Founder Mode, hackers, and being bored by tech

Perceived Shift in Tech Culture

• Many feel “tech” has become dominated by enterprise software, ad-tech, metrics, and OKRs, with fewer delightful consumer or hobbyist products.
• Front-facing “thought leaders” are seen as blowhards or brand-builders rather than hands-on hackers.
• Some argue tech news and punditry are what feel “all Jobs and no Woz”; the actual hacker work is mostly quiet and invisible.

Founder Mode, Management, and “Professional Fakers”

• Debate over “founder mode”: keeping founders in control vs hiring experienced executives.
• Some say hiring “professional fakers” is just bad management and misaligned incentives; others note large organizations structurally reward headcount growth, promotion games, and BS work.
• There’s skepticism toward the cult of the visionary founder, but also recognition that leadership and product vision often capture more economic value than pure technical skill.

Jobs vs Woz Framing

• The “all Jobs, no Woz” line resonated, but several commenters say:
  • Tech today often has neither: lots of bland, process-driven “Cook-type” management and few true product visionaries or deep hackers.
  • Hero/villain framings around famous duos obscure the complex reality of building companies.

Age, Hype Cycles, and Boredom

• Some attribute boredom to pundits simply getting older and jaded, having seen many hype cycles repeat.
• Older engineers describe ageism and frustration with “this time it’s different” claims, but others warn that dismissiveness can miss genuinely new inflection points.
• There’s acknowledgement that much of core tech (phones, microprocessors, productivity apps) is mature and naturally feels incremental.

Innovation vs Stagnation

• One camp argues there’s still plenty of exciting progress: self-driving pilots, warehouse robotics, EVs, batteries, medical advances (MS, AIDS, obesity/diabetes drugs), CRISPR, etc.
• Another camp counters that many “innovations” are either delayed by political/economic interests, mainly serve elites (e.g., flying taxis for VIPs), or treat symptoms of broader societal problems.

Capitalism, Incentives, and Value Capture

• Strong concern that ad-driven and finance-led models corrupt tech: enshittified products, surveillance, dark patterns, quarterly-focus, and worsening inequality.
• Recurrent theme: foundational infrastructure (open source tools, databases, frameworks) captures little of the value compared to thin application layers and platforms.
• Some see wealthy actors as actively throttling or steering innovation until it’s profit-safe.

Hacker Culture, Indie Tech, and Alternatives

• Nostalgia for earlier, more idealistic eras of the web: sharing, piracy, small tools, less gatekeeping.
• Pockets of joy still cited in indie apps, hobbyist hardware, hacker spaces, and co-ops.
• Hopes for a resurgence of small, soul-ful consumer/SMB software, aided by AI and lower infrastructure costs, and for more self-employment or cooperative models outside VC logic.