Do Tech Founders Miss Coding as They Transition to Leadership?

A study posted by Tinder staff data scientist Conor McLaughlin analysed over 500 startup founders and found that approximately 88% had completed an undergraduate education, with computer science emerging as the most popular field of study. For many of these founders, coding is not just a skill but a defining part of their identity. It is a tool through which they built their companies, tackled early challenges, and transformed ideas into reality.

As startups grow, founders are often required to leave behind this hands-on work to focus on leadership. This transition is both inevitable and deeply personal, which forces founders to balance their technical passions with the demands of scaling a company.

For tech founders, writing code often represents control and mastery, offering a direct line from idea to execution.

How Coding Has Changed Over Time

For OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, coding will always be of foundational relevance in the future. “I think you should learn to code. I don’t write code very much anymore, but I randomly did [it] yesterday. Learning to code was great as a way to learn how to think,” Altman said in a recent podcast.

Meanwhile, Ritwika Chowdhury, founder and CEO at Unscript, said, “I started coding even before getting into IIT. The beautiful part about coding is that it allowed me to rationalise problems and statements from first principles. This quality seeped into my startup journey. I’ve always chosen problems that I faced personally and solved them from first principles.”

However, the coding landscape has transformed dramatically, particularly with the rise of AI and automation. Research from last year revealed that AI tools increased developer efficiency by 26% and code completions by 38%. Founders who started in the pre-AI era operated in a world that demanded technical depth and manual effort.  In contrast, today’s developers work in an AI-assisted environment. 

“AI has completely transformed the way I approach coding and productivity,” Adithya S Kolavi, co-founder of CognitiveLab, said. “It not only helps me write and deploy code faster but also acts as a tool for quickly learning new concepts and technologies in an intuitive, conversational way.”

As a young founder, Kolavi appreciates how AI simplifies juggling the many hats founders wear – from engaging with investors and building marketing strategies to growing a social presence and generating innovative designs and ideas. “AI has been a game-changer,” he added, highlighting how it improves his creativity in ways traditional tools never could.

Tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, and automated debugging platforms streamline the development process. Research from last year revealed that GitHub Copilot and GPT-3.5 increased developer efficiency by 26% and code completions by 38%.

On the other hand, AI increases competition, pushing founders to meet elevated expectations and stand out in crowded markets.

“With AI, building and shipping MVPs has become easier and faster,” Chowdhury explained. “However, this ease has led to increased competition, with customers evaluating multiple demos. Expectations for early-stage products are now higher, bringing challenges back to square one.”

Leadership in the Age of AI

The rise of AI and automation is reshaping not only how technology is built but also what it means to lead a tech company. For pre-AI founders, stepping back feels like leaving an irreplaceable craft, while AI-native founders see coding as system orchestration.

“What coding does is it gives you a systematic framework of breaking down a problem into smaller problems and attacking each with high focus. Leadership is just an extension of that. If you’re building a business, you need to prioritise — figure out what can move the needle,” said Sudipta Biswas, co-founder at Floworks, as he explained how leadership picks up where coding leaves off. 

While stepping into leadership offers the chance to shape industries and impact millions, it often requires letting go of the hands-on work that first inspired a founder’s journey.

Adding to this perspective, Chowdhury emphasised the importance of applying a first-principles approach to leadership. “Leadership is more about distributed computing. You allocate and empower your team members, providing them as much visibility as possible and then finally bringing everything together in a cohesive manner to build a magical product.”

What Does the Future Look like?

Speaking on the future of the workforce, Biswas said, “AI allows you to move from zero to one with a lean workforce. What 100 people did before, 10 can do today with the right AI tools. According to him, leadership in the age of AI is about ensuring employees don’t resist it but instead embrace it as a tool to amplify their productivity. 

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently revealed plans to halt the hiring of software engineers in 2025 and attributed the decision to a 30% increase in productivity driven by AI tools like Agentforce. Similarly, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has expressed confidence that AI will be capable of handling mid-level engineering tasks by the same year.

Despite fears of job displacement, research suggests that AI can improve job satisfaction among developers. Surveys reveal that 60-75% of developers feel more fulfilled and less frustrated when using tools like GitHub Copilot.

Upsilling is the way to go, but so is working with AI. Altman highlighted that qualities like resilience, adaptability, quick ability to learn, creativity, and being comfortable with the right tools will be key to thriving in the future.