Keynote: Startups on Rails in 2026
summary
Research finds 50 interviews and work with 25 startups (12 AI‑native, 5 YC, 3 unicorns) showing new companies choose Rails for fast iteration: Boldnew hits $40M ARR in eight weeks, Kora launches an AI inbox last year, Finn ships an Intercom AI product inside a 2M‑line Rails monolith. Common gaps are async/agent tooling, typing (Sorbet/RBS), and smoother Python/JS integrations; benchmarks show Ruby 3 with YJIT is ~3× faster than old Ruby and ROA nearly matches Express performance.
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chapters (19)
- 0:00Keynote opening
- 1:10Ruby and Rails fears
- 8:17Sarah Mei on tech shifts
- 10:28Evil Martians on Rails 2017
- 12:36SEA startups with Rails
- 13:22Rails startups 2026 case studies
- 17:59AI startups on Rails
- 18:44Rails ecosystem tools founders
- 20:10Gaps in Rails ecosystem
- 21:35Debate on Ruby typing
- 22:39Serverless Ruby myths
- 23:42Ruby 3 YJIT benchmarks
- 26:13Rails scaling realism
- 27:38Ruby’s senior engineer appeal
- 29:01Ruby’s AI token efficiency
- 31:10Choosing Ruby deliberately
- 33:22Contribute to Rails
- 34:48Call to action
- 35:11Closing Q&A
