AI agents are becoming the first hires at some startups — not people. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Gusto CEO Josh Reeves, Insight Partners senior vice president Michelle Johnson, and Leland CEO John Koelliker will discuss how companies are building teams where humans and AI work side by side. The panel is called “Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder.”
Moscone West hosts the Builders Stage event in San Francisco from October 13 through October 15, with sessions running there. Early passes go on sale before September 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT, and offer up to $200 off. Groups booking together can save up to 30%.
The new hiring question
When a young company hires its first few people, it has to weigh what each person brings against how much they cost and how quickly they can start working. AI agents change that balance. These systems can now take on engineering tasks, customer support, and routine work on their own, rather than merely assisting staff members with their jobs.
That alters the opening question. Rather than asking “Who do we hire next?”, founders can now ask “What work needs to be done — and is a person the best way to do it?”.
Who owns the work
A small team can move faster by giving tasks to an AI agent, though doing so brings with it fresh questions.
- Who checks the work?
- Who makes the final decision?
- What happens when an agent gets something wrong?
- Which responsibilities are too important to delegate?
These are no longer theoretical questions for companies building AI-native startups.
Three views on the shift
Gusto serves over 500,000 companies across payroll, benefits, compliance, onboarding, HR, and retirement, pairing AI with over a decade of experience supporting small businesses. Reeves brings a wide customer base to the arrangement.
At Insight Partners, Johnson partners with CEOs and CROs throughout North America and Europe on go-to-market strategy, revenue organizations, and AI implementation. Her background in startup scaling includes her work at Flock Safety, where she served as an early sales and revenue operations leader as the company grew from less than $1 million to $90 million in ARR.
Leland is a career and talent platform for the AI era, and its CEO and co-founder Koelliker has built it at the intersection of human ability and artificial intelligence. His background spans product and growth work at LinkedIn, Curated, and Uber, along with founding a venture dedicated to how individuals cultivate and put their abilities to use in a labor market undergoing constant change.
What people still own
There are choices that cannot be broken down into a set process. The question of who actually grasps what customers truly want remains open. So does the matter of who questions a poor plan. When something goes wrong, the person who owns the failure must be named. Building connections, driving a team forward, or deciding that the data points toward the wrong answer — these are all tasks that demand judgment, not just procedure.
The more capable AI agents grow, the more significant those questions may turn out to be.
The new role of an early employee
An early employee’s job is likely becoming more about making decisions, taking responsibility, and managing both people and technology — instead of just doing a bigger amount of work.
Building the company, not just the technology
People who can make choices, accept blame, know customers, and shape the culture a business builds are what founders still require. The question is where these individuals produce the most worth — and whether an agent could handle the task instead.
The startup org chart is changing
The Builders Stage session is billed as a place to find answers. It serves as a reminder that the matter of who joins your startup has grown more complex, with AI having moved from a mere tool into a full partner in the endeavor.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.