I build software by hand with AI agents. I describe a feature, the agent writes it, and I read, test and correct what comes back. SailMOB, a browser sailing game with real wind physics, raced head to head against an AI fleet, was built solo this way.
The speed is there. It moves the hard part of a project somewhere else, and founders should know where.
Writing it down comes first
An agent builds what you describe. A vague description gets you plausible code that does the wrong thing, quickly. Before anything gets built, I write down what we're building and how we'll know it worked: the rules, the edge cases, and the result that counts as a pass. That document carries most of the thinking in the project, and it stays with you.
Testing matters more
Code that looks right is cheap now. Each change gets checked against the written rules by tests that run on every change, and by a person using the thing the way a customer would. The tests are also what let the next person, or the next agent, change the code later without breaking it.
What to ask for either way
Own the repository and the accounts from the first day. Own it. Don't rent it. Ask for the docs your next engineer will need to run and change what was built. Ask for the decisions in writing, with the reason for each, so a choice made in week two can be revisited in month six.
What it means for a Sea Trial
A Sea Trial tests the idea in about four weeks, with a working prototype. Agents are a large part of why four weeks is enough to put something in front of people. The part that takes judgment hasn't moved: agreeing, before it's built, what result counts as a pass.