A studio building quiet software · Est. 2026
Paint

Paint

Software should feel like a well-held pen.
Light. Honest. Yours.

Paint is an independent studio designing calm, private tools for everyday thinking. We build the Shannon family of products — a set of small, well-made apps that respect your attention.

Meet Shannon Read our story

01 · Company

A studio for slow software.

We believe the best tools disappear into the hand. Paint is a small company making a small number of things, each cared for.

Founded in 2026, Paint operates on four beliefs — that freedom matters, that the product comes first, that privacy is a default not a feature, and that less is almost always more.

We are not here to capture attention. We are here to return it.

/ 01 Pursuit of freedom Independent, self-directed, beholden to users — not to markets.
/ 02 Product-first The craft leads. Everything else — revenue, scale, opinion — follows.
/ 03 Privacy & safety Your data is yours. Local-first. Minimal by construction.
/ 04 Simple & green Quiet interfaces. Restrained footprints. Built to last.

02 · Product

The Shannon family.

Named for Claude Shannon,
pioneer of the information age

Shannon is our line of thinking tools. Each one does a single thing with great care — a notebook, a reader, a companion. They share a grammar and a guarantee: nothing you write leaves the device unless you say so.

Shannon Notes is shipping now, in private beta. Shannon Read and Shannon Talk are in design.

SHANNON / 001 Shannon v 1.0 · 2026
Shannon Notes LIVE

A plain-text notebook that remembers. Local storage, end-to-end, with a gentle assistant that never reads unless invited.

macOS · iOS
Shannon Read SOON

A reading companion for long-form writing. Quietly annotates, summarises on request, and leaves a paper trail you can follow.

iOS · Web
Shannon Talk IN DESIGN

Voice-first. Private by construction. A conversation partner for thinking out loud, with no transcript saved unless you keep it.

iOS · Android
03 · Philosophy

Four words we keep returning to.

01 Safe Nothing leaves the device without consent. Encryption as ground state, not a feature toggle.
02 Simple One button where two might do. Remove, then remove again. Clarity over cleverness.
03 Useful A tool earns its place by being reached for. No dashboards for the sake of dashboards.
04 Friendly Software can have manners. It can wait its turn, admit uncertainty, and know when to be quiet.

04 · Team

A small table, eight chairs.

[ portrait ]
Jason GaoCEO & CTO
[ portrait ]
Lea HarperPM & CTO
[ portrait ]
Jun ParkResearch
[ portrait ]
Ana DufourOperations
Paint
05 · News

Recent writing.

04 / 12 / 2026 Announcement Shannon Notes enters private beta
03 / 28 / 2026 Essay On the shape of a good tool
02 / 15 / 2026 Note Why we chose to be small
01 / 08 / 2026 Release Paint, a first word

06 · Careers

Work with fewer, better things.

We hire rarely. When we do, we look for people who finish things, care about type, and can hold a long opinion lightly. Remote-first, quiet Slack, generous time.

Senior Product Engineer Engineering Remote · Asia / Europe
Designer, Shannon Read Design Remote · Any
Writer & Editorial Lead Brand Part-time · Remote
Privacy & Security Engineer Engineering Remote · Any
07 · Contact

Write to us — we read everything.

Studio
Remote · Worldwide

Tweaks