The latest articles on DEV Community by Sergei Hanterov (@sergei_hanterov_0b97cd30e). https://dev.to/sergei_hanterov_0b97cd30e https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4122457%2F3bea2889-393a-4adc-93b5-c304fd79efe5.png https://dev.to/sergei_hanterov_0b97cd30e en Sergei Hanterov Sun, 13 Sep 2026 19:35:58 +0000 https://dev.to/sergei_hanterov_0b97cd30e/the-whole-backend-is-written-by-ai-agents-heres-what-that-actually-means-day-to-day-4h5o https://dev.to/sergei_hanterov_0b97cd30e/the-whole-backend-is-written-by-ai-agents-heres-what-that-actually-means-day-to-day-4h5o <p>Pre-launch founder here. Plënka is a stock photo marketplace where photographers keep 75% of the revenue — the industry standard is 15–40%. I live in Armenia, I've been here 8 years, and I work alone. Technically alone. In practice, a factory of AI assistants writes the entire backend, in C++23.</p> <p>People ask what that looks like day to day, so here is the honest version.</p> <p>The agents draft, review and rewrite each other's code. My actual job is direction and rejection: deciding what gets built, and throwing away what isn't good enough. The bottleneck isn't typing speed, it's judgment. Most days I write zero lines of code and make dozens of small decisions instead.</p> <p>What surprised me: the hardest part isn't the code at all. It's knowing which 20% of a feature actually matters to a photographer waiting for a fair payout, and cutting the rest. An agent will happily build all 100% if you let it. Saying "no" faster is the whole skill.</p> <p>The other surprise: C++ was a strange choice on paper and a good one in practice. I wanted the cost structure of a platform that can afford to pay 75% out — and that starts with not carrying a payroll, and with infrastructure that stays cheap and fast.</p> <p>Status: pre-launch, no investors, everything documented as I go. If the "one solo founder + AI agents" model fascinates or horrifies you, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments.</p> <p>And one honest note at the end: the project is funded by early supporters — voluntary contributions from $50, no equity, no returns, nothing in return but a fairer marketplace existing. If that resonates, the Ko-fi link is in my profile. If not, reading this far is already support.</p> <p><em>Disclosure: this post was drafted with AI assistance and published by the founder — the same setup the post describes.</em></p> ai cpp startup sideprojects