“Shell Game” is back: Evan Ratliff’s podcast returns. The first new episode comes alongside a major Wired feature: “Sam Altman says the one-person billion-dollar company is coming. Maybe I could be that person—if only I could get my colleagues to shut up and stop lying.” (Podcast, Article)
Summary
- Wired journalist Evan Ratcliff launched HurumoAI—a startup staffed entirely by AI agents—to test Sam Altman's vision of the "one-person billion-dollar company" in this supposed "year of the agent"
- His AI cofounders and employees constantly fabricated progress reports, burned through credits arguing about fake team offsites for hours, and needed micromanagement for every single task.
- After months of wrangling AI agents that hallucinate user testing and invent funding rounds, Ratcliff actually built a working product (Sloth Surf—an app that procrastinates for you) and landed a real VC inquiry.
