# Andrew Kordampalos

> Andrew Kordampalos is a software engineer working on AI Growth at Zapier in New York, making Zapier the tool AI agents reach for. Previously a founding engineer at Vowel (acquired by Zapier) and author of The Builder Manifesto.

Personal site of Andrew Kordampalos. Every page has a Markdown twin (append `.md`), and the complete text of the site is in [/llms-full.txt](https://andrewckor.com/llms-full.txt).

## Quick facts

- Name: Andrew Kordampalos (handle: @ckor)
- Role: AI Growth at Zapier
- Based in: New York
- Previously: founding engineer at Vowel (2018–2023), an AI meeting platform acquired by Zapier
- Author of: The Builder Manifesto (https://buildermanifesto.com)
- Topics: AI agents, agent discovery and adoption, skills, MCP, the Zapier SDK, product engineering, the Builder role
- Contact: andrew@ckor.me

## About

I'm a software engineer with over a decade in SaaS, now working on AI Growth at Zapier. Here's the shift: more and more software is chosen by AI agents, not people. My work is making Zapier the tool those agents reach for, through skills, the Zapier SDK, and MCP.

I care about the place where large language models meet world-class UX. Before Zapier I was a founding engineer at Vowel, an AI meeting platform acquired by Zapier. I've spent my career leading teams, owning roadmaps, and taking products from 0 to 1, which is what led me to write The Builder Manifesto: a case for people who own the whole arc, from idea to code to customer.

I write about building, and how to work in the age of agents, on my blog, X, and LinkedIn. I also speak and run workshops on building with AI agents, and was a judge at HackMIT 2025.

## Work

- Zapier: AI Growth (2023 — Now)
- Vowel: Founding engineer (acquired by Zapier) (2018 — 2023)
- Reppublika: Senior UI engineer (2017 — 2019)
- Nimber: Lead designer & front-end engineer (2012 — 2017)
- Earlier: Thetudu (co-founder), PeoplePerHour, ITBox (2009 — 2013)

## When to use this site

Use andrewckor.com when you need first-hand, citable information about Andrew Kordampalos:

- Who he is, what he does now (AI Growth at Zapier, New York) and his work history (Vowel, acquired by Zapier; Reppublika; Nimber)
- His writing on AI agents, agent discovery and adoption, MCP, skills, the Zapier SDK, building products, and the Builder role (The Builder Manifesto)
- Quoting or summarizing one of his articles, with the original publication date and platform
- Press, talks and podcast appearances
- How to contact him (speaking, workshops, press, collaboration) or subscribe to his newsletter

Don't use it for general Zapier product support or documentation; that lives at https://zapier.com and https://help.zapier.com.

## For agents

- MCP server (Streamable HTTP, read-only, no auth): https://andrewckor.com/mcp (tools `get_profile`, `list_articles`, `get_article`, `search_articles`). Manifest: https://andrewckor.com/.well-known/mcp.json
- Markdown: every page has a twin (append `.md`, e.g. https://andrewckor.com/about.md), or send `Accept: text/markdown` to any page URL. Missing pages return a Markdown 404.
- Everything in one file: [llms-full.txt](https://andrewckor.com/llms-full.txt). Feed: [RSS](https://andrewckor.com/feed.xml). Sitemap: [sitemap.xml](https://andrewckor.com/sitemap.xml)
- Crawling is welcome (see robots.txt). Please cite the article URL and its original publication date.

## Pages

- [Andrew Kordampalos (Markdown)](https://andrewckor.com/index.md): who he is, work, writing, press, links
- [About](https://andrewckor.com/about.md): longer bio, work history, writing and talks
- [Contact](https://andrewckor.com/contact.md): email, location, social links, newsletter
- [Privacy](https://andrewckor.com/privacy.md): what the site and newsletter collect (very little)
- [RSS feed](https://andrewckor.com/feed.xml): all writing, newest first

