AI Agents Join the Startup Payroll

Startups have always been defined by their first hires. But as AI agents become capable of handling engineering, customer support, research, and operational tasks, founders are facing a new question before they even open a job requisition: what should people own, and what should be delegated to AI? That question will take center stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where three executives will gather on the Builders Stage for a session titled “Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder.”

The session is scheduled for October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, alongside what the event describes as 10,000+ startups, investors, and tech decision-makers. It promises to explore how early-stage companies are building teams where humans and AI agents work alongside each other — and how founders can do that without sacrificing speed, accountability, or culture.

The Builders Stage Lineup

The panel brings together Josh Reeves, CEO and co-founder of Gusto; Michelle Johnson, senior vice president at Insight Partners; and John Koelliker, CEO and co-founder of Leland. Each arrives with a different vantage point on the same problem: how to design a startup team when some of the work can be done by agents from day one.

Reeves sees the shift across a broad customer base. Gusto supports more than 500,000 companies across payroll, benefits, compliance, onboarding, HR, and retirement, while combining AI with more than a decade of experience serving small businesses. That puts the company close to the day-to-day realities of firms deciding how — and when — to grow their teams, according to the event description.

Johnson brings the startup scaling perspective. At Insight Partners, she works with CEOs and CROs across North America and Europe on go-to-market strategy, revenue organizations, and AI implementation. Before joining Insight, she helped scale Flock Safety from less than $1 million to $90 million in ARR as an early sales and revenue operations leader.

Koelliker sits directly at the intersection of talent and AI. As CEO and co-founder of Leland, a career and talent platform for the AI era, he brings experience across product and growth roles at LinkedIn, Curated, and Uber, alongside building a company focused on how people develop and apply skills in a changing labor market.

Rethinking the First Ten Hires

For an early-stage company, every hire is a trade-off between capability, cost, and speed. AI agents add another option. Engineering tasks, customer support, and operational work can increasingly be delegated to systems capable of completing multistep tasks rather than simply helping an employee complete them. That gives founders an opportunity to rethink what their earliest teams should actually look like.

Instead of automatically asking, “Who do we hire next?,” the starting question can become: “What work needs to be done — and is a person the best way to do it?” That distinction matters, according to the session description. Giving work to an AI agent can help a small team move faster, but it also introduces new questions around ownership. Who checks the work? Who makes the final decision? What happens when an agent gets something wrong? And which responsibilities are too important to delegate?

Those are no longer theoretical questions for companies building AI-native startups, the event argues. The panel aims to address them directly.

What AI Agents Are Actually Doing

The source material describes AI agents taking on engineering, customer support, research, and operational work that would previously have been assigned to early team members. It does not specify which tools or vendors are involved beyond the panelists’ own companies, nor does it offer benchmarks or case studies. The focus is on the organizational question rather than the technology stack.

For revenue teams, Johnson’s perspective raises a different set of questions. If AI agents can research prospects, prepare outreach, analyze customer data, or manage parts of the sales process, what should the human members of a revenue team concentrate on? And how does that change the skills a startup should prioritize when hiring?

Koelliker’s platform, Leland, is described as a career and talent platform for the AI era, which ties directly to how people develop and apply skills in a changing labor market. His background across product and growth roles at LinkedIn, Curated, and Uber informs that view.

Judgment, Ownership, and the Human Role

Some of the most important decisions inside a startup are difficult to reduce to a workflow. Who understands what customers really need? Who challenges a bad strategy? Who takes responsibility when something fails? Who builds relationships, motivates a team, or decides when the data is pointing in the wrong direction? As AI agents become more capable, those questions could become more important, not less, according to the session preview.

The role of an early employee may increasingly be defined by judgment, ownership, and the ability to direct both people and machines — rather than simply completing a larger volume of tasks. That has implications across the startup ecosystem, the description states.

Event Logistics and Discounts

The session is part of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, taking place at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 13–15. Organizers say the event will bring together 10,000+ startups, investors, and tech decision-makers exploring what it takes to build and scale the next generation of companies.

Registration discounts are available: attendees can save up to $200 on a Disrupt pass before rates increase on September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT, and up to 30% more when registering as a group. The event also includes the Expo Hall, Startup Battlefield 200, and networking opportunities.

Three Perspectives, One Challenge

Together, Reeves, Johnson, and Koelliker bring three different views of the same challenge: how to design a startup team when some of the work can be done by agents from day one. Reeves’ view is informed by Gusto’s scale across more than 500,000 companies and its focus on small business operations. Johnson’s is shaped by working with CEOs and CROs on go-to-market and AI implementation, plus her experience scaling Flock Safety from less than $1 million to $90 million in ARR. Koelliker’s comes from building a talent platform for the AI era after roles at LinkedIn, Curated, and Uber.

The session description frames the core tension plainly: a company is more than the sum of the tasks it completes. Founders still need people who can make decisions, take responsibility, understand customers, and create the culture around which a business grows. The challenge is deciding where those people create the greatest value — and where an agent might do the job instead.

What It Means for Founders

Early-stage companies have always competed on their ability to do more with less. AI agents could take that principle much further, but they also force founders to revisit assumptions about team structure, accountability, and culture. The Builders Stage session is positioned as a practical conversation for founders navigating those trade-offs, not a product pitch or a prediction of wholesale replacement.

For readers building or scaling a startup, the questions raised here are worth considering even before the session takes place. Mapping which tasks require human judgment versus which can be delegated to an agent may help clarify hiring plans and avoid adding headcount by default. The discussion also touches on how skills and roles may evolve as agents handle more execution work.

The session will take place on the Builders Stage at Disrupt 2026. Those interested in attending can register before September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT to save up to $200 on a pass, with group discounts of up to 30%.