The AI-Native Founder
Essays
Long-form writing on building with AI as the operating system, staying intact while you do it, and the mechanics of getting from engineer to founder to funded.
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The Forward-Deployed Company, Part 2: How to Define the Outcome a Forward-Deployed Team Is Paid For
Nearly every forward-deployed team promises to drive business outcomes. Almost none can define one well enough to put in a contract. Here's how, with one worked example.
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Building Your Founding Team — Lesson 9: Write the Exit While You Still Like Each Other
The Build Log · How to split equity when one founder with AI can build the first version alone, why vesting protects both of you, and the one-page agreement you write before anyone is angry
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Why Founders Quit While the Market Is Still Fine
Many startups end because the founder runs out before the market or the money does. Four traps that get worse with AI, a move for each, and what the new fund data means for your raise.
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The 20 Questions VCs Ask AI Founders, and How to Answer Each One
A free guide from The AI-Native Founder. Every question an investor is likely to ask in a seed meeting, what they are really testing, and the evidence that settles it.
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The Forward-Deployed Company, Part 1: Should You Build a Forward-Deployed Engineering Team?
By the end of this year, 85% of tech providers will run a forward-deployed program. By 2028, 70% of enterprises will abandon what those programs built. Both numbers are about you.
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Building Your Founding Team — Lesson 8: Two Weeks Before the Handshake
The Build Log · Why a co-founder decision needs evidence from real work, what AI changed about the trial, and the two-week brief and review that make the call
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27 Billion-Dollar Rounds in One Quarter, and 3 Moves for the Rest of Us
The quarter’s money went to the giants, and agents are getting a standard way into businesses. Three moves for a small team this month, each with an example.
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Building Your Founding Team — Lesson 7: Build the Track, Hand Over the Car
The Build Log · Why founders stall before the first hire, what agents changed about that, and the written handover that works for a person or an agent
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Sell the Promise, Then Build What Keeps It
A law firm that guarantees eight hours or the review is free, a runtime that makes agents finish what they start, and a small model for the routine calls. Plus the bill that taught me.
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Fundraising Fundamentals — Lesson 6: The Update Is the Next Round
The Build Log · What the money is for, and the monthly investor update that reports against last month’s promises instead of this month’s good news
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The Seed Money Is Buying Firms, Not Tools
A pre-seed audit firm, a debt-recovery agent that hands hardship to a human, and a $3.5B company selling expert-graded data. Where the week’s money says your product ends.
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Fundraising Fundamentals — Lesson 5: The Sixty Days After Yes
The Build Log · Why a signed term sheet is not money, what diligence is actually testing, and the data room that assembles itself while you keep shipping
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Somebody Is Writing Your Compliance Doc Right Now
Three labs started setting AI safety standards without waiting for permission, and a startup raised $40M to certify agents like SOC 2. Both land on your sales call.
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Fundraising Fundamentals — Lesson 4: The Term Sheet Is a Control Document
The Build Log · Why the valuation is the least interesting number on the page, the four clauses that decide who actually runs your company, and the diff agent that reads a term sheet against the publi
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Nobody Is Taking Your Word For It
Nvidia closed on Hugging Face, AI’s share of pre-seed dollars stopped rising, and what kills enterprise pilots is not the model. Three places where a claim now needs paperwork.
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Fundraising Fundamentals — Lesson 3: Inside the Room
The Build Log · What actually happens in a partner meeting, why your pitch is really a briefing for people who are not there, and the two agents that wrap every investor conversation
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The Week Your Stack Became a Counterparty
OpenAI is cutting Cursor off, a quarter-billion dollars went into agent security, and the scarcest input in AI is now a verified human. Every vendor in your stack has interests of its own.
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Fundraising Fundamentals — Lesson 2: The Pipeline Math Nobody Warns You About
The Build Log · Why rejection is structural, what the 2025 seed market did to your funnel, and the agent that builds your investor pipeline while you build the product
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Introducing The Build Log
Serialized startup-building courses for paid subscribers — a new lesson every week
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Fundraising Fundamentals — Lesson 1: Money Amplifies What’s Already There
The Build Log · The Quibi test, the SCORE framework, and the letter AI just rewrote