Welcome back, readers.

We recorded this week’s podcast on Sunday night (very off-brand, super last minute), fueled by toddler tantrums, Myrtle Beach golf, and one too many vitamin C gummies.

But we got it done. And honestly, the conversation turned out fire.

This week, we’re hitting three big themes that popped off mid-recording thanks to a very lively LinkedIn thread.

Fair warning: we go deep on a few of these, especially the messy middle between AI optimism and economic reality. If you're building, hiring, or just trying to future-proof your career, this one’s for you.

And while you’re at it, check out the full episode, it’s a really fun one and I think you’ll love it. And even if you don’t want to listen to the episode, head on over to YouTube and subscribe to our page. It takes 6 seconds and means the world.

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It came in response to a hot take: that the majority of billion-dollar companies going forward will have fewer than five employees, thanks to AI.

Let's break that down.

Yes, there will be anomalies. Tiny founding teams will get massive valuations. Tools will get better. AI will absorb some overhead. But if you're betting that your three-person crew and one clever ChatGPT workflow will become the next Snowflake...you're dreaming.

Real unicorns are still built with real people. They just might be structured differently:

But that's not the same as saying "three devs and a dream" is the new default. Most of the companies people point to as examples of this are either grossly overfunded or riding a hype cycle.

And we get it, efficiency is sexy. But some things still take brute force:

Efficiency is an ingredient, not a meal. If you’re building, hire smart, not small just for small’s sake.

This one hit close to home. A listener asked: what happens to junior roles if AI can now do all the "starter work"?

And yeah, some of those roles are fading. Especially in writing, design, and even early-stage sales.

But here’s the nuance: the junior tasks are changing faster than the job titles. What used to be hours of cold email personalization is now two prompts and a little editing. But that doesn't mean there's no value left. It means the value shifted.

What we’re seeing:

The best way to stay relevant is to be a generalist with an appetite for chaos. That means knowing all about:

You're not trying to do be the best at everything. But you need to understand how everything connects. That context makes you indispensable, especially as companies reduce headcount and stretch roles.

So yeah, entry-level might look different. But the path is still there. And it might be even faster if you’re scrappy and AI-literate.

Let’s talk about the graveyard of go-to-market tech.

Troy said it best in today’s episode: “Everyone’s pitching a sales copilot with the same 3 bullet points and a purple website.” Brutal. True.

The GTM SaaS landscape is saturated with:

It’s not that these tools are bad. Most are... fine. But differentiation is dead. And teams are tired of toggling between 15 dashboards just to send a cold email.

Cold outreach? Barely works anymore unless it’s hyper-targeted. Referrals? Always in. Revops spaghetti? Turning into a full-blown mess.

Here’s what we’re betting on:

And more than anything, we’re betting on people who understand the whole funnel. If you understand how marketing drives sales, how sales enables CS, and how ops glues it all together, you are the tool, and the other tools are optional.

And yes, Gary Vee did say that he has 100% confidence that it will be normal to marry AI/robots in our grandchildren’s lifetimes.

….?

Agree or naw?