How I taught myself to code, quit my consulting job, and started an AI robotics firm by age 25

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Oscar Brisset transitioned from BCG consultant to AI startup founder by age 25.
The year before he quit consulting, he used weekends and PTO to teach himself to code.
His top advice to others who want to take the leap: Don't be afraid to learn technical skills.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Oscar Brisset, 25, a French-Australian founder based in San Francisco. He cofounded Remy AI, a warehouse robotics company. Business Insider has verified his former employment and funding. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2024, I used 18 of my 25 allotted vacation days from BCG to sit at home and teach myself to code. I wanted to have the skills to one day found my own company.

In November 2025, I quit my job at BCG after launching a robotics startup. We have since raised more than $650,000 for Remy AI, which builds AI-powered robots for e-commerce warehouses.

Here's how I did it.

I planned to become a diplomat until I discovered AI

I was a student at the University of Oxford when GPT-3 came out, and I was blown away. I knew it was going to revolutionize the world.

I graduated from Oxford in 2022 and took a gap year, knowing that I eventually wanted to found a tech startup. In the meantime, consulting felt like a good way to learn about other industries.

In September 2023, I started working at BCG in the private equity team. I was often in the office until midnight, so I didn't have much time during the week. I spent my weekends learning how to code by going back and forth with Claude and ChatGPT, prompting them not to give me answers straight away, but to ask leading questions.

YouTube also helped me discover new tools and frameworks, and I used a textbook to understand the theory.

I wanted to build something myself

About a year and a half into my time at BCG, I transitioned into a role as an AI engineer. One weekend in May, I had a crisis. I didn't sleep or eat much and lay in bed trying to work out what I wanted to do with my life.

That summer, my cofounder, Ben Kaye, and I came up with the idea for Remy AI.

Whereas most existing warehouse robots require preprogramming for each object they grasp, we've built a model with Remy AI that enables them to adapt to changing conditions on the fly. We're bringing AI into the physical world, focusing on warehouses and logistics.

From July onwards, I shifted my focus from learning to code to trying to sell, spending my weekends reaching out to people on LinkedIn.

In October, we flew to San Francisco to get funding. I networked like crazy, pitched to a bunch of investors, and applied to YC.

We got a call inviting us to join the Winter 2026 batch. YC invests $500,000 in each startup, and we'd raised funds from other investors too, which meant I could focus on building the business.

With our startup doing well, I decided to quit my job at BCG in November.

My key piece of advice to others with a background like mine is not to be scared to teach yourself technical skills.

A lot of people hear "software engineering" or "coding" and assume it's not for them or that it's too difficult, but things have changed a lot with the introduction of LLMs and tools like Claude. LLMs can teach you a lot and get you to a quite good level quickly. You just need to be prepared to throw yourself in the deep end.