Gusto, Insight Partners and Leland to debate AI agents as co-founders at Disrupt
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will host a Builders Stage panel called "Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder," bringing together 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, to discuss how early-stage startups build teams that mix human employees with AI agents. The conference runs October 13 to 15 at Moscone West in San Francisco.
The session is framed around a shift already under way: AI agents are increasingly handling engineering, customer support, research and operational work once assigned to a startup's first hires. That changes the question founders ask before opening a job requisition, from "who do we hire next" to "what work needs to be done, and is a person the best way to do it." It also raises questions about ownership: who checks an agent's work, who makes the final call, what happens when an agent gets something wrong, and which responsibilities are too important to delegate.
Each panelist brings a different vantage point. Reeves leads Gusto, which supports more than 500,000 companies across payroll, benefits, compliance, onboarding, HR and retirement, giving him visibility into how small businesses decide when and how to grow their teams. Johnson advises CEOs and CROs across North America and Europe on go-to-market strategy, revenue operations and AI implementation at Insight Partners; before joining the firm she worked as an early sales and revenue operations leader at Flock Safety, where she helped scale the company from under $1 million to $90 million in annual recurring revenue. Koelliker runs Leland, a career and talent platform, after product and growth roles at LinkedIn, Curated and Uber.
The article's own framing is that as agents absorb more of the task volume, the value of an early human hire increasingly rests on judgment, ownership and the ability to direct both people and machines rather than on completing a larger volume of tasks. Understanding what customers really need, challenging a bad strategy, or taking responsibility when something fails are cast as the kinds of decisions that stay hard to hand to an agent.
The panel runs alongside the wider Disrupt 2026 event, which TechCrunch expects to draw more than 10,000 startups, investors and tech decision-makers to Moscone West, including its Expo Hall and the Startup Battlefield 200 competition. Passes bought before September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT save up to $200, with a further discount of up to 30% for group registration.
Key facts
- TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 runs October 13 to 15 at Moscone West in San Francisco and will host a Builders Stage session titled "Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder."
- The panel brings together 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).
- Gusto supports more than 500,000 companies across payroll, benefits, compliance, onboarding, HR and retirement.
- Before joining Insight Partners, Johnson helped scale Flock Safety from under $1 million to $90 million in annual recurring revenue as an early sales and revenue operations leader.
- Disrupt 2026 expects more than 10,000 startups, investors and tech decision-makers; passes bought before September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT save up to $200, plus up to 30% more for group registration.
Why it matters
AI agents are moving into work that used to define a startup's earliest hires: engineering, customer support, research and operations. That forces founders to answer a new question before they even write a job posting, whether a task needs a person at all, and it puts ownership and accountability for agent output on the table as a design decision for the company, not an afterthought.
Who it affects
Early-stage founders deciding how to structure their first teams; venture investors like Insight Partners advising portfolio CEOs and CROs on go-to-market and AI adoption; talent and career platforms such as Leland; and, through Gusto's customer base, more than 500,000 small and mid-sized companies that rely on it for payroll, benefits, compliance, onboarding, HR and retirement.
How to use it
The panel, "Hiring When AI Is a Co-Founder," is on the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Moscone West, San Francisco, October 13 to 15. A pass bought before September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT saves up to $200, and group registration saves up to 30% more.
How solid is it
This is TechCrunch's own preview of a conference session it is running, not an independent report on outcomes: the discussion has not happened yet, and none of the three panelists is quoted in the piece. Speaker credentials, Gusto's customer count, Johnson's Flock Safety track record and Koelliker's LinkedIn, Curated and Uber background, come from the article itself.
Risks and caveats
The piece is promotional, with repeated calls to buy a Disrupt pass, and gives no data on how many AI agents versus human employees a typical early-stage company actually uses, names no specific AI agent product or vendor, and does not say what conclusions the panelists will reach since the session is still ahead of it.
“The role of an early employee may increasingly be defined by judgment, ownership, and the ability to direct both people and machines.”
— TechCrunch