The AI-native startup: 5 products, 7-figure revenue, 100% AI-written code | Dan Shipper (co-founder/CEO of Every)

Overview

Dan Shipper, co-founder and CEO of Every, shares how his 15-person team operates at the cutting edge of AI-first workflows. Every publishes a daily AI newsletter, develops multiple AI-driven products, and runs a consulting arm—all while their engineers write virtually no code. Dan discusses the transformative potential of AI, the rise of generalists, and how companies can adopt AI-first practices to unlock massive productivity gains.

Notable Quotes

- "Whenever I see a kid with ChatGPT, I’m like, holy *, they’re going to go so much faster than any other person I’ve worked with."* — **Dan Shipper, on how AI accelerates learning and skill development.

- Organizations like ours, people who are playing at the edge, we’re doing things that in three years, everybody else is going to be doing. — Dan Shipper, on the future of AI-first workflows.

- The number one predictor of whether a company will succeed with AI is if the CEO uses ChatGPT. — Dan Shipper, on leadership driving AI adoption.

🛠️ Building an AI-First Organization

- Every employs a head of AI operations to automate repetitive tasks across the company, ensuring maximum efficiency.

- Engineers use AI agents like Claude Code, Friday, and Charlie to write code, review pull requests, and automate workflows.

- The team practices compounding engineering, where every task is designed to make future tasks easier, such as creating reusable prompts for PRD generation.

- Generalists thrive in this environment, leveraging AI to handle diverse tasks like coding, writing, and product design.

📈 The Role of Leadership in AI Adoption

- Companies that succeed with AI have CEOs who actively use tools like ChatGPT, setting the tone for the organization.

- Effective leaders create momentum by hosting weekly prompt-sharing meetings, sending usage stats emails, and rewarding early adopters.

- Dan highlights Walleye, a $10B hedge fund, as a model example, where the CEO’s enthusiasm for AI drives widespread adoption.

🌍 AI’s Impact on Jobs and Productivity

- Dan challenges the narrative that AI will eliminate jobs, arguing instead that it will reshore many roles to the U.S. by making workers more productive.

- AI enables individuals to achieve in months what previously took years, as seen with junior employees at Every rapidly upskilling using AI tools.

- The rise of model managers will distribute management skills more broadly, as everyone learns to delegate and oversee AI agents.

🧠 The Rise of Generalists in the AI Era

- AI empowers generalists to excel by handling specialized tasks, enabling them to focus on creativity and strategy.

- Dan compares this shift to the Athenian model of generalists, where individuals excelled in multiple roles.

- Smaller, more agile teams like Every’s can achieve outsized impact by leveraging AI, reducing the need for hyper-specialization.

🚀 Incubating AI Products at Every

- Every’s product incubation process starts with identifying expensive, high-demand services (e.g., chief of staff, ghostwriting) and using AI to make them accessible.

- Internal adoption serves as a litmus test—if a tool becomes indispensable within the team, it’s likely to succeed externally.

- Examples include Quora (AI email management), Sparkle (file cleaning), and Spiral (content automation).