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129 turns · 45 minI don't think it's crazy to say that the people who know how to run teams of AI agents are gonna be able to outperform everyone else in this AI age we're in. So how do you actually run teams of AI agents? What does this mean? What's the step-by-step way to actually do this? And what are the tools you need to know, like Devin AI, to actually go and do this? Well, on today's episode, I brought on Ryan Carson, and he clearly explains all of this for you. He even gives you a tour of his insane setup for how he manages, uh, his AI agent. So by the end of this episode, you're gonna understand what cloud agents are, how you can set up automations, how you can create a software factory that creates software twenty-four/seven, and you're gonna be able to understand it just really clearly because he does such a good job at explaining all this. So enjoy the episode. I'll see you at the end, and have a creative day. [singing] The Startup Vibes podcast. It's tipping time, baby. Ryan Carson back on the pod. By the end of this episode, Ryan, what are people gonna get out of this?
So you're gonna do-- be able to do three things really well. You're gonna be able to run cloud agents, you're gonna be able to do automations, uh, and you're going to be able to ship faster. So whether you're a founder, a solopreneur, a sta- a stay-at-home parent, you're just gonna become an agent pro by the time we're done.
Okay, 'cause I think a lot of people listening to this might have-- they've played with agents, cloud agents, um, but you're gonna help them just get the confidence basically to be world-class. You know, I think that's what I'm trying to-- that's what I've been thinking a lot about. It's like, okay, there's, you know, a bunch of people who have played with agents, but how do we become world-class agent operators?
Yeah. Essentially, you are a manager of agents now. So w- no matter what you used to do, whether it was a people manager, an IC, you are going to become a manager of agents now, and you need to be the best in the world. And it doesn't matter whether you're a VC, a founder, uh, an IC, a mom, a dad, like a college student, you should manage agents and be the best at it, and we're gonna show you some tips for that.
Okay. So where do we start?
Okay, so [clears throat] let me give some context, right? So people understand where is this coming from. So I've been a founder CEO for like twenty-five years. Um, uh, I'm working on my fourth company now. Um, at my, uh, last company, Treehouse, which was acquired, we had, you know, I think up to like a hundred and ten full-time employees, taught a million people how to code. You know, so I've done the whole build organization thing and manage organization thing. Um, and you learn a lot about managing people on that. Um, and now this startup, which I'm running, it-- I am one employee right now. Um, so we've raised a seed round. We're scaling really fast. Our revenue probably is gonna four X this month, um, and I'm probably gonna be hiring my first employees. Um, we are essentially an AI divorce agent for divorce firms. So, uh, we, we, we do the, the dirty topic that no one seems to wanna, wanna tackle, which is family
Episode notes
I welcome Ryan Carson back to the show to turn anyone into a world-class agent operator. Ryan spent 25 years founding companies, scaled Treehouse to around 110 employees and a million learners, and now runs Untangle, an AI divorce agent for family law firms, as a team of one while his revenue tracks toward 4x this month. He walks me through his full stack: running cloud agents in parallel, building automations that watch production and improve themselves, and shipping 22 to 40 PRs a day, often from his phone. We also get into keeping token costs sane through model routing and building a durable reputation by sharing your work on X. By the end, listeners hold a clear playbook to run agents, automate the busywork, and ship faster.
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
01:43 – The New Agent Paradigm
04:24 – Inside Ryan’s eight-screen desk setup
07:23 – Why Devin and cloud agents
10:00 – Everyone Is Now a Manager of Agents
13:15 – Local vs Virtual Development
14:50 – Agent Management System
24:22 – 3 Automations to build
32:54 – Self-improvement loop with Grace
34:38 – Token costs and model routing
40:33 – Building reputation on X
44:03 – Closing thoughts
Key Points
- Ryan frames every knowledge worker as a manager of agents, and mastering that role is the new edge.
- Cloud VMs let Ryan run five to ten agents at once and ship 22 to 40 PRs a day.
- Roughly half of Ryan's work