{"id":17694,"date":"2026-07-17T09:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T09:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=17694"},"modified":"2026-07-17T09:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T09:40:08","slug":"startups-bet-on-ai-and-a-leaner-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=17694","title":{"rendered":"Startups bet on AI &#8211; and a leaner future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-right:0;padding-left:0\">\n<p>When Eric Lauer needs to hire at Giftory, the online gift-giving platform he runs, he\u2019s no longer looking for eager young coders fresh out of college.<\/p>\n<p>He wants \u201cmid-career people who are lazy in a smart way\u201d \u2014 experienced developers he calls architects who know how to wield AI coding tools to multiply their output rather than write every line from scratch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be an architect, you need that previous world experience, and you need to know all the workflows,\u201d Lauer told AFP. Candidates with \u201cno knowledge whatsoever of the workflows\u201d are \u201ca lot less appealing for an organization like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is a calculus playing out across the tech industry as a new generation of AI-powered coding assistants transforms how software gets built.<\/p>\n<p>Companies using tools like Anthropic\u2019s Claude Code are letting small teams build products that once required far larger workforces, but also squeezing out the entry-level jobs that young programmers have relied on to launch their careers.<\/p>\n<p>These programs \u2014 which also include OpenAI\u2019s Codex \u2014 have completely flipped the script on programming, turning coders from line-by-line typists into \u201cproject managers\u201d who can use AI to instantly write, test and fix software with just a simple text prompt.<\/p>\n<p>The switch to AI coding is undeniable. Among developers at small startups surveyed by the industry newsletter The Pragmatic Engineer, 75 percent reported using Claude Code.<\/p>\n<p>A quarter of startups in Y Combinator\u2019s Winter 2025 batch were built on code that was 95 percent AI-generated, according to Managing Partner Jared Friedman.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2018Not pulling the trigger\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n<p>Lauer said Giftory\u2019s roughly 30 employees get a premium AI subscription costing about $200 a month \u2014 \u201cpeanuts\u201d stacked against an average salary of $100,000 a year, and cheap enough to make offshoring \u201cuncompetitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Haitham Mengad, co-founder of Stems Labs, said he took a similar approach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe already had a pretty lean team and very talented engineers, so the approach I took was, let\u2019s do more with the people that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lindsay Euller, vice president of customer success at the software company Espresa, said her team\u2019s AI use is saving \u201cmillions of dollars a year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019ll get to a point where if I have to request headcount, I\u2019ll be asked, \u2018How are you optimizing AI?\u2019\u201d before any new hire is approved, Euller told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>But the efficiency gains reshaping startups are casting a long shadow over the next generation of programmers.<\/p>\n<p>A Stanford Digital Economy Lab study analyzing payroll data from millions of US workers found that employment among 22- to 25-year-olds in occupations most exposed to AI \u2014 including software development \u2014 declined nearly 20 percent from a late 2022 peak.<\/p>\n<p>Harvard researchers analyzing resume and job posting data covering some 62 million US workers across 285,000 firms found that junior employment at companies adopting generative AI dropped roughly nine percent relative to non-adopters within six quarters \u2014 even as senior employment kept rising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of hesitation in hiring right now,\u201d said Ian Amit, CEO of the cybersecurity startup Gomboc AI.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m hearing of a lot of companies that are interviewing multiple candidates across the board but are not pulling the trigger on actual hiring decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2018The dumbest thing\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone thinks squeezing out juniors is wise.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman has called the idea of replacing junior developers with AI \u201cone of the dumbest things I\u2019ve ever heard,\u201d warning that the industry risks denying itself the next generation of leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Yet already computer science enrollment has begun to slide \u2014 dropping six percent across the University of California system and falling at two-thirds of computing programs nationwide, according to the Computing Research Association.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the economic logic pulling startups toward leaner teams shows no sign of easing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re still in a hypergrowth phase,\u201d Lauer said. \u201cAnd we always have the trade-off \u2014 do we put more resources or do we put more people?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the heart of the tech sector, the answer is more AI and fewer people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; 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display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/> Startups bet on AI &#8211; and a leaner future<br \/>\n<br \/>#Startups #bet #leaner #future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Eric Lauer needs to hire at Giftory, the online gift-giving platform he runs, he\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1982,3604,14148,8396],"class_list":["post-17694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-bet","tag-future","tag-leaner","tag-startups"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d.jpg",768,512,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d.jpg",640,427,false],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d.jpg",640,427,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d.jpg",768,512,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d.jpg",768,512,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d.jpg",768,512,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d-768x500.jpg",768,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d.jpg",768,512,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e6a7404f5e832264815a63cb1628c594bcd2fa1d-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=7\" rel=\"category\">Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}