Origins: The Argentine Dropout Who Changed Web Development

"One of my dreams is that the next Facebook or the next Snapchat will be created by someone that has not had to gone through all this education or has had to develop all these connections and hire all these bright people. Really, it can be one girl in Africa. It can be a boy in Bangladesh." — Guillermo Rauch

The Journey from Buenos Aires

Guillermo Rauch's path to tech stardom began far from Silicon Valley—in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Born to engineer parents who instilled in him the value of education, Rauch's path diverged early from the traditional route. At just 13 years old, while his peers were focused on high school, Rauch was already building websites for international clients.

By 16, he had dropped out of school entirely.

He wasn't from Silicon Valley. He was a self-taught programmer from Argentina who would go on to create Socket.io (before WebSockets were mainstream) and serve as CTO of a startup. He saw the mess that was modern web development—and he set out to fix it.

The Seven Principles of Rich Web Applications (2014)

Before Next.js existed, Rauch wrote what would become its philosophical manifesto.

In 2014, Rauch published a blog post called "The Seven Principles of Rich Web Applications" on rauchg.com. He was obsessed with enumerating what makes the best web applications work, reverse-engineering the best products from giants of the web like Amazon.com, Gmail, and Google search.

The principles feel less like programming tips and more like physics—fundamental truths about how the web should work:

Principle 1: Server-Rendered Pages Are Not Optional

This is the foundation. Rauch argued that the server must render the initial content—not for developer convenience, but for performance and user experience. Years later, this principle would become the core of Next.js.

Principle 2: Act Immediately on User Input

Interfaces should respond to user actions without perceptible delay. Every millisecond of waiting erodes trust.

The Remaining Principles

These weren't just nice-to-haves. They were design constraints that would shape every decision in Next.js's development.

Founding ZEIT (2015)

In 2015, Rauch founded a company with a simple mission: make web deployment instant.

The company was initially called ZEIT (German for "time"). His co-founders were Tony Kovanen and Naoyuki Kanezawa.

ZEIT's flagship product was now—a command-line tool with radical simplicity. You type now in the terminal and get a new server. Within a second, a new instance of your application is created and published to the internet.

This concept became the DNA of what Vercel is today, described in its main slogan: "Develop. Preview. Ship."

The goal was to empower individuals to complete entire projects independently, eliminating the need for large teams and intricate processes.

October 25, 2016: Next.js Is Born

Next.js was initially released as an open-source project on GitHub on October 25, 2016.

Rauch's vision was clear: solve the gaps in web application development, especially the complexity inherent in modern web apps—particularly in sectors like e-commerce, where personalized experiences and high traffic spikes are commonplace.

He understood that traditional front-end frameworks fell short regarding rendering capabilities and user experience. His philosophy: rendering should occur as close to the database as possible to ensure efficient data retrieval and presentation.

The Original Six Principles of Next.js

Next.js was originally developed based on six principles:

  1. Out-of-the-box functionality requiring no setup
  2. JavaScript everywhere—all functions written in JavaScript
  3. Automatic code-splitting and server-rendering
  4. Configurable data-fetching
  5. Anticipating requests
  6. Simplifying deployment

The framework offered what React lacked: out-of-the-box server-side rendering, static site generation, API routes, and more—primarily solving for speed and SEO optimization.

The Original Team

The framework page lists the original authors:

All but Dan worked at ZEIT.

When Tim Neutkens joined, there was basically one full-time contributor. Then they were two. Arunoda went on to work on other things inside Vercel, and Tim became the de facto lead.

The Rebranding (April 2020)

In April 2020, ZEIT rebranded to Vercel while keeping its triangular logo.

After rebranding, Vercel attracted $313 million in investments and received a valuation of $2.5 billion, making it the 6th unicorn with Argentine roots.

As of late 2025, Vercel has raised over $300 million at a $9.3 billion valuation.

Why This History Matters

Understanding Next.js's origins tells you:

  1. The philosophy is performance-first. Every API exists because it makes the web faster for users.

  2. The creator is opinionated. Rauch's Seven Principles aren't suggestions—they're constraints embedded in the framework.

  3. It's deployment-native. Next.js was built by the same team that builds Vercel. The integration is intentional.

  4. The mission is democratization. From day one, the vision was to let one person build what used to require a team.

When your AI tool generates Next.js code, it's generating code shaped by these principles. When you review that code, you should ask: does this follow Rauch's vision of instant, server-rendered, user-focused web applications?

Key Takeaways

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