Building Fast Startups: Lessons from Uber Eats to AI

After building products at Uber Eats and leading AI teams at Cruise, I've learned that speed is a feature, but strategic speed is a superpower.

The Speed Paradox

Most founders think speed means cutting corners. But the fastest teams I've led were the ones with the strongest foundations. Here's why:

1. Infrastructure as a Multiplier

At Uber Eats, we scaled from zero to serving millions of orders daily. The secret wasn't moving fast—it was building systems that could move fast repeatedly.

• Automation first: Every manual process is a future bottleneck
• Observability built-in: You can't fix what you can't see
• Horizontal scaling: Design for 10x from day one

2. AI Changes Everything

Leading a 40-person AI org at Cruise taught me that AI development has a different rhythm:

# Traditional software: deterministic
def process_order(order):
    return validate(order) and fulfill(order)

# AI systems: probabilistic
def detect_object(image):
    predictions = model.predict(image)
    return filter_confidence(predictions, threshold=0.95)

The challenge isn't just building models—it's building systems that work with probabilistic outputs.

3. Small Teams, Big Impact

The best work I've done has been with teams of 5-10 people. Beyond that, coordination overhead kills momentum.

Key principles:

• Clear ownership: Each person owns outcomes, not tasks
• Ruthless prioritization: Say no to 90% of ideas
• Ship daily: Small iterations beat big releases

What I'm Building Now

At FinyxAI and BoostMyCase, I'm applying these lessons to new domains:

• FinyxAI: Making institutional-grade financial AI accessible to everyone
• BoostMyCase: Using NLP to give lawyers superhuman research capabilities

Both products share DNA: AI that actually works, built by teams that move fast.

The Meta Lesson

The real lesson isn't about speed or AI or team size. It's about leverage. Every hour of work should compound. Every line of code should multiply impact.

That's what I optimize for now. Not speed. Not scale. Leverage.

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