FirstVersion
Trickle AI · Coding
FirstVersion is a free interactive archive built with Trickle AI that recreates the first versions of tech giants like Google, Twitter, and Airbnb as working websites you can click through.
About FirstVersion
What Is FirstVersion
FirstVersion is a browser-based archive that rebuilds the earliest public versions of famous tech products, then puts them online as fully interactive pages instead of static screenshots. It was made with Trickle, an AI website builder, and launched on January 1, 2025. On Product Hunt it took the top spot as Product of the Day, and the maker behind it, Jarod Xu, has kept it growing since.
The idea is simple. Most people only see a polished company after years of iteration, so the messy first attempt gets lost. FirstVersion brings that first attempt back. You can open the first version of Google from 1998, type a query, and get sent to today's search results. Or load the 2005 YouTube page and click straight into "Me at the zoo," the very first video uploaded to the site, posted by co-founder Jawed Karim.
It isn't a museum with glass cases. Every recreation is meant to behave like the real thing did, so the history feels alive rather than archived. The tradeoff is that accuracy depends on how well each AI reconstruction matches surviving records, so treat every page as an educational recreation, not a byte-for-byte backup.
Getting Started
- Go to the FirstVersion website in any modern browser. There's no sign-up, download, or account needed.
- Browse the gallery of recreated tech giants, such as Yahoo! from 1994, eBay from 2002, or Product Hunt from 2013.
- Open any entry and interact with it directly. Use the search bar, click links, or play the embedded first video to see how the original worked.
- Read the story notes next to each page to learn what the company looked like in its first days and why it started that way.
- To build on the idea, duplicate the Trickle template for free and reshape the gallery into your own project.
Product Information
A quick look at FirstVersion's pricing, supported platforms, and performance.
Best for
The users, tasks, and scenarios where this tool fits best.
Users
- Startup founders
- Designers and product managers
- Educators and students
Tasks
- Studying startup origin stories
- Analyzing early website design
- Building a similar gallery
Scenarios
- Preparing a talk or lesson on tech history
- Killing ten minutes on a nostalgia trip
Key features
An Interactive Website Archive, Not a Screenshot Gallery
FirstVersion rebuilds early versions of companies like Google, YouTube, Yahoo!, Twitter, and Airbnb as websites you can use, not pictures you only look at. The 1998 Google page accepts a real query and forwards it to current search results, the 2005 YouTube page links to the actual first upload, and Yahoo!'s old redirect links still fire. That behavior is what separates it from a screenshot gallery.
Coaching You Through Eight Founding Stories
The gallery currently covers eight entries: Yahoo! in 1994, Google in 1998, X.com in 1999, eBay in 2002, YouTube in 2005, Twitter in 2006, Airbnb in 2008, and Product Hunt in 2013. Each one comes with a short story that names the founders and explains the problem the first version set out to solve, from eBay's broken laser pointer to Airbnb's air mattresses for conference guests.
Free Duplication and Remixing
The first version of Google, the first version of Twitter, and every other entry can be duplicated at no cost, so you can copy a page and reshape it into your own project. That makes FirstVersion double as a starting point for a school presentation, a design study, or a portfolio piece about tech history.
Built With Trickle AI
FirstVersion was itself made with Trickle, an AI builder that turns natural-language prompts into working websites, forms, and apps. The project doubles as a demonstration of what that tool can produce, since each interactive page was stitched together from text and image prompts rather than hand-coded.
A Nostalgic Gallery Covering Two Decades
The lineup spans the mid-1990s through the 2010s, from Yahoo!'s 1994 debut to Product Hunt in 2013. Browsing a single gallery gives a compact timeline of how web design moved from dense text pages to cleaner layouts, and it works as a ready-made Trickle AI template for anyone who wants to recreate original websites of their own.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Completely free to browse, with no account or download required
- Recreations are clickable and functional, not static screenshots
- Covers eight tech companies across two decades, from Yahoo! in 1994 to Product Hunt in 2013
- Every page can be duplicated and reused for your own projects
- Each entry pairs the interface with a short founder story
Cons
- Accuracy depends on the AI reconstruction matching surviving records, so some details may drift from the originals
- No API or programmatic access, which rules out automated research
- The gallery is small, so it suits casual browsing more than deep archival work
Frequently asked questions
It's a free website that recreates the first versions of major tech companies, such as Google and Airbnb, as interactive pages you can browse and click through.
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