Professional Role and Company Overview
May Habib is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Writer, a full-stack generative AI platform designed specifically for enterprises to automate workflows and enhance productivity. Writer offers an end-to-end agent builder platform that facilitates collaborative AI-powered work across organizations, enabling teams to orchestrate intelligent, accurate, and trustworthy AI systems.
Writer was founded over a decade ago by May Habib alongside Waseem AlShikh, focusing on solving complex enterprise challenges with advanced natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) technologies. The platform has been operationally active with generative AI enterprise applications since at least 2020 and has become a key player in enterprise AI adoption.
Company Financials and Market Position
In November 2024, Writer closed a $200 million Series C funding round, pushing its valuation to $1.9 billion. The company has to date raised approximately $326 million total, indicating strong investor confidence and rapid growth trajectory. Writer’s technology currently serves major Fortune 500 clients across various sectors, including financial services, technology, clinical sectors, and retail. Notably, Writer’s AI has produced 37,000 pages for Airbnb’s latest product launch and thousands of product description blurbs for L’Oréal, illustrating its capability to handle large-scale enterprise content generation needs.
Writer’s platform competes directly with incumbent legacy providers valued around $13 billion, with May Habib recognized as successfully carving out enterprise market share with a differentiated, "agentic" AI platform approach that focuses on blending expert human guidance with AI-driven automation.
Equity Stake and Personal Valuation
May Habib holds approximately a 15% equity stake in Writer, estimated at $285 million based on the recent valuation, highlighting her significant ownership and vested interest in the company’s ongoing success.
Thought Leadership and Public Engagement
May is an active thought leader and recognized pioneer in generative AI, frequently sharing insights on the transformative power of AI, risk-taking in AI innovation, and the evolving future of enterprise AI workflows. Her leadership and vision emphasize shifting roles within organizations from task executors to outcome designers through AI orchestration.
She has been featured and interviewed in numerous high-profile industry forums, including:
- A fireside chat on the future of enterprise AI with Writer’s CMO (Dec 2024).
- Discussions on scaling AI productivity through Writer’s “Action Agent” technology, advancing enterprise productivity and security.
- Engagements at major conferences like TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
- Hosting exclusive AI Leaders Forums with influential industry figures such as Gavin Patterson, former Salesforce CRO and president.
May is also a 2023 IA40 award winner, a Forbes AI 50 honoree, and recipient of the 2023 Inc. Female Founder Award. She maintains a robust professional network with over 500 LinkedIn connections and is actively involved in hiring for roles in machine learning, engineering, design, marketing, and sales.
Background and Education
May Habib is a Lebanese-Canadian immigrant based in San Francisco. She is a Harvard University graduate with high honors. Before founding Writer, May gained experience in finance and technology sectors, including working at institutions such as Lehman Brothers and Mubadala, which provided foundational skills for her entrepreneurial journey. Earlier, she founded Qordoba, a localization software start-up, signaling over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience in AI and language technologies.
Strategic Focus and Vision
May advocates for a full-stack approach to generative AI, combining proprietary large language models (LLMs) with tailored application tools, enabling enterprises to build, activate, and supervise custom AI agents. Her vision positions AI not as a mere automation tool but as a strategic enabler for expanding human capacity through superintelligence.
Her strategic emphasis includes:
- Encouraging organizational data culture to optimize AI adoption.
- Driving AI as a culture change and organizational transformation lever, especially focused on CIOs and enterprise leaders.
- Overcoming fear and resistance within large organizations concerning AI adoption.
- Positioning AI-generated outputs as dynamic and iterative rather than "done," challenging traditional completion concepts in enterprise workflows.
Recent Developments
- Action Agent Launch: Writer’s recently launched autonomous AI agent technology aimed at shifting workforce roles toward AI orchestration and outcome design.
- Partnership announcements with large industry integrators such as Cognizant to accelerate AI-driven transformations across various industries.
- Continued expansion into Fortune 500 companies with documented success in producing enterprise-scale content and automating workflows.
LinkedIn Profile: [May Habib](https://www.linkedin.com/in/may-habib/)
Company Website: [Writer](https://writer.com)
Notable Media Coverage:
- [How $1.9B AI Startup Writer Won Over the Fortune 500](https://observer.com/2025/06/writer-ceo-may-habib-competing-agentic-ai/) (June 2025)
- [Exploring the Future of AI Writing Tools with May Habib](https://trainingmag.com/exploring-the-future-of-ai-writing-tools-with-may-habib-ceo-of-writer-ai-2/) (June 2024)
- [Innovation Conversation with Gavin Patterson](https://writer.com/blog/humans-of-ai-gavin-patterson/) (April 2025)
This profile illustrates May Habib as a well-established CEO with extensive AI expertise, entrepreneurial background, and a strong track record in scaling enterprise generative AI solutions that have attracted top-tier clients and significant capital investment.
