The Elephant in the Brownfield

In recent weeks, I met several talented, driven, experienced engineers and leaders working hard to bootstrap their ideas into startups. I call them brownfield refugees — people who left or were ejected from established (often brownfield) companies to pursue new ways. Idea density is extremely high in this group, and they are building fast in ways unimaginable a year ago, breaking practices and principles that were sacred in the “before times.” They are organizing around those new ways. Any brownfield would be lucky to benefit from those ideas and the execution speed. Brownfields have such talent, drive, and experience, too. But there is a gap. I heard that gap best illustrated at a recent meetup in Seattle. A few tech leaders led a panel discussion on AI deployment strategies. The audience was a mix of entrepreneurs and local tech employees. What I heard surprised me. Their tactics boiled down to (a) “we are shipping shared skills for everyone” and (b) “I, as a leader, am automating…