From TechCrunch · TechCrunch Events · · 3m
AI agents are joining startup teams
At Disrupt 2026, leaders from Gusto, Insight Partners, and Leland discuss how founders should rethink hiring when AI can handle engineering, support, and operations.
In brief
At Disrupt 2026, leaders from Gusto, Insight Partners, and Leland discuss how founders should rethink hiring when AI can handle engineering, support, and operations. Founders must decide what work requires human judgment and ownership versus what AI agents can handle, fundamentally changing how early-stage teams are…
Your next hire might be AI
AI agents are taking on engineering, customer support, research, and operations work that startups previously assigned to early employees. This forces founders to ask a new question before hiring: what should people own versus AI?
The first 10 hires aren't all people
Early-stage companies face a trade-off between capability, cost, and speed. AI agents now offer a third option for completing multistep tasks, letting founders rethink what their earliest teams should actually look like.
Rethink the hiring question
Instead of asking 'Who do we hire next?', founders should ask 'What work needs to be done and is a person the best way to do it?' This distinction changes how teams are built from day one.
New questions about accountability
Delegating work to AI agents raises critical questions: Who checks the work? Who makes final decisions? What happens when an agent fails? Which responsibilities are too important to delegate? These are no longer theoretical for AI-native startups.
Gusto's broad perspective
Josh Reeves, CEO of Gusto, sees this shift across 500,000+ companies using the platform for payroll, benefits, compliance, and HR. Gusto combines AI with over a decade of experience serving small businesses navigating team growth.
Insight Partners on revenue teams
Michelle Johnson at Insight Partners works with CEOs on go-to-market strategy and AI implementation. She scaled Flock Safety from under $1 million to $90 million in annual recurring revenue, bringing startup scaling expertise to the conversation.
Leland's talent perspective
John Koelliker, CEO of Leland, sits at the intersection of talent and AI. He brings experience from LinkedIn, Curated, and Uber, plus expertise in how people develop skills in a changing labor market shaped by AI.
What humans must still own
Some startup decisions are too complex for workflows. Who understands customer needs? Who challenges bad strategy? Who takes responsibility when things fail? These judgment calls may become more important as AI agents grow more capable.
The changing role of early employees
Early employees may increasingly be defined by judgment, ownership, and the ability to direct both people and machines, rather than simply completing more tasks. This has implications across the entire startup ecosystem.
Culture and relationships matter
A company is more than the sum of its tasks. Founders still need people who understand customers, make decisions, take responsibility, and build the culture around which a business grows. The challenge is deciding where those people create the greatest value.
Disrupt 2026 session details
Josh Reeves, Michelle Johnson, and John Koelliker will discuss 'Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder' on the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, October 13-15 in San Francisco. Register by September 25 to save up to $200.
The org chart is changing
Early-stage companies have always competed on doing more with less. AI agents could take that principle much further, but founders must learn to build companies, not just technology, for what comes next.
The main idea
Founders must decide what work requires human judgment and ownership versus what AI agents can handle, fundamentally changing how early-stage teams are built.
