Ex-DeepMind coding agent lead on solo founding: hire humans for AI's last mile

julianweisser · x · 2026-10-19

Shivani, who led engineering on Google DeepMind's coding agent Jules, now solo-founds Wajo AI. Her thesis: AI agents can't always finish the job, so her product brings in humans for the last mile — without building a gig economy. The podcast also covers seeding the product in Ohio rather than the Valley, building the product before the company, and her research before going solo: most solo founders she met ended up alone after a co-founder breakup. Her takeaway: "the cost of not making that idea come true is way higher than the cost of learning how to self-regulate."

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