The 'cracked engineer' archetype is a direct response to AI's growing capabilities. As AI automates the work of average engineers, the value of human engineers shifts to exceptional tasks. Companies now prioritize hiring these highly productive superstars who can supervise multiple AI instances, as AI itself can handle the rest.
While celebrated for high output, 'cracked engineers' can be a double-edged sword. Their focus on speed can create a 'trail of bugs' and technical debt that burdens the team. This superstar culture also risks overlooking essential 'glue work' and may reward individuals who take credit for team efforts, creating an antisocial environment.
Many long-standing tech companies are going public not because they are strong businesses, but because their venture capital investors need a liquidity event after 15-20 years. Public market investors should be wary of these IPOs, as the underlying companies are often 'dead in the water' with historically poor post-IPO stock performance.
For AI infrastructure companies like Crusoe and Lambda heading toward an IPO, investor enthusiasm is waning. Sophisticated investors now look beyond the general AI boom to scrutinize specifics like long-term customer contracts (e.g., 3-5 years) and a company's access to power, which are becoming the key differentiators for success.
The relationship between AI startups and pharma is evolving rapidly. Previously, pharma engaged AI firms on a project-by-project, consulting-style basis. Now, as AI models for drug discovery become more robust, pharma giants are seeking to license them as enterprise-wide software suites for internal deployment, signaling a major inflection point in AI integration.
Recent FDA guidance distinguishes general wellness wearables from high-risk medical devices like pacemakers, giving companies like Oura more leeway for innovation. This aims to transform wearables into 'digital health screeners' that provide early disease warnings, encouraging earlier intervention and potentially lowering healthcare costs by changing behavior before chronic conditions escalate.