Essays by Ry Walker

Essays on AI, startups, and software engineering by Ry Walker, founder of Tembo and Astronomer.

allagentsaiapisarchitectureastronomerautomationbottleneckbuild-vs-buybusiness-modelcode-reviewcoding-agentscommunicationcompetitioncontextcontext-engineeringcoordinationculturecustomer-developmentcustomer-successdatadecision-makingdeveloper-experiencedeveloper-toolsdevexeconomicsengineeringenterpriseevaluationexperiencefoundersfundraisingfuturego-to-marketgovernancegrowthgtmhuman-in-the-loopincentivesinfrastructureintegrationintuitionjudgmentknowledge-managementknowledge-workkubernetesleadershiplearningmaintenancemanagementmarketmarketingmeasurementmemorymoatsnuanceobservabilityopen-sourceoperationalizationoperationsoutboundpersonalpersonal-agentspersonalizationphasespitchingplatformplatformsplaybookprocessprocurementproductprototypingqualityragreasoningrecommendationsretentionreviewsalessecurityseedshippingskillssoftware-engineeringstartupsstorytellingstrategytembotoolingtrustunit-economicsworkflow
May 3, 2026From Agent to Platform: Why the GTM Is Services-Shaped

There is no winner-take-all platform in agents. The GTM is services-shaped, the harness is commoditized, and coding-agent companies have a narrow window to pivot before the floor falls out.

May 1, 2026The Real Product Is What Replaces Homegrown

Do not compete with what Shopify is building internally. Build the system that replaces every homegrown agent platform when the engineer who built it moves on.

Apr 27, 2026The Arena of Arenas: Why There Is No Winner-Take-All in Agents

Enterprise AI deployment is services-shaped, not software-shaped. There is no single board where you win or lose — you are fighting labs, incumbents, peers, and internal builds at the same time.

Apr 27, 2026The Forward-Deployed Model Is the Only One That Actually Works

Every agent needs to be personalized and context engineering is hands-on, so the vendor who embeds engineers inside the customer has a structural advantage. Self-serve ships shelfware.