Colleen McCreary

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Colleen McCreary

Colleen McCreary

@Chiefpplofficer

tech industry people & ops leader (c3po w/two IPOs & two/pending 3 acquisitions), bosox/pats/gator fan, bu & cu alum, mom/wife, my own words & thoughts

FL➡️CA➡️VEGAS! Katılım Nisan 2012
911 Takip Edilen1.1K Takipçiler
Jay Kreps
Jay Kreps@jaykreps·
For a long time great advice for founders was “don’t try to innovate on basic organizational practices.” The roles you need, executive jobs, ratios, spend in each area, and operational methods are kind of known in major classes of company. You should just copy these things and not try to go back to first principles in areas that have been tried a 100 times. Now with AI I am not sure about any of that. Does it make sense to separate PMs and engineers? What does the staffing, tech stack, and spend look like along your GTM funnel? What’s a reasonable span of control area and where do you want practitioner-managers vs people managers? We’re seeing in real-time that R&D is completely changed and nobody really knows how to run a great product and engineering org now. But are legal, marketing, early funnel sales development, and HR going to be unaffected? I don’t think so. I think founders in small startups should absolutely go back to first principles and make sure the best practices are still best. This doesn’t mean you don’t want to know how and why current at-scale companies do things, but likely it will require active push as experienced execs come in and import a playbook that may be out of date. Bigger companies are doing the same thing, but it’s harder to rebuild at scale and takes more care (though the payoff is also bigger). I suspect the normal pattern of development will be inverted in the next few years. Instead of startups adding in the structure and components of the best at-scale companies as they grow, the at-scale companies will learn from these more agile orgs. Now is the time to being the annoying founder and question everything.
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
As many others have pointed out, this is a combination of factors. 1) Overhiring and lack of controls preventing it as cos and teams see “size of team” as symbol of importance (glamour metric) 2) Economic reality relative to market cap/valuation and inflated SBC costs that now all of a sudden are real. 3) AI
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Harry Stebbings
Harry Stebbings@HarryStebbings·
I have spoken to 3 founders in the last 48 hours; all of them with 500-1,000 employees. Each of them is planning a minimum 20% headcount reduction. Said with great concern; this is about to get very real for labour markets.
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Jay Kreps
Jay Kreps@jaykreps·
Some Silicon Valley people think @DarioAmodei is talking his book. That all the AI risk talk is hype to drive up the valuation or a (nonsensical) scheme to achieve regulatory capture. My observation as a board member is that this is bullshit. The @AnthropicAI founders and leadership is very earnest and sincere in what they say. They may be wrong, or you may disagree, but this isn’t some convoluted ploy: they believe AI is a very very impactful technological change and want to ensure it goes right. What it means to stand on principle is to do something you believe is right where the cost to you is high. The benefit of seeing this kind of thing is you can tell who actually has principles and is willing to pay that price.
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Donald J. Trump
Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump·
Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.
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Dustin
Dustin@r0ck3t23·
Dario Amodei just gave his first interview since the Pentagon blacklisted his company. The toll is visible on his face. He was asked one question. What would you say to the President right now? He didn’t hesitate. Amodei: “We are patriotic Americans. Everything we have done has been for the sake of this country.” Anthropic built their models to defend America. They were the first AI lab cleared for classified military systems. They wanted to help the warfighter. But the Pentagon demanded unrestricted access to fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens. Amodei drew the line. The government responded with emergency Cold War powers. A supply chain designation normally reserved for foreign adversaries. A six-month federal phaseout ordered from Truth Social. Amodei: “When we were threatened with supply chain designation and Defense Production Act, which are unprecedented intrusions into the private economy, we exercised our classic First Amendment rights to speak up and disagree with the government.” The administration framed Anthropic’s refusal as anti-American. Amodei’s response dismantled that framing in one sentence. Amodei: “Disagreeing with the government is the most American thing in the world.” Here is the deeper paradox nobody in Washington wants to say out loud. We are in a geopolitical race against autocratic adversaries who use AI for mass surveillance of their own citizens and autonomous weapons with no human oversight. The Pentagon demanded that Anthropic build those exact capabilities for America. Amodei: “The red lines we have drawn, we drew because we believe that crossing those red lines is contrary to American values.” You cannot defeat authoritarianism by adopting its methods. You cannot defend the open society by forcing private companies to build its antithesis under threat of wartime emergency powers. Anthropic held the line. Got blacklisted for it. And came out the other side saying the same thing they said going in. That is what it actually looks like to mean it.
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
@saranormous 100% to both. Size of company has been a poor vanity metric for a long time and now AI is the easiest excuse for poor headcount discipline.
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sarah guo
sarah guo@saranormous·
the CEOs with guts are going to do this and thus shape the narrative that they’re an ai winner but some of it is going to be air cover for having simply overhired in the (now over) age of free money
jack@jack

