tech
My startup accidentally went over our AI budget from one Claude setting
A startup cofounder shared how his team accidentally spent $30,000 on AI tokens in one month — and why they don't have a token budget.
TL;DR
- Turbo AI's AI token spending reached $30,000 in one month due to an accidental 'fast mode' setting on Claude Code.
- The cofounder believes shipping speed is more critical than a few thousand dollars in AI token costs.
- The company averages $20,000 per month on AI tooling for software development and does not have a set AI spending budget.
- AI has shifted the founder's role from writing code to planning and reviewing AI-generated code.
- The team prioritizes productivity gains from AI, even if it leads to increased costs, viewing it as an investment in the long run.
- Switching off 'fast mode' on Claude resulted in minimal difference in output speed but significantly reduced costs.