AI Is Unlocking Millions Of New Builders

Mukund describes how he and Madhav moved from research on software testing agents to general coding agents after realizing that verification could keep agents working longer. Their agents reached the top of SWE-bench within two months. After an enterprise-focused effort proved too slow, they launched a prototype-building pilot in June 2025 and found that most users were non-technical.

Mukund says Emergent aims to help users ship complete products, including backends, testing, deployment, security, and hosting, rather than only front-end prototypes. The company built its own container and Kubernetes infrastructure so the agent can get rapid feedback and build in an environment closer to deployment. Its multi-agent system delegates work such as testing and integration research, while saved trajectories help agents reuse lessons across sessions.

The team hides tools such as code diffs when they intimidate non-technical users, and considers how the agent experiences the platform as well as how the user does. In the demo, Emergent builds a podcast practice app and shows apps made by users, including an audio-video business intake tool and a CRM for lawyers. Mukund says the platform asks clarifying questions and can handle details such as using an Emergent API key.

Mukund argues that coding is only part of taking an app to production, and that users will want to build more as models improve. He says about 20% of apps built on Emergent are agentic, with agents handling workflows inside the apps. He expects longer tasks and teams of agents to require strong verification, including an overseeing agent that checks whether work is complete.

Mukund says many users are small-business owners replacing spreadsheets, email, and WhatsApp workflows with custom apps. He describes EquiMind, an app created by an Alaska-based clinical psychologist and equestrian coach who combined her expertise after finding development too expensive. The founders see software-building tools giving people more control to express ideas without losing details in translation to a developer.