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AI · Software Development · Startups · Venture Capital
Boris Cherny, creator of Anthropic's Claude Code, advises 22-year-old computer science graduates to found startups, asserting that AI tools enable unprecedented company building and scaling, with half of Y Combinator's latest founders using Claude Code for 100% of their coding.
Cherny, speaking on Casey Newton's "Platformer" podcast, declared this the "golden age" for entrepreneurs, where "you and your agents can build a giant company." He observed that among Y Combinator's cutting-edge startups, only one founder out of "a couple hundred people" did not use AI for coding, with most leveraging AI for 50% to 100% of their code. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman echoes this sentiment, stating that while technical talent remains important, Y Combinator now seeks to fund individuals who deeply understand users, even if they "can't code at all," due to AI's capabilities.
Cherny predicts a future where "100 times more" people will be involved in "writing code or using agents to write code," even if their job titles evolve beyond "engineer."