Startups lean on AI coding and confront quality risks

AI-generated code has quickly become central to startup software development, with founders describing a shift from AI as a typing assistant to AI as the primary author of production code. At Alma, a Menlo Ventures-backed AI nutrition coaching app, cofounder and CEO Rami Alhamad said nearly everything the company ships is AI-generated. Anthropic’s Claude Code emerged as the dominant tool among founders and venture capitalists discussing the trend.

The business momentum around coding tools is accelerating as venture firms back companies such as Lovable, Replit, and Cursor. SpaceX announced it would acquire Cursor for $60 billion, while Anthropic has filed paperwork to go public, likely later this year. Chainguard CEO Dan Lorenc compared the shift to moving from a hand saw to power tools, saying AI has made coding far faster but also more dangerous without guardrails. Lorenc said 100% of his code is now created via Claude Code, up from 60% last year.

The speed has introduced new quality concerns. Founders cited slop, bugs, and fragile products that may be difficult to maintain after launch. Menlo Ventures has described the issue as a “Cleanup Tax,” where time saved on writing code can be lost to cleanup and quality assurance. Blueprint CEO Danny Freed said the cost of trying ideas has fallen sharply, but human taste and judgment have become more important.