Bending Spoons: Why We Cut Evernote from 350 to 20 People
Luca Ferrari explains why Bending Spoons buys software to hold forever, cutting bloated headcounts through deep platform integration.
Inside Bending Spoons: Finding Talent, Leveraging AI & Driving Operational Excellence | Luca Ferrari
With David Senra, Luca Ferrari · Sunday, September 13, 2026
Luca Ferrari, co-founder of Bending Spoons, explains his unorthodox approach to building an enduring software powerhouse through radical operational excellence, centralized hiring, and proprietary technology. He shares why Bending Spoons prioritizes raw talent over experience, how internal AI tools and an operating system allow lean teams to operate massive products like Evernote, and why logic and extreme ownership trump conventional corporate practices.
Key takeaways
- Bending Spoons does not operate as a private equity fund; they acquire software assets with durable brand equity to hold and operate forever rather than flipping them on a five-year cycle. Read more →
- Bending Spoons built an internal operating system of over 50 custom tools over ten years to automate AB testing, user lifetime value (LTV) prediction, and billing across its entire software portfolio. Read more →
- Bending Spoons acquires software assets like Evernote by making a single, firm, non-negotiable offer rather than engaging in protracted price haggling. Read more →
- Luca Ferrari runs Bending Spoons by operating major software acquisitions like Evernote with small, high-agency teams running proprietary internal tools. Read more →
- Bending Spoons centralizes hiring under dedicated talent evaluators instead of letting department heads choose their own team members. Read more →
- Bending Spoons intentionally buries high-performing employees under an impossible volume of work rather than keeping their queues manageable. Read more →
6 articles from this episode
How Bending Spoons Runs Massive Apps With 50 Internal Tools
Luca Ferrari explains how Bending Spoons uses internal AI agents and 50 custom tools to run products like Evernote with lean teams.
Luca Ferrari on M&A Negotiation and Logic Over Data
Learn how Bending Spoons co-founder Luca Ferrari uses non-negotiable M&A offers, operational platforms, and first-principles logic to scale software.
Luca Ferrari on Eliminating Job Titles and Bureaucracy
Luca Ferrari explains how Bending Spoons uses relentless simplification and title elimination to scale operations without bureaucratic drag.
Why Bending Spoons Strips Hiring Power from Team Managers
Luca Ferrari explains why Bending Spoons tests 100+ predictive signals, hires raw talent, and strips hiring power from team managers.
Why Luca Ferrari Overloads Top Performers with Work
Luca Ferrari explains why Bending Spoons intentionally overloads top talent to force surgical prioritization and maximize business returns.
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