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.
Sorry - you don’t need to learn to code anymore.I owe a lot of people a sincere apology.
For almost a decade as an investor, I have told just about everybody who couldn't, to 'learn to code'. It was the gateway to startup freedom... you can then create anything you want and attract other great builders to the cause. And now it's total BS.
AI coding agents have completely removed the need for this skillset, so now the modern founder needs to prioritize different skills. Here's my list:
1. AI Tools. From writing to building and everything in between, you should be taking advantage of the AI tools. Nobody is suggesting having a bot write all your emails or ship code without review, but integrating AI as an editor or idea generator for your sales copy, is likely to have a positive impact.
2. Communication and Collaboration. The days where a grumpy engineer can get away with terrible communication, because of their skillset, are likely coming to an end. You need to invest in your communication skills, as those will both direct your team and your AI tools to better outcomes.
3. Personal Finance. Regardless of how much you can fundraise, it's easy to mismanage your company's finances and end up in a bad place. A great way to learn how to do this correctly, is to start managing your personal finances.Being a founder is hard and coding agents are thankfully making one part of the job a lot easier, but that will naturally mean higher expectations elsewhere.
