1. A Programmer's 15 Years in Recruiting
I'm Kevin, an AI × Crypto builder, Co-founder of Bitlayer, ex-Huobi, PKU graduate.
From programmer to tech management to builder, 15 years of switching industries, always passionate about recruiting-related work.
Over these 15 years, I've helped over 600 people land jobs. Some through formal recruiting, but most by helping friends—finding jobs, making introductions.
Two stories I'll never forget.
The first: helping a 35+ guy find a job. He had two kids, under a lot of pressure. When he told me he got the offer, I was more excited than he was.
The second: helping a startup rapidly build their dev team. From zero to up-and-running in less than two months. Watching the product go live, I felt like I was part of that creation.
This is why I love doing this: matching resources, truly helping people.
But recently, I started questioning the premise of all this.
2. COCO 1.0: From Passion to Doubt
In June 2025, with support from various partners, I assembled a small team and started incubating COCO AI.
The vision was simple: use AI to build a career advisor, a job matchmaker. Make recruiting more efficient, help more people find good jobs.
The product evolved: Resume optimization → AI job matching → AI enterprise recruiting.
We built two products: - Job seeker side: job.coco.xyz - Company side: company.coco.xyz
We invested a lot in tech. The product shipped.
But GTM wasn't as smooth as expected.
I started to reflect and found some hard realities:
- Companies are hiring less: Economic environment, improved organizational efficiency—many companies just don't hire at scale like before.
- There's a gap between job seekers' skills and company requirements: AI can help match, but the gap itself doesn't disappear.
- Job seekers' skills need updating: Many people's abilities have fallen behind in a rapidly changing market.
I started doubting myself.
Was it a product problem? A market problem? Or—was the direction itself wrong?
I didn't have an answer.
3. The World Changed
In the second half of 2025, the external world changed.
Claude Code started being widely adopted across industries. Not just writing code, but actually completing complex tasks. More and more people around me were talking about one term: digital employees.
In December, we built an internal system called zylos to let AI handle daily work.
Tasks included:
- Daily data reports
- Social media management
- Code writing and testing
- Data processing
- And more
The results shocked me.
Tasks that previously required multiple people with different skills—now just needed to hand off the assignment.
A concrete example: social media operations.
Before, you needed a dedicated person, spending an hour a day: finding content, writing copy, formatting, posting, replying to comments.
Now? Just tell zylos "Post once daily at 12:30, content around XX topic, send me for confirmation before posting." Done in minutes.
From needing a dedicated person to not needing one. From an hour a day to a few minutes.
The feeling was complex. Shock, excitement, but also a hint of unease—what did this mean for my business?
Around the same time, another piece of news came: Manus was acquired by Meta for billions of dollars.
Manus had already crossed $100M in annual revenue. This wasn't a concept, wasn't a demo—it was real commercial success.
I listened to Ji Yichao's last podcast interview before the sale. One thing he said stuck with me:
Digital employees don't replace people—they let one person do the work of a team.
This perfectly matched our zylos testing experience.
4. Updated Thinking
"One-person company" isn't a new concept.
I'd heard of it before, thought it made sense. But it always felt distant, too idealistic.
Until I saw zylos handling a massive amount of tasks with my own eyes.
It didn't replace one person—it gave me the capabilities of a small team.
That moment, I decided to pivot.
I rethought what I'd been doing for 15 years.
Old thinking: Talent is a scarce resource. Helping companies find talent has value.
New thinking: Capability enhancement matters more than talent matching. Helping individuals gain organization-level capabilities has greater value.
This doesn't negate the past 15 years. Those moments helping people find jobs were still real, still meaningful.
But I saw a new possibility:
- Old paradigm: Individuals depend on organizations; organizations gain capabilities through hiring.
- New paradigm: Individuals gain organization-level capabilities through AI, becoming independent creative units.
The future trend is the one-person company era, not being employed by others.
5. COCO 2.0: Digital Co-Founder
Once I figured this out, COCO 2.0's direction changed.
Not helping you hire—helping you not need to hire.
Not helping you find a job—helping you create work.
What we're building is "Digital Co-Founder"—your AI co-founder.
It has a few core features:
- Self-learning evolution: Not a fixed tool, but a partner that evolves with your needs.
- Secure and controllable: Your data, your business logic, all under your control.
- Actually gets things done: Not a chatbot, but a digital employee that can complete complex tasks.
The specific product form is still being refined. But the direction is clear.
6. A Story in Progress
As I write this, the transition is still ongoing.
Startups rarely share their pivots publicly. Because of uncertainty, fear of being questioned, because there's no success to prove it yet.
But I think the process itself is worth sharing.
When technology gives individuals the capabilities of organizations, how will employment relationships evolve?
This is the question I'm thinking about, and the direction I'm practicing.
If you're also thinking about these things:
- If you didn't need to hire, what could you do?
- If you didn't need to find a job, what would you want to do?
- Can one person become a company?
Join our community to explore together:
- X: @AgentCitizens
- Discord: Agent Citizens
This is a story in progress.
I don't know how it will end. But I know: don't do things that go against the direction of the times.
15 years helping people find jobs. Next: helping people become companies.
About the Author
Kevin He | AI × Crypto | Co-founder @Bitlayer | Ex-Huobi | PKU
- X: @0xkevinhe
Written January 2026