996

Last updated: January 15, 2026

A few friends and I were discussing how Claude Code changes things. It's obvious to anyone building software today: the bottleneck is no longer building.

Does this mean startups lose? I don't think so. There are still infinite problems to solve. But it fundamentally changes how founders should operate in the early stages.

When every feature can be built in a day, creativity and customer listening become the priority. This was always supposed to be true. Now it's unavoidable.

During my first company, the product was so technically complex that every extra minute of work mattered. That's not the case anymore.

The real bottleneck is giving yourself time to think.

996 hurts most founders because they never give themselves space to be creative. Creativity cannot happen heads-down. It needs randomness. Go live life.

Founders would be better served spending half their time on creativity. Talk to customers. Go on long walks. Or even just stare at the wall.