We're building technology that strengthens what makes us human.
Founded in 2023 by two people with a shared conviction that the next era of technology should belong to everyone, not just the platforms that build it.
Our Story
Technology has always changed the way people live. The internet connected the world, but it also concentrated power in ways few people could see. As our lives moved online, more of our memories, relationships, creativity, and identity became part of systems we did not own.
Then AI arrived.
For the first time, technology wasn't just storing information. It was beginning to understand us. Every conversation, every question, every habit, and every idea made these systems more valuable. The more we relied on them, the more difficult they became to leave.
We didn't see that as the inevitable future.
We saw it as a design decision.
Balnce began with a simple belief: if AI is going to become part of everyday life, it should grow with the person using it, not the company providing it.
That belief grew into something much larger.
We believe technology should strengthen what makes us human, not replace it. It should help people learn, create, remember, build, connect, and pass knowledge from one generation to the next. It should expand opportunity instead of concentrating it. It should help communities thrive without asking them to surrender ownership of their lives in return.
That is the future we're building.
The Founders
Balnce was founded by Zach Schenkler and Dillon Baird, two builders who met through a shared belief that technology can create profound social and economic change when it is designed around people instead of platforms.
Over the years they immersed themselves in engineering, distributed systems, artificial intelligence, design, security, identity, economics, and human-centered product thinking. Rather than specialize in one discipline, they learned to connect many of them into a single vision.
Today they continue to build Balnce as engineers, researchers, designers, architects, and lifelong students of how technology shapes civilization.
Zach Schenkler
Co-Founder & CEO
Dillon Baird
Co-Founder & CTO
What We Believe
People should own the intelligence that grows with their lives.
Privacy is the beginning of trust, not a feature to be upgraded.
Technology should strengthen what makes us human.
Knowledge should continue across generations, not disappear into platforms.
Prosperity grows when more people are able to participate.
The future belongs to people who own the relationships they build.
Imagination is one of humanity’s greatest resources. Everyone deserves the tools to explore it.
The best technology disappears into the life it helps you build.
Our Journey
THE QUESTION
Balnce begins with a question: What if personal AI actually belonged to the person?
THE FOUNDATION
Years of research, architecture, experimentation, and first principles become the foundation of a new approach to personal intelligence.
COMING TO LIFE
The first experiences come to life. The platform enters public beta and begins learning alongside its earliest community.
LAUNCH
Balnce launches with one goal: begin building a future where every person has intelligence working in their interest. This is only the first chapter.
Learning in Public
UC Irvine
UC Berkeley
Balnce actively collaborates with graduate researchers and academic institutions, exploring distributed intelligence, local AI, networking, privacy, and the systems that will shape the next generation of human-computer interaction.
We believe the future should not be built behind closed doors. It should be explored together, challenged openly, and strengthened through collaboration.
The Future We're Building
We imagine a world where every person has access to intelligence that grows with them throughout their life. Where ideas become businesses more easily. Where families preserve what matters. Where communities organize around trust instead of manipulation. Where creativity compounds instead of disappearing.
That is the work of Balnce. And we're just getting started.
Balnce for people. Reasn for brands. Two products, one vision.
Investment
$1.5M Pre-Seed
Now Raising
Building the infrastructure for personal AI. Live product, growing community.
Learn moreBuilt with technologies and ecosystems from Google, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Cloudflare, Perplexity, and the broader open-source AI community.