Forged in America E3 - Dag Kittlaus: Founding Siri Almost Killed Me
Dec 24, 2025
Dag Kittlaus, founder of Siri and serial entrepreneur in conversational AI, shares his journey from founding Siri to healthcare innovations. He recounts the intense moments leading up to Apple's acquisition, including daily calls from Steve Jobs. After a health scare with a pancreatic tumor, Dag pivoted to health tech, developing a phone-based blood pressure app. He reflects on the challenges of working with friends, the societal impacts of AI, and instilling responsibility in his children despite success. It's a candid look at entrepreneurship and resilience.
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Negotiate By Being Willing To Walk
- Use the power to walk away when negotiating; Dag held out and improved the final price.
- Demonstrating conviction and readiness to walk away strengthened his position with Apple.
Building Viv After Apple
- After leaving Apple, Dag built Viv as an open platform for third-party AI apps and demoed it at TechCrunch Disrupt.
- Viv attracted acquisition interest from Google, Facebook and ultimately sold to Samsung after four-plus years of building.
The Samsung Integration Struggle
- Post-acquisition at Samsung was chaotic and political; Dag says Samsung misrepresented internal teams and resources to close the deal.
- Final decisions were made in Korea and the U.S. team faced conflicting priorities and missed alignment.
