The lead essay
What a company built generative first keeps human
Every small business that leans on generative tools makes the same choice at each step: hand it to the machine, or keep it. The Foundry writes down which, and why.
Most coverage asks whether a tool is impressive. We ask a plainer question: what does a one or two person company actually let it do, and what does it still do itself? The answer is rarely a headline. It is a list of small decisions, made in a particular order.
A teardown follows one company from the first request to the shipped work. It marks every step as automated or human, names the tools the company says it uses, and lays out what the setup costs to run each month, in the company's own words and with the company's consent.
The name carries two readings and the publication uses both. Generation, as in the people starting out now. Generative, as in the tools they start with. Neither is the point alone; the work is in how they meet.