we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company. #### today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i'll be straight about what's happening, why, and what it means for everyone. first off, if you're one of the people affected, you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition (if you’re outside the U.S. you’ll receive similar support but exact details are going to vary based on local requirements). i want you to know that before anything else. everyone will be notified today, whether you're being asked to leave, entering consultation, or asked to stay. we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly. i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. a smaller company also gives us the space to grow our business the right way, on our own terms, instead of constantly reacting to market pressures. a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong, and we've built in flexibility to account for that, and do the right thing for our customers. we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly, and share whatever you wish. i'll also be hosting a live video session to thank everyone at 3:35pm pacific. i know doing it this way might feel awkward. i'd rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold. to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today. that's a fact that i'll honor forever. this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward. to those staying…i made this decision, and i'll own it. what i'm asking of you is to build with me. we're going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do. how we work, how we create, how we serve our customers. our customers will feel this shift too, and we're going to help them navigate it: towards a future where they can build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces. that's what i'm focused on now. expect a note from me tomorrow. jack

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Edward Wong
Edward Wong@ewong·
Anyone who has been through TSA PreCheck and Global Entry knows these features allow DHS to do their work with less agents. Global Entry is almost fully automated, using machines. This decision by DHS makes no practical sense.
Kyle Potter@kpottermn

NEW: Both TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs will be shut down by the federal government as of 6am ET Sunday, per the @washingtonpost. DHS says it’s prioritizing the “general traveling population” after funding for agency lapsed in shutdown showdown. washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/02…

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Peter Yang
Peter Yang@petergyang·
In light of Ami Vora becoming @Anthropic's Head of Product, here are my top 10 takeaways our recent interview. 📌 Watch our full interview here: youtu.be/Vp2BsJNVFqQ
YouTube video
YouTube
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
It’s mindboggling to me how often we hire people for their experience and then directly ignore them because they haven’t done it “at this company.”
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
@JetBlue - second time tried your airline. Global Services on @united and yet again, it’s a mess. Rude staff, multiple delays for no reason. Never again.
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
Ripping this archaic time wasting practice out since 2009 …ratings and review systems that cause nothing but frustration not a solve for increased productivity or performance wsj.com/articles/WP-WS…
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
I am the face of a kid who had a mom working full-time but couldn’t always afford food. I’m the product of food stamps. That has been an amazing investment by the US govt in terms of the taxes I’ve since paid. This isn’t politics this is people.
Feeding America@FeedingAmerica

We join our CEO in urging federal leaders to protect SNAP and safeguard the health, stability, and dignity of communities. Read our full statement here: bit.ly/49pxnXf

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Feeding America
Feeding America@FeedingAmerica·
We join our CEO in urging federal leaders to protect SNAP and safeguard the health, stability, and dignity of communities. Read our full statement here: bit.ly/49pxnXf
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
The least expensive currency to retaining employees is autonomy and gratitude. A little “I trust you” and a little “thank you” go a long way.
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
@united here’s what I don’t get, you cancel and delay flights (not for weather) and then make the only option in a different fare class - and to top it off, make that person who has been screwed over, go through the shitstorm of getting refunded … and expect fliers who are your GS to keep paying top dollar?
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Colleen McCreary
Colleen McCreary@Chiefpplofficer·
Hey @united - this was known 9 hours ago. If you had so many GS travelers routing this way, why didn’t you contact them before you cancelled a BOS flight and then had those GS folks sit around IAD for 8 hours+ counting?
Air Traffic Control Alerts@ATCAlerts

⚠️ Ground Delay Program at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) due to RWY-TAXI / CONSTRUCTION. This is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of 3 hours and 54 minutes.. #BOS #FAA #AirportDelays [2025-09-24 16:00 UTC]

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