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Enterprise customers demand SSO, Directory Sync, RBAC, and Audit Logs, but building and maintaining that infrastructure slows teams down and pulls focus from core product work.
Some products will eventually mature to the point where forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) are no longer required. Others, particularly in AI, might have FDEs permanently as a feature. Products where value comes from applying judgment, recognizing patterns, and doing things that can't be reduced to a configuration screen may require human expertise to be part of the product forever.
Text was the fastest path to usefulness for AI, but it was always a middle state. Humans don't experience the world in text. Work doesn't happen in text. What's changing now is that multi-modal models are good enough, inference costs are low enough for always-on perception, and cameras, microphones, and sensors are making the physical world legible to machines. Once AI can see, hear, and react continuously, text-only AI will feel as constrained as desktop-only software felt once mobile took over.
AI advancements challenge Fintech SaaS by enabling rapid, cost-effective software development. However, real value remains in data, regulatory relationships, and handling complex edge cases at scale—categories agents can't easily replicate. Fintech companies with strong data moats and network effects will thrive, but must adapt quickly to maintain their competitive edge.
Lighthouse Hiring is the idea that hiring well-connected people makes subsequent hires both easier and higher quality. Spending the extra time to land one 'lighthouse hire' can improve the quality and velocity of any hiring push. Not all of these people will be well-known - they are just widely-connected. This strategy isn't without its downside - it takes some nuance to deploy effectively.
Hubristic fundraising is where companies raise so aggressively that they are essentially betting the entire future of the company on hitting an extraordinary outcome. These deals attract the best talent and capital, create customer and partner gravity, generate relentless press coverage, and demoralize competitors, but the talent is usually mercenary, any stumble becomes a 'failure', decision-making is warped, and the bar for success becomes close to impossible. The Age of AI is seeing hubristic fundraising return at a scale that makes 2021 look quaint.
You describe the work, and this tool turns it into automation.
A marketplace of the most used Claude skills.
Promptsy is a prompt management platform for creating, organizing, versioning, and sharing AI prompts.
The next era of tech brands that will win will be the ones that become something akin to a lifestyle brand. They will stand for something clear, and that something will show up everywhere. Tech has historically been bad at this, but it is now integrated deeply in people's lives, and the market and user demand have grown. People will soon associate themselves with tech brands as they do with brands like Nike. Soon, brands will do more of the work than the products themselves.
Personal audiences are becoming a crucial distribution channel for companies. A following proves agency and an understanding of the latest growth tactics. Acquiring and engaging an audience has a lot in common with acquiring and engaging users and customers. Content creator skills translate a lot to quality marketing and growth. Hiring someone with a big audience is practically bringing in a new distribution channel.
Software engineering is shifting towards Site Reliability Engineering as operational excellence becomes crucial.
AI-generated code is becoming increasingly common, shifting the focus from writing to testing code.
A system of action should look just like a timeline with a transparent record of discrete events and the ability for users to see that the whole agentic system is tracking everything.
Simplicity often leads to better, faster, and cheaper outcomes.