America Destroys Its Advantage
April 29, 2025
For decades American Universities have been the envy of the World. With the brightest minds and the best facilities, these globally recognized institutions acted as a magnet for talent everywhere.
There’s a lot of talk about engineer salaries in the current AI boom, with many founders understandably hesitant to pay huge salaries to their early employees. As an investor, I am fine with the founders in our portfolio paying high salaries to engineers with specialist skill sets. Here’s why:
The AI coding agents are now so good, they can drastically increase the efficiency of any individual engineer, as well as reduce the total headcount of your team overall. If someone can offer skills, the coding agents cannot, don’t worry about paying them.
If someone asks for a massive salary and equity compensation, then their contributions need to match up with that from the very beginning. You’re either special, or you’re fired.
As a founder who has raised money and is now hiring, your biggest enemy is time, not burn. Don’t spend recklessly, but in most cases, you can’t diet your way to success. If you need someone on the team in order to grow, go get them.
Best of luck out there.
