[-__---____-ZXyw]

I wonder if we'll look back on this period in a couple of years and feel a nostalgic fondness as we think of the fateful moment when people working in software were forced to pull the wool from their eyes and look at the fact that businesses really, really, really dislike losing huge amounts of money paying people to make the software their businesses completely depend on.

I mean, I'm guessing that's true. It'd make a lot of sense if they vehemently disliked that. It's hard to make sense of it all otherwise, really.

[monero-xmr]

Non-technical business owners have always had deep anxiety about software development. They don’t understand it, it’s very expensive, timelines can explode, and a hack or leak can materially damage their business.

A reasonably smart CEO can pretty much understand, in depth, every aspect of their business. But when it comes to tech, which is often the most essential part, they are left grasping, and must rely on the expertise of other people, and thus their destiny is not really in their control, other than by hiring the best they can and throwing money at R&D.

The AI and the hype around it plays into their anxieties, and also makes them feel like they have control over the situation.

In biotech, the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) is often given much more authority in startups than the CTO in tech startups, I have noticed.

[sanderjd]

> A reasonably smart CEO can pretty much understand, in depth, every aspect of their business. But when it comes to tech, which is often the most essential part, they are left grasping, and must rely on the expertise of other people

I honestly really don't understand why this would be the case. Software isn't more complicated than any of the other aspects of the business. I think a "reasonably smart" CEO could just ... learn how it works? if it's really so critical to their business.

It's been a long time since I worked for a CEO who didn't understand software.

[ghaff]

CTO can be a funny position at companies. It sometimes does mean head of engineering and responsible for technical direction at a pretty granular level. But it often also can mean being sort of the public face for the company's technology vision. I've definitely seen companies where the two are largely one and the same. I've also seen companies where the CTO was more the outward-facing vision person.

[EdwardKrayer]

If senior management feels their destiny is not in their control, they're doing it wrong. The best management don't always have the most expertise - but the good ones have an uncanny ability to know when they should defer, when/who to consult with, who to trust, and what to delegate.

[yencabulator]

Businesses really, really, really would like to just have profit without any expenses. Ideally all of the money in the world as profit, please. And no taxes either. Just skip straight to splitting all the money in the world between the shareholders.

If you think running the output of an LLM as a serverless function in some cloud is a good way to differentiate your business, build a moat, and make a profit, good luck!