They’re Focusing on the Wrong Things

Great software is built from the ground up, using agile methods, by small teams who can hold all essential features in a few creative minds. This is how the Cloud Czars themselves came to be. None are much more than 50 years old. Meta is 20.

Small entrepreneurial teams, with limited resources, are where tech has always found its breakthroughs. It was when the Czars were young themselves that they developed what they needed to thrive. They’re now vulnerable to the same process.

Google is in the worst shape. AI is wearing away its dominance in search. That’s cutting its cash flow. In the past the company’s “other bets” built entrepreneurial teams that took pressure off its primary business. It’s like AT&T with Bell Labs. Bell Labs gave us transistors and dozens of other innovations, but it failed to capitalize on most of this because of the company’s focus on the network.