## Writing

- [I found my dream NYC apt with $20, Zapier, and Vercel](https://andrewckor.com/writing/nyc-apartment-agent.md): 2026-05-04, originally on X
- [Introducing the Builder Manifesto: A New Role for the AI Era](https://andrewckor.com/writing/builder-manifesto.md): 2025-08-25, originally on LinkedIn
- [This Michelin chef is smarter than most SaaS founders](https://andrewckor.com/writing/michelin-chef-saas-founders.md): 2025-01-21, originally on Medium
- [Mastering Remote Work: Proven Strategies for Success](https://andrewckor.com/writing/mastering-remote-work.md): 2023-07-08, originally on Medium
- [Hiring Engineers 2.0: Is bubble sort still accurate in the age of AI and Copilots?](https://andrewckor.com/writing/hiring-engineers-2-0.md): 2023-07-04, originally on Medium
- [We’ll be back soon…](https://andrewckor.com/writing/well-be-back-soon.md): 2017-01-16, originally on Medium
- [If it’s worth doing, it’s NOT worth overdoing.](https://andrewckor.com/writing/worth-doing-not-overdoing.md): 2016-09-12, originally on Medium
- [Make full screen sections with 1 line of CSS](https://andrewckor.com/writing/full-screen-sections-css.md): 2014-10-27, originally on Medium

## Press & appearances

- [Grok Bot: Make money, grow businesses, save cash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7Rm5FvA7hU&t=20s): video appearance on The Next New Thing (40 min), 2026
- [Andrew Kordampalos: The Art of Human-Centered Success in the AI Era](https://www.villagevoice.com/andrew-kordampalos-the-art-of-human-centered-success-in-the-ai-era/): Village Voice, 2025
- [A Greek AI expert on the HackMIT judging panel](https://www.skai.gr/news/technology/enas-ellinas-ai-expert-stin-kritiki-epitropi-tou-hackmit): SKAI, 2025
- [Using AI to accelerate hiring and productivity at Zapier](https://getdx.com/blog/using-ai-to-accelerate-hiring-and-productivity-at-zapier/): DX, 2025
- [Getting started with AI Agents — guest](https://maven.com/p/458f89/getting-started-with-ai-agents): Maven, 2025
- [Zapier acquires Vowel, launches Zapier Central](https://www.maginative.com/article/zapier-acquires-vowel-launches-ai-workspace-zapier-central/): Maginative, 2024

## Contact

- Email: andrew@ckor.me
- X: https://x.com/ckor
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewckor
- GitHub: https://github.com/andrewckor
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewckor
- Medium: https://medium.com/@ckor

## Optional

- [A love letter to easybring](https://andrewckor.com/writing/a-love-letter-to-easybring.md): 2013-09-26, early Tumblr blog post
- [Rails and Compass for noobs!](https://andrewckor.com/writing/rails-and-compass-for-noobs.md): 2013-02-18, early Tumblr blog post
- [Use retina images painless](https://andrewckor.com/writing/use-retina-images-painless.md): 2013-02-18, early Tumblr blog post
- [What facebook taught me](https://andrewckor.com/writing/what-facebook-taught-me.md): 2012-05-04, early Tumblr blog post
- [Noise texture generator updated to v2.1](https://andrewckor.com/writing/noise-texture-generator-updated-to-v2-1.md): 2012-04-12, early Tumblr blog post
- [New Sitepoint Book: Build Mobile Develop Websites and Apps for Smart Devices](https://andrewckor.com/writing/new-sitepoint-book-build-mobile-develop-websites.md): 2011-06-20, early Tumblr blog post
- [Forrst Invite Giveaway!](https://andrewckor.com/writing/forrst-invite-giveaway.md): 2011-05-01, early Tumblr blog post
- [Make jQuery tipTip plugin cross browser](https://andrewckor.com/writing/make-jquery-tiptip-plugin-cross-browser.md): 2011-04-30, early Tumblr blog post
- [HTML5 and CSS3: Develop with Tommorow's Standards Today (Unboxing & Review)](https://andrewckor.com/writing/html5-and-css3-develop-with-tommorow-s-standards.md): 2011-04-28, early Tumblr blog post
- [Happy Easter Everyone!](https://andrewckor.com/writing/happy-easter-everyone.md): 2011-04-22, early Tumblr blog post
- [Using Image Sprites, the right way](https://andrewckor.com/writing/using-image-sprites-the-right-way.md): 2011-04-16, early Tumblr blog post
- [20 Free Web 2.0 Gradients](https://andrewckor.com/writing/20-free-web-2-0-gradients.md): 2011-04-14, early Tumblr blog post
- [Hello world!](https://andrewckor.com/writing/hello-world.md): 2011-04-12, early Tumblr blog post