THE BIG IDEA

The case for making AI your co-founder

Finding the right person to build a business with is no easy task, but programming one could be.

Between the working world marching in AI’s direction and AI replacing humans in almost every capacity — as therapists, concierges, government ministers, even lovers — it begs the question: Could the tech make a good co-founder?   

To find out, Microsoft conducted a semester-long study with NYU Stern’s Tech MBA program, and the results were… not exactly shocking. 

The methodology

Students were divided into startup-esque teams, given access to Microsoft’s AI agent Copilot, and asked to build “Frontier Firm” companies, AKA AI-first startups that “don’t just adopt AI, but are built around it,” per Harvard Business Review.

• Students simulated launching a startup using the AI to assign roles, outline plans, generate content, and test workflows.
  
  
• Then they mapped out AI-first organizational models, imagining how Frontier Firms could operate with AI at every level.

The results

HBR breaks it down into four parts:

• AI as a “first hire” — teams used AI for key roles like strategy and analysis, helping them move faster with fewer people and focus on higher-value work. Instead of wondering who to hire first, they started asking how far AI could take them and what roles they really needed to fill. 
  
  
• Dialogue over documents — instead of starting from scratch, students talked to AI to generate first drafts (of docs, logos, pitch decks, etc.), then refined and contextualized the outputs.
  
  
• The role of human knowledge — AI made decision-making faster and cheaper, letting students explore more “what ifs” and focus on judging ideas instead of generating them. But! While it filled in knowledge gaps, it still needed human judgment to catch errors and add nuance.
  
  
• Reshaping team structures — humans became orchestrators of AI agents that handled tasks across domains. Basically, the tech became a digital workforce managed by humans, rather than a tool. 

What does this mean?

In theory, employing AI as a foundational team member would save companies time and money by making organizations leaner and passing grunt work onto LLMs.

• Established companies have hyped AI adoption for the same benefits, though their “plug-and-play” approach has largely failed to deliver.

So, having an AI co-founder might not be a bad idea — it would just radically change the nature of hiring, workplace dynamics and workforces, and how we value ourselves.

What, like the supposed “biggest shift of our lifetimes” wasn’t going to come with some major shakeups?

🔗

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NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

How much Americans spent on dried meat snacks, excluding jerky, in 2024. 

The number includes meat sticks. Chomps churns out 2m per day, but can only meet 85% of orders, per Food Dive. It has to tell new retailers no, hasn’t been able to expand to new markets, and hasn’t been able to develop new products because it’s so focused on satisfying the ravenous existing demand for dried meat in stick form. 

People are keen on such snacks because they’re high in protein and convenient for on-the-go snacking. Chomps and competitors including Jack Link’s and Archer are expanding manufacturing capabilities. They’re able to innovate broadly — better-for-you ingredients, meats beyond beef, new flavors — but also don’t have to. Chomps sells just nine flavors.

AROUND THE WEB

📆  On this day: In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to give voting rights to women. The US would not do so until 1920.

🗞️  Newsletter: Semafor Business breaks down how the market's biggest players, how they  think — and what they’ll do next. Subscribe here. 

⌛  That’s cool: Today’s date across multiple calendars throughout history.

🍄  Game: An alchemy puzzle game about building resources using plants.

🐰  Aww: Baby bunny cam.

QUOTE OF NOTE

Joe Kennedy, founding CEO of the early-aughts music streamer Pandora, is as surprised as the rest of us. 

Despite years of stalled growth, failed acquisitions, a scrapped relaunch, and losing nearly half of its audience to giants like Spotify, the brand has managed to keep the lights on.

In fact, it’s making more money than ever, pulling in ~$2.2B in 2024 revenue, per Fast Company, thanks in large part to its advertising business and the 40m-50m people who still tune in every month. 

SHOWER THOUGHT

In an alternate universe, the infamous "cool S" is Superman's logo. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Sara Friedman, and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Ben "Sees a dodo in the mirror every day" Berkley.

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