Randi-Sue Deckard 🔬

GTM Leader -Sales/Marketing/CS/Revops🔹Strategy 🔹$1-$100M B2B🔹SaaS & Services🔹Influenced $100M+ in Revenue🔹GirlzWhoSell Mentor & Advisor🔹Pavilion-Co-Chair DFW Chapter🔹Speaker 🔹Advisor🔹Future Author 📚☕️🐾

Why does a Scientist make an awesome Customer Obsessed Revenue Growth Leader? #TheLabMindset

I was literally trained to experiment. Be extremely curious. Test, Refine and iterate! 

Research like a boss and use system level thinking!

It builds resilience (failure = reiterative process to get the desired outcome).

Document like a boss - I was trained if it wasn't written in black ink it didn't happen. 

Data driven decision making. Look for patterns to determine the best "lever" to change.

Embrace Change - always looking for ways to improve productivity/efficiency which help me look at the end-to-end CX (hello, bowtie) and find ways to reduce cost to serve for sustained profitability. 

Process/Frameworks are critical - how else do you design an experiment? (for business =GTM- Revenue Architecture model)

Communication -lots of papers written and one of my ninja skills is simplifying the complex so anyone could understand!

Present my findings and get grilled - Objection & Rejection proofed because I proactively prepared and expected this to occur.

Here's a little bit more about the Professional Me:

Leadership Style 
-Servant Leader
-People first

Strategic & Data Driven Decision Leader
--work with executives & board
--cross functional collaborator
--manage and execute projects

Embrace Change and Being a Change Agent

Trusted Advisor both internally and externally. Love creating raving fans throughout the whole ecosystem.

Great communicator and ninja rapport builder from board - peers- team - customers

Builder
--Teams
--Startups
--New Business Units
--GTM 

Revenue Growth
 --new logo
-- customer expansion
--strategic partnerships
--M&A

Financial Acumen 
--Profitability through retention and sustainable repeatable processes (understand the business unit economics)
--P&L Ownership

Experience with professional services & software solutions

Optimizer and Fine Tuner with Iterative Process improvement mindset 
--applied to GTM, Revenue Architecture and Customer Relationship Management

Growth Mindset
--lifelong learner who's obsessively curious
--personal and professional books & courses
--active in professional communities like Pavilion

High EQ - great mentor/coach

Thought Leader
-podcasts, panels and speaker
-writer & future author

Strategic Advisor for GTM - obsessed about sustainable growth!
-$1-$60M in ARR

Ssh don't tell but I might have an espresso & chocolate addiction according to my hounds who are currently giving me sideye. ;-)

2025 Sprouts "25 Women in GTM" to watch 2024 & SalesIntel "Top 100 & 300 Women" Making an Impact in B2B SaaS

Executive Member and Co-Chair of DFW Chapter

Pavilion, formally Revenue Collective, is a private membership organization for commercial growth operators. Our community is designed to support the professional development of revenue leaders at high growth companies, facilitate the sharing of best practices, and serve as a trusted private community.

This reminded me of something we forget too often: connection is a strategy.

I flew to Vegas for 🍽️ this week. 

Before you give me 😒, I wasn’t the only one. 

The Wednesday Women Dinner sponsored by Sendoso  was more than a networking event; it was a reminder that real growth happens in conversations where the masks come off.

Because when women gather with intention…

💜We show up fully.

Not the polished LinkedIn version but our real selves.

💜We strengthen our circles.

Reconnecting with women who challenge us, cheer for us, and remind us of who we are.

💜We talk about what’s really going on.

Not just pipeline or productivity.
But the season we’re navigating, the weight we’re carrying, the wins we’re proud of, and the things we’re still figuring out.

I left feeling grounded, inspired, and grateful.

If you’re looking for “what’s next” in your career or your life…

Start by showing up.

The right rooms will meet you halfway.

And the 7 course meal & wine pairing was out of this world but just an added bonus. IYKYK


#WomenSupportingWomen #Community #LeadershipJourney

No alternative text description for this image

My receipts this week 

Women supporting women 

A picture is worth a thousand words 🥳

#community

Color me purple 💜

It’s gonna be a great week! 

I’m attending a local Wednesday Women coffee and flying to Vegas for a dinner.

I can’t wait for the new & strengthened connections, conversations, gives, gets and of course amazing women supporting women!! 

What are you looking forward to?

#community

Gratitude gets all the spotlight this week. 

But here’s a twist: I’m just as thankful for the grit as I am for the grace.

It’s easy to give thanks for what went right: the wins, the milestones, and the good calls.

But the moments that shaped me most this year? 

The ones that stretched my patience, tested my confidence, and forced me to refine the systems underneath.

Gratitude without grit is surface-level. 

Grit without gratitude is burnout.
 
Together, they build resilience, and the kind of leadership that lasts.
 
What challenge are you most grateful for this year ...the one that grew you the most?

 #Leadership #GrowthMindset #RefinementLoop #Gratitude #TheLabMindset

AI is not allowed in the kitchen 🤣 and definitely no clones! 🤖 

Happy Thanksgiving y'all. 🦃

It's official thanks to Empressa AI.

I'm a certified Instructor in AI Foundations.

My proudest moment - facilitating a cohort and watching an attendee go from wondering if they were in the right room to being excited about the possibilities.

My legacy has always been focused on "transformation" - being the spark for others to see what's possible.

And this is just another way I get to make an impact.

January 23rd there will be another cohort. Sign up link in the comments.

#AIliteracy #leadership

I’ve been refining something behind the scenes in my 5-9.
 
It’s not a new title or product but a way the help everyone experiment, refine and iterate because progress over perfection!

In January, I’m launching The Refinery a monthly newsletter:

👉 one insight

👉 one system 

👉 one experiment the first Tuesday of each month

All to help you lead with clarity.

No noise. 

No inbox overload.

Just refined ideas that turn intention into motion.

If you want the first issue when it drops, join the early list (link in the comments). 

💥 Bonus--The "welcome e-mail" has a downloadable worksheet to help you reflect on 2025.

#leadership #growthmindset #continuousimprovement #therefinerymonthly

Celebrating the Small Wins

We talk a lot about the big wins in our careers. 

The headlines. 

The titles.

The trophies.

But the truth is, the big wins take time.

They're slow.

They're built through the quiet moments where no one is watching.

It's the small wins that actually fuel us.

The consistent effort. 

The uncomfortable growth.

The times you choose to show up with courage when it would be easier not too.

The little experiments that didn't seem like much until one of them changed everything.

This award is a reminder that none of its wasted. 

Every rep counts. 

Every refinement matters.

If you're working towards something that feels far away, keep going. 

Celebrate the small steps. 

They are not the prelude to the big win....they are the win!

And I'm grateful for every one of them.

Cheers to those small wins that transform us along the way.

What small win are you celebrating?

#leadership #growthmindset #AI

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all 🦃 🤠 

While life has a way of hitting back hard, and not everything on my 2025 bingo card is something I would have chosen for myself .....

I've always been a glass half-full and strong belief that things are happening for me (and yes, rejection is protection).

There are so many things that I'm thankful