Much of the narrative around AI and work is still about what might happen next. So what does work look like inside companies building and adopting AI right now?

This month’s Overheard brings together some of the more revealing comments founders have made about how their companies are being run, from the way engineers work to how employees are assessed.

AI funding has set a new record this year. Between March and May 2026, ten AI companies raised rounds ranging from $11 million to $5 billion. Their founders have been candid about who they hire and who they turn away, what they'd refuse to sell, and what keeps them up at night. Here's what they said.

McKinsey spent the last year figuring out what an agentic organisation should look like on paper. AI coding start-up Cognition is already ahead of the game IRL.

500 legal AI startups launched around the same time as Legora in 2023. Legora is now worth $5.6 billion. What's different about them?

Anduril, Sierra, and Halter are building very different companies. The best AI companies don’t copy each other. Their mission drives how they work.

The CEOs winning in 2025 aren't just shipping products; they're building a company culture that drives their mission. One that scales.

Change is a skill. It's something you can get better at, just like anything else. One thing I noticed about the best leaders I've worked with is that they can "read a room." They sense when to move forward with change and when it's wiser to stay put.