How I’m Building a $1B AI Startup: Solo

AI is changing how startups are built.

In this episode of Startup Theatre, Troy Hammond sits down with Toby Cox, founder of Geodde and former Partner & CTO of Paloma (Dovetail), to talk about why he walked away from leading large engineering teams to build an AI startup completely solo.

After years scaling companies and managing teams of more than 100 engineers, Toby is now running an experiment: building a company with almost no team and using AI agents to do much of the work.

We discuss:

• Why experienced CTOs are leaving leadership roles to build with AI
• How AI coding agents are replacing the work of junior engineers
• Whether “solo unicorn” companies are now possible
• How startups can influence what ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini say about their business
• Why venture capital may not be required to start a company anymore

Toby also shares the thinking behind Geodde, a platform helping companies monitor and shape how their brand appears inside AI tools.

If you're a founder, builder, investor, or curious about where startups are heading next, this conversation explores how AI may reshape how companies are built.

Startup Theatre explores the real stories behind startups, founders, and the evolving tech ecosystem.