‘It’s a Real Company Run by Fake People’
Jan 15, 2026•1 hr 5 min
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Episode description
Evan Ratliff started a company last summer. He and his co-founders came up with a name, hired a team, built a website, and launched an app. They interviewed interns, planned a company hiking trip, and fielded inbound interest from VCs. Normal startup stuff. Except for one thing: All of Evan's employees are AI agents. So are his co-founders.
He's been documenting the journey on his podcast Shell Game — what works, what doesn't, and what it might tell us about a future where AI employees are everywhere.
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