The agents were for the investors

“We have a dozen agents for development and review, a few for product and research, and more for operations. Everything is automated and running beautifully 😀”

That's how a recent conversation with a startup's technical leader began.

The real ask

The ask turned out to be something else: help stabilizing the product before an investor demo. Key engineers had moved on, the system was fragile, and no one could explain why certain flows worked the way they did.

When I asked about all those agents, the answer was candid:

“You know how it is in reality. That stuff is for marketing and investors only 😀”

I had mixed feelings when I heard that. LLMs are great tools in themselves. How they're used and marketed is creating a polarized divide over how effective they really are.

What agents can't replace

Agents can generate code quickly. They can't replace the people who understand why a system is built the way it is. When those people leave, that knowledge leaves with them, and no amount of automation brings it back.

The industry is small

The tech industry is smaller than we think, and people have long memories. Business roles often require moving on quickly; engineers tend to remember how they were treated. Short-term wins that cost those relationships get expensive later, usually at the moment you need good engineers the most.