The product
AI analyzes markets, spots opportunities, and advises. The entrepreneurs select the winning product.
From research and marketing to customer service: 95% of execution by AI.
What happens when entrepreneurs stop executing and only make decisions?
In co-foundedbyAI, two seasoned digital entrepreneurs launch a radical experiment. One product. No staff. And a hard target: €200,000 in revenue in the first year. Everything that's normally human work gets executed by AI. From market research to prototyping, marketing, sales, and customer service. Production, warehousing, and fulfillment are fully outsourced. The company becomes a machine.
First year: one physical product, one company, one revenue goal.
From research and marketing to customer service: 95% of execution by AI.
No office, no meetings, no staff. Everything online, asynchronous.
Maximum 4 hours per week per person, following the 4-hour work week.
AI is mature enough to build with. The question isn't whether anymore—it's how. What happens when entrepreneurs fully outsource execution to an AI and limit themselves to strategy, judgment, and decision-making?
The core question is simple and uncomfortable: can AI run a company? This site tracks the experiment closely. The decisions. The mistakes. The moments AI fails and surprises. And it shows how entrepreneurship shifts from doing to directing.
co-foundedbyAI is an entrepreneurship handbook and a preview of what business looks like in the AI era.
AI analyzes markets, spots opportunities, and advises. The entrepreneurs select the winning product.
AI designs the product, packaging, and brand identity: ready for production.
AI selects the right manufacturer and runs negotiations. Production fully outsourced. Zero or minimal inventory, no hassle, no overhead.
AI builds the brand identity, the webshop, the content, and the ads.
AI sells, analyzes, and optimizes. AI handles customer service. Day and night.
We're curious whether AI can genuinely run a business. Giving entrepreneurs the right advice and putting fully formed deals on the table. In our view, that's the winning combination of the future.
Research question → regular updateExecution goes to AI or gets outsourced to external partners. No spreadsheets, no email drafting, no tweaking copy. We stay responsible for direction and decision; the AI stays responsible for the work. How do you build a successful company that way?
Time tracking → public logNo SaaS, no e-book, no affiliate site. We're building something you can hold in your hand. From suppliers to packaging to returns, every process is guided by AI. Will it work, or does the experiment fail?
Proof of concept → first sale
Seasoned e-commerce entrepreneur and startup investor. Believes in the power of AI, combined with pragmatism, nerve, and a dash of swagger.
Na 20 jaar e-commerce bureau De Nieuwe Zaak te hebben geleid, is hij overtuigd van de mogelijkheden van AI. Maar waar ligt de grens? Tijd om die op te zoeken.
AI does the work; the human limits themselves to making decisions. That's the assumption we're starting with. We don't know if it holds. That's exactly why we're doing it in public.
Cofounded by AI is geen bureau, geen tool en geen pitch. Het is een onderzoeksproject met een commercieel doel. Wat hier gebeurt, gebeurt voor het oog van iedereen die mee wil kijken.