. Enterprise pricing for Fortune 500 companies.
Free and open-source software, hosted on GitHub, moving to a foundation model with OpenAI sponsorship
Target Markets
- Individual developers and hackers
- AI enthusiasts and early adopters
- Enterprise software companies (Fortune 500)
- Mobile app developers (iOS, Android)
- Document management companies
- Digital transformation initiatives
- Personal AI assistant for task automation
- Calendar and schedule management
- Flight and travel booking
- Smart home control (lights, devices)
- GitHub repository management
- Automated development workflows
- Dropbox
- Salesforce
- SAP
- Lufthansa
History & Milestones
OpenClaw went viral - 9,000 GitHub stars in one day, 2M website visitors in one week
Project renamed to Moltbot following trademark complaints from Anthropic
Project renamed again to OpenClaw
Co-hosted ClawCon in San Francisco
Announced joining OpenAI; OpenClaw transitioning to open-source foundation
7 AI Tools by Peter Steinberger
Summarize
1moCLI and Chrome extension that turns links, files, and media into sharp summaries using local, paid, or free AI models.
CodexBar
1moA macOS menu bar app that provides quick access to OpenAI Codex CLI for AI-powered coding assistance.
RepoBar
1moA macOS menu bar app that displays GitHub repository star counts and tracks their growth over time.
gog CLI
1moA unified command-line interface for Google Workspace services including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Contacts, Tasks, Sheets, Docs, Slides, and People.
ClawHub
2moA skill registry for AI agents that lets you upload, version, and search AgentSkills bundles like npm packages.
An open-source personal AI assistant that runs on your machine and connects to any chat app to manage email, calendar, and automate tasks.
Peekaboo
3momacOS automation tool that captures the screen, produces structured UI maps, and executes end-to-end GUI automation via a native CLI or an MCP server.
