‘Leave Comfort Behind’: The Founder Designing the Future of Work 

For the next generation of founders, comfort isn’t always the goal, creation is. They’re not chasing long-term corporate security. They’re pushing themselves and technology for the chance to build something new, solve problems in fresh ways, and leave their mark. The challenge to create something unique outweighs the tried and tested career path.

Ayda Golahmadi embodies this shift. Completing a Professional Doctorate in Engineering, Ayda has looked beyond the safety of a secure role in a larger mult-national to solve problems for founders in the startup world.

While for some, stepping away from an established career path may have been stressful, for Ayda, it was a natural choice after assessing her goals. 

“Every day when I was going to work, I felt like it wasn’t connecting with me” she recalls of her corporate job. “The salary was good, but it wasn’t innovative. 

“When I was on a train ride, I started writing about what I really wanted to do and what makes me happy. I realised my values were different. I had to choose another path.”

That choice led her to entrepreneurship, where she is now building Starnus with a small team of founders. Starnus is a startup designed to help small teams operate with the efficiency of much larger ones, powered by AI.

An AI Co-Founder for Small Teams

Starnus solves a problem Ayda knows firsthand: the endless to-do list small teams face without the resources to hire for every role. “As a small startup, you have so many tasks. Writing blogs, designing websites, sending email marketing, finding investors,” she explains. “But you have a small budget and you cannot hire different people for all of this.”

That challenge sparked the idea for Starnus. Instead of simply providing another chatbot, the platform offers an AI co-founder, a system that takes on real tasks, not just answers questions.

“The difference with ChatGPT is that you just sit and type, and it gives you an answer,” Ayda says. “With Starnus, you write the goal, what you really want to achieve, and it creates the steps and executes them one by one. It’s like assigning tasks to a colleague.”

The model is designed to scale. Developers can publish their own AI agents into the Starnus marketplace, creating new tools for founders to plug into their workflows. This way, the platform grows with both sides of the ecosystem. “We’re thinking of it as two-sided,” Ayda explains. “Developers come and put their tools in the marketplace, and users come and write their tasks. Together, it gets done.”

Her vision is to help small startups compete with far larger players. “Small teams like us with four or five people need half a colleague, or an AI co-founder,” she says. “That’s what we’re building with Starnus. With a small budget, they can work as if they are much bigger.”

Like many startups (like espresso Displays), the realised ‘pain point’ that the business solves, begins with the founder’s own experiences.

Inspiration Happens On The Go

Ayda’s workflow reflects the freedom she values. Never confined to one desk or a single space. “I decided to work from home, cafés, and sometimes even trains,” she says. “When I sit on the train, my creativity just starts.”

Her setup is designed to match that mobility: a Microsoft Surface paired with an espresso Display for a second screen. “In design tasks like working in Figma, I really need the extra monitor,” she says. “But I also wanted something stylish, light, and cool.”

Finding espresso wasn’t straightforward. “One day I saw a picture on X, someone had the espresso monitor on the table,” she recalls. “Many people asked about the brand, but he didn’t answer. So I took the photo, searched in Google, and after four days of looking I finally found the website. That’s how I bought my monitor. It really helps me in different locations.”

The Workflow Isn’t Static

Ayda has learned that the best work doesn’t always happen in one fixed place. 

Cafés provide the right energy, so long as there’s strong internet. This mix of movement and atmosphere keeps her motivated and helps her switch between the studies and the entrepreneurial energy of Starnus.

 “Honestly, I have a problem when it comes to focus,” she admits. “At first I worked mostly in our office, but I found it boring. So I started working from home, then in different cafés, and sometimes I think when I need to be more creative, I travel around, mostly by train.” 

Essential Tools for Working Anywhere

Hardware

• Microsoft Surface (with detachable keyboard and touch features)
• espresso Display 15 (portable second screen for design and multitasking)
• Wireless mouse

Productivity & Notes

• Notion – “my second brain” for projects and notes
• JIRA (Atlassian) – task and sprint planning with her team

Design & Creativity

• Figma – UI and product design work
• Professional camera – for capturing visuals when needed

Communication

• Slack & WhatsApp – fast team conversations and updates

Favorite Workspaces

• Cafés with reliable Wi-Fi
• On the move, especially trains: “When I sit on the train, my creativity just starts.”

Satisfaction through Purpose isn’t ‘Easy’

A growing generation of innovators are charting their own path, blending mobility, technology, and entrepreneurial spirit.

“I’m not saying I’m super happy every day,” Ayda admits. “But I have a lot of hopes and passion about this path. And that feels right.”

Starnus is her contribution to this movement: giving other founders the same chance to work smarter, move faster, and build companies in their own way.

The future of work isn’t confined to an office. It’s being designed in cafés, on trains, and in the hands of founders like Ayda Golahmadi who are leaving comfort behind to create something new.

You can learn more about Starnus here: https://www.starnustech.com/