AI reshapes non-tech companies: owning product/engineering there has never been more valuable
davemccollough · x · 2026-09-08
staysaasy argues AI has changed the organizational topology of non-tech companies (On, Lululemon, American Eagle) more than that of highly technical businesses.
- At retail/media firms, a Chief Digital Officer or e-commerce lead owns the P&L across marketing, site experience, support, and CRM — but engineering historically reported to IT, fueling a constant internal war over who owns it
- AI lets business owners bypass the traditional engineering org and build directly, making product/engineering leadership at non-tech companies more valuable than ever
- Jamon Holmgren's takeaway: maybe we all end up as CTOs at non-tech companies
More from AGI Musings
- Luiza Jarovsky asks frontier lab staff: is it responsible to continue without solved alignment? — LuizaJarovsky · 2026-09-08
- iamtrask Pushes Back on Blameless AI Incident Sharing: Why Should AI Get an Exception? — iamtrask · 2026-09-08
- Recsys veteran: most ML problems are really recommendation problems — vboykis · 2026-09-08
- Reading Ellul's Technological Society in the LLM Era: When the 'One Best Technique' Gets an AI Twist — StewartalsopIII · 2026-09-08
- Pew: 52% of Americans more concerned than excited about AI in daily life — Polymarket · 2026-09-08
- EU classifies ChatGPT as Very Large Online Search Engine under DSA, exposing regulatory gap — OmarUFlorez · 2026-09-08