What practice matters most for founders building with AI?

Eric Ries

Chair, LTSE Services · Long-Term Stock Exchange

Ask AI to teach you

Eric Ries says founders should not ask AI tools to do the work for them but instead ask them to teach them how to do the work, since the tools are capable of teaching anything and are really good at it.

Marc Minor

Cofounder and CEO · Higharc

Learn fast

Marc Minor says his biggest advice is to start learning as fast as possible and focus on your slope more than your intercept, because nobody knows what they're doing when they start a company.

The answer starts at 15:19.

Tom Bilyeu

CEO · Impact Theory

Use AI daily

Tom Bilyeu says to use AI every single day, training as if for a marathon, because if you're not in it and using it, you don't know what it's strong or weak at.

Palmer Luckey

Founder · Anduril Industries

Hire and delegate

Palmer Luckey says the founder's job is to hire people to displace them and do the work they would rather do themselves, adding that AI lets you delegate some of it but leaves you legally and interpersonally on the hook.

The answer starts at 34:44.

Steven Kotler

Executive Director · Flow Research Collective

Strong human intuition

Steven Kotler says what matters is being able to see between the cracks and develop a strong intuitive sense that is sensitive toward humans, framing it alongside storytelling and synthesizing information quickly.

The answer starts at 0:34.

Omer Kaplan

Co-Founder & CEO · Zyg

Dream big and expand your vision

Omer Kaplan says the strategic answer is to constantly dream big and expand your vision, because AI removes the constraints that used to make him hold back and lets him believe big goals are possible.

The answer starts at 33:21.

Reid Hoffman

Co-Founder, Executive Board Chair · Manas Ai

Learn their limits

Reid Hoffman says the important thing is to learn where AI tools' limits are and then figure out how they fit in constructively, making use of their strengths.

Dan Martell

Founder & CEO · Martell Ventures

Red teaming

Dan Martell says red teaming is the practice: push back on AI and ask why an idea fails, because it helps validate ideas and avoid wasting time building something nobody wants.

The answer starts at 18:31.

Amjad Masad

CEO · Replit

Generate new ideas quickly

Amjad Masad says being able to generate new ideas and try them out quickly is very important, because ideas remain a human domain and AI is bad at generating them.

Andrew Ng

Founder · Deeplearning.Ai

Judgment

Andrew Ng says founders need judgment when building with AI, because speed answers how fast you can build while judgment answers whether you should.

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Matt Taylor

Founder · Trepo

Selective AI offloading

Matt Taylor says the lesson is to be selective about what you offload to AI tools, automating only what they can do with near-perfect accuracy, because consumers sense when something isn't right and human support matters.

Erik Allebest

CEO · Chess.com

Listen to your heart

Erik Allebest says founders should listen to their heart — figure out what they want to see exist in the world and relentlessly go after that rather than following the market or others' advice.

John Brewton

Writer & Founder · Operating by John Brewton

Build what couldn't be built before

John Brewton says the useful question is not which model launched this week but what can be built now that could not be built before, and he wants to keep answering it as capabilities improve.

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Michael Saylor

Executive Chairman & Founder · Strategy

Become adept at using AI tools

Michael Saylor says entrepreneurs should pick one or more AIs and become adept at using multiple, because they are just different tools, like learning to use a computer or basic reading and arithmetic.

Jason Calacanis

Bestie · All-In Podcast

Deep domain expertise

Jason Calacanis says what he looks for is founders with deep domain expertise, saying code should be an accelerant rather than a company's only limiting factor or sole alpha.

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Todd Olson

CEO / Founder · Pendo.Io

Engineering mindset

Todd Olson says the secret to success is companies applying an engineering mindset to leveraging the technology: when it is not good at something, they attack that problem and figure out how to make it do it well.

Rapid iteration

Nishith Khandwala says the key is to iterate as rapidly as possible, arguing that lowering the cost of mistakes and iteration lets you take small steps, backtrack, and move toward your vision.