Ad Hoc Labs, Inc.
Ad Hoc Labs, Inc. is a company.
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Ad Hoc Labs, Inc. is a company.
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Key people at Ad Hoc Labs, Inc..
Ad Hoc Labs, Inc. is a company.
Ad Hoc Labs, Inc. is a company.
Key people at Ad Hoc Labs, Inc..
Key people at Ad Hoc Labs, Inc..
Ad Hoc Labs, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based mobile app developer founded in 2012, specializing in communication and utility apps that enhance privacy, productivity, and control over phone interactions.[1][2][3][4] Its flagship products—Burner (temporary second phone numbers for anonymity), Firewall (spam call and message blocker), and Dialed (business communication tools)—serve individuals seeking privacy, such as for dating or sales, and businesses needing efficient outreach, with Burner downloaded nearly 10 million times.[1][2] The company solves core mobile pain points like spam, unwanted contacts, and identity exposure by making phones "faster, easier, and more intuitive," backed by investors like Venrock and Founder Collective, while maintaining a lean team of about 25-31 employees and under $5 million in revenue.[1][2][3][5]
Ad Hoc Labs was co-founded in 2012 by Greg Cohn and Will Carter, with Cohn as the business lead and Carter handling engineering and design.[3][4][5] Cohn brought experience from Yahoo! (strategy on identity platforms like OpenID and partnerships with Facebook/Google), startups like Away.com (acquired by Orbitz), and Everyday Health, plus degrees from Penn and Oxford.[5] Carter, a Brown and USC alum, had prototyped mobile UI/UX for Samsung, Google, Sony, Disney, and Coke at Protohaus and Nokia, focusing on augmented reality and interactions.[5] The idea emerged from building apps to reclaim control in an era of invasive mobile comms—early traction came via Burner's viral appeal for privacy in dating and sales, earning coverage in WIRED, NYT, WSJ, and Fast Company, alongside nearly 10 million downloads.[1]
Ad Hoc Labs rides the privacy and anti-spam wave in mobile comms, amplified by rising robocalls (billions annually), data breaches, and regulations like STIR/SHAKEN, positioning its tools as essential defenses in a post-iOS 14/Android 12 world of tracking limits.[1][2] Timing aligns with remote work, gig economy sales, and dating apps demanding disposable numbers, influencing the ecosystem by normalizing "burner" culture—pioneering it pre-mainstream (e.g., vs. Google's recent number-sharing features)—and competing with giants like Twilio/RingCentral while serving underserved SMBs and consumers.[2][3] Market forces like app store dominance and AI spam favor its established 10M-user base, subtly shaping norms around digital boundaries.
Ad Hoc Labs is poised to expand with AI-enhanced spam detection and global privacy regs (e.g., GDPR evolutions), potentially integrating Web3 anonymity or enterprise fleets via Dialed, leveraging its nimble team for quick iterations amid Twilio acquisitions in the space.[1][2][3] Trends like zero-trust comms and multimodal AI (voice/text analysis) will propel growth, evolving its influence from niche privacy pioneer to broader mobile utility staple—watch for partnerships or exits as investors eye scaling Burner's proven model. This builder ethos, born from reclaiming phone control, positions it to thrive as connectivity gets smarter yet riskier.[1][5]
