'Founder Mode' Explains the Rise of Trump in Silicon Valley

There is a certain mindset amongst engineers and developers that reachest its zenith in SV: pathological optimization for its own sake.

I say pathological because it's a mindset that optimizes for optimization.

This mindset is exceedingly effective; it works by looking to discard any obstacles to its own optimization. In a way, it's basically the paperclip problem but done in meatspace.

And that is what I see this article highlighting: the costs of Founder Mode (i.e., the slip towards accidental authoritarianism in the pursuit of optimization-at-all-costs).

Now, there is much value in having a unified vision for a product or service; Too Many Cooks (TM) can water down the broth.

But that doesn't necessarily entail that the antipode (my way or the highway) is the correct answer either.

In a world where the value of consensus, of distributed alignment, itself is at stake, it helps to remember that it's not all-or-nothing, but a balancing act. And THAT is worth optimizing for.