The first few hires at a startup can define the company.
AI agents are beginning to take on engineering, customer support, research, and operational work that would before have been assigned to early team members.
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, 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, come together on the Builders Stage for an insightful session called “Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder.”
Join them at Moscone West in San Francisco, October 13–15, alongside 10,000+ startups, investors, and tech decision-makers exploring what it takes to build and scale the next generation of companies. Register now and save up to $200 on your Disrupt pass before rates increase on September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
For an early-stage company, every hire is a trade-off between capability, cost, and speed.
All these questions, and more, will be answered on the Builders Stage at Disrupt.
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.
Register by September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT to save up to $200 on your pass and hear this session live on the Builders Stage.
Then continue the conversation with 10,000+ founders, investors, and operators across Moscone West, the Expo Hall, Startup Battlefield 200, and networking opportunities.