Co-founder Jacob Posel says nearly 1,000 businesses use HQ, which shares company knowledge and workflows across AI tools; the customer count is unverified.
By [Ryan Merket](https://runtimewire.com/author/ryan-merket)
· Published
Primary source: [X](https://x.com/jacob_posel/status/2105327084554088708)
Why it matters #
HQ is betting that company context, permissions, and reusable workflows can become shared infrastructure beneath multiple AI tools. Its nearly 1,000-business figure is company-reported, with no disclosed measure of paying or active customers.
Jacob Posel (@jacob_posel) described HQ as officially launching in a September 30th post on X, pitching the product as a shared context layer for people and AI agents inside businesses. He said nearly 1,000 businesses already run on HQ, including his own. That figure is the company's claim; no independent customer count accompanies it.
https://x.com/jacob_posel/status/2105327084554088708 The timing needs context. An August 13th podcast episode described HQ as having launched two days earlier. The September post therefore appears to mark a formal launch push for a product already in use, rather than HQ's first availability. HQ's current launch page describes the product as generally available, with its open-source core, a macOS app labeled beta, and a team offering available by request.
Posel's account of the product's origin points to the problem HQ is built to solve. He wrote that co-founder Corey Epstein (@coreyepstein) had first created HQ as an internal tool for himself. Posel said he urged Epstein to turn it into a multiplayer product, then joined him to build it. Epstein's own background includes founding Indigo AI and Voyage, running LiveRecover, and co-founding apparel company DSTLD, which he says exceeded $10 million in annual revenue before going public as Digital Brands Group. Posel previously worked as a software engineer and Director of AI at Common Thread Collective and as an AI consultant with Google, according to his MentorPass profile.
HQ aims to make the operational know-how that accumulates in one employee's AI sessions usable across a team. Its product description says HQ combines persistent company knowledge and reusable workflows with permissions, integrations, credential management, model-context-protocol connections, persistent Bots, and a way to publish work created with AI. It works alongside products such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, ChatGPT, and Claude rather than replacing them. The company says teams decide which information becomes shared knowledge and who can access it.
That design makes HQ's bet broader than a company search box. HQ wants to sit underneath several AI tools, carrying workflows, company files, permissions, and credentials from one environment to another. Its core is open source and file-based, while paid services add synchronization, managed access, integrations, Bots, and deployment. The product is meant to make a company's AI setup portable across models and useful to employees who are not working directly in a coding terminal.
The operating challenge is whether teams will maintain that shared context and trust the permissions around it. HQ's own documentation says the system cannot eliminate model errors and recommends human review where mistakes carry consequences. It also says integration depth varies, and some connections may need upkeep. Those details matter because the product's value depends on the quality and freshness of the information it organizes, not just the number of AI tools it can connect.
The current pricing page offers a free Starter plan for up to five people, a $50-per-month Individual plan, and a $500-per-month Workforce plan with no per-seat fee. Hosted Bots and meeting capture can add usage charges. HQ says Workforce includes unlimited people; that flat pricing lowers the cost of adding teammates, while leaving the company to prove that customers will keep paying as the product becomes a more central part of their operations. Nearly 1,000 businesses would be a meaningful early audience if the count represents active, distinct customers. Posel's post does not define what counts as a business, whether those users are paying, or how many use HQ regularly. HQ's pricing and product materials show how it intends to convert adoption into revenue, but the announcement provides no revenue or retention figures. The launch is therefore a clear statement of the product's direction and a company-reported usage milestone, not yet evidence of how much of that usage has become a durable business.