WEW22 - Do Advancements in AI Spell An End For Startups

When I started writing this week’s issue I almost made it into one specifically about hiring senior talent. Eventually, I pulled myself back to give you the usual variety of topics, but I did so because so much of what I want to share doesn’t fit into a short paragraph. I included two items from that category I thought would be timely as you all go into your spring hiring periods.

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In this week’s Email:

✧ Artificial Intelligence - Is AI The End of Startups?
✧ Software Engineering - Bugs Mean More Than Software Problems
✧ Talent Management - When To Hire For The C-Suite
✧ Further Reading - Books and Articles I recommend this week
❖ Talent Management - Hiring For Networks
❖ Blogposts - Access to full-length blog posts without the paywall

Artificial Intelligence

Is AI The End of Startups?

Large companies can't innovate like small startups do. It's just not possible, if you are Google size you need new business to generate Google-level profits. This is a core thesis in The Innovator's Dilemma.

But we are seeing a shift. Large companies are now able to develop and adapt known high-value adds faster than startups and this is particularly true in terms of AI-related technology. What makes these breakthroughs even more impactful for large companies is:

• They can leverage their existing data
• AI is proven in terms of marketing and investor excitement
• They already have in-house expertise

Startups on the other hand seldom have high-value proprietary data on hand and are in a position where they need to offer tactical solutions to their customers. AI exaggerates this as well as it is truly snowball-style growth. A company can develop custom models and conversational interfaces to help its internal teams with their own data. It's a radical change to see the adoption and launch of new tech by big companies like how we are seeing today. In the past, a tool like ChatGPT would be integrated not replicated, but now we are seeing every major player launch a competitor. How could a startup compete with those resources?

Software Engineering

Bugs Mean More Than Software Problems

"We just need better code."A client of mine confessed confidently.

They were so sure that their problem was technical. They had frequent bugs, particularly with their data ingestion. Some of these were even prohibitive to sales. In their mind, bad code meant more bugs.

But this isn't always the case.
• Poor prioritization
• weak communication
• vague requirements
• stress
• burnout
• lack of motivation
• aggressive deadlines

All of the above contribute to bugs. While it's true a lack of skills can also introduce issues, if you have a decent-sized team, those issues are most likely from the above rather than a lack of coding skills.

I, unfortunately, was not able to help this person as their insistence that what they needed was a technical person to come show people how to code was too ingrained.

Reskilling and training are great resources for a company and I think every organization should prioritize them. But they aren't solutions to the problems you have today, they are how you build for tomorrow. Consider how work gets done and how the team feels.

Talent Management

When To Hire For The C-Suite

I've been interviewing for a bit now and I will confess, most startups look to hire for the C-suite too early.

Hiring senior-level people can add tremendous value to what you are building but if you are going to hire senior make sure to know what that means. What does someone in a later career stage expect in terms of how they work with the team, compensation, and collaboration with the other leaders?

If you are a founder you may have a CEO title and you deserve it, but you are a founding CEO, not a career CEO. The CTO or CPO you are looking to hire may functionally be much more like a senior engineer or product manager, people who are hungry to go all in. By searching for C-suite executives you will get a lot of noise in your applications from people that don't fit the profile you are looking for.

When it's time to hire these people you will know because your goals will shift from building to revenue.

Further Reading

Books

Building An A Team - This one is another must-read. Why, well because it’s short, doesn’t drag out anecdotes, and is value-rich. I finished the book in under 2 hours. The core premise is that there are curves of expertise and that with mastery comes boredom, with boredom comes disengagement, and with disengagement comes churn.

To keep your employees and keep them engages, you need to find ways to enable them to jump to new curves and experience the cycle anew.

Blogs

• How I Slashed 2 Million in SaaS Annual Spending

• The Secret to Running Great Skip Level 1-on-1 Meetings

• How To Tell If An NFT Is Real: A Quick Guide For Savvy Collectors

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