This YC Startup Exposes the AI Secrets the Top 1% Don’t Share

AI won’t live in chat. The future is headless agents doing real work — and calling humans only when it matters. Dexter Horthy, cofounder of HumanLayer, explains how agent-driven software actually ships.

In this fast, tactical deep-dive, we unpack HumanLayer’s origin story (from failed data tools to paid customers in a week), why frameworks lag real production apps, and the workflow that lets AI agents ship in complex codebases. We cover research-plan-implement loops, context engineering, team process, and how “specs become the new code.”

You’ll learn

- How HumanLayer emerged from a SQL “janitor” agent that needed human approvals

- The YC grind as a solo founder and closing first revenue in a week

- Why horizontal AI dev tools are hard — and how top 1% teams actually build

- Context engineering 101: research → plan → implement, and why it beats vibe coding

- How to review plans, not code, to scale quality across a team

Where headless agents win first — and why culture, not models, is the bottleneck.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Cold Open

00:21 Welcome to Lobster Talks

00:47 Guest Introduction and Background

01:12 Early Startup Journey

01:35 Building the AI Agent

02:18 Challenges and Pivots

03:52 Solo Founder Experience

05:28 The Importance of Data Tools

11:20 YC Experience and Revenue

13:59 Building for the 1% vs. 99%

23:50 Exploring New Ideas

25:18 Exploring Cloud Code SDK

25:34 Building Experiments with Claude

26:05 Challenges and Learnings

26:49 Insights from AI Engineering Talks

28:22 The Future of Coding with AI

30:22 Context Engineering and Workflow

32:19 Product Development and Customization

38:22 Scaling AI in Teams

48:10 Exciting Future Prospects

50:42 Conclusion and Farewell

📌 Watch now and subscribe for more smart, fast, founder-first interviews.

Show Notes & Resources:

• 14min Youtube video on wielding coding agents: https://hlyr.dev/ace

• Blog post version - https://github.com/humanlayer/advanced-context-engineering-for-coding-agents/blob/main/ace-fca.md

• Sign up for codelayer beta: https://humanlayer.dev/code

🎧 Listen on the go:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1u1JyRKH8JYFjhBkvTUOAP

Apple: https://apple.co/4cZ8RMm

My other YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GJarrosson