Ryan Rutan @startups.com

I love a big thesis for each year. My thesis this year is that while a Startup's first hire should still be a human, that human should be managing an army of AI agents. @dharmesh - if I was going to build an ongoing workshop to help early stage startup Founders @startupscom build and deploy agents with https://t.co/HU0wC4scv3 what 5 agents would you start with?

Funny how the world celebrates 'security' but ignores 'risk'—until it pays off. Keep going. 🏗️

What if I had raised capital? What if I had sold? What if I had started earlier? We love to imagine the best-case scenario—but do we ever calculate the real cost? #founder

RT @startupscom: What if contentment is actually the goal? 🤔 As founders, we’re always chasing the next problem to solve—but do we ever sto…

Success comes with costs. If you’re not ready to pay them, the upside won’t feel like a win.

As Founders, we often create situations where "winning" becomes quite difficult because of a miscalculation on one or both sides of that equation.

We thought success needed to be bigger than it really did to satisfy us, and/or we thought the costs of getting to that success would be smaller than they were, and more than we can tolerate...or at least more than we can tolerate and still be happy with the "win".

Had to explain to a Founder today that most of the people who tell you "great idea" are just being polite.

Scaling isn’t about strategy. It’s about keeping things from catching fire faster than you can put them out. #startups

Is this an obstacle? Maybe. Or, it might be your next milestone revealing itself. As Founders, perhaps more than for anyone else, Aurelius' observation that "the obstacle is the path" is so very, very true.

Building a startup isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about staying in the game long enough to figure them out.

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PS - this takes years, NOT months.

You might think startup success stems from being the smartest in the room. It does not. It comes from being the most relentless.

I've seen some version of this pitch 3x this week: Step 1: Build something no one asked for. Step 2: Try to convince people it’s their fault they didn’t ask. #pitchslapped #startups

If I can't adopt a philosophy across all aspects of my life - it's probably the wrong philosophy. If it works professionally, but not at home, or might augment me spiritually but not intellectually...it gets tossed out. I'm not cool enough to have a la carte principles.

The best way to learn finance isn’t an MBA—it’s staring at a $17k monthly burn with $16k in the bank. #startups #founders #feeltheburn

The Founder lifecycle I saw in 2024: •Hustle culture is a scam. •Work smarter, not harder. So far in 2025: •Wait, maybe I do need to work harder. •I need a nap.

Startup land breeds a unique resilience— but founders, remember: burnout is real. Sleep, eat well, recharge. Your startup needs you at your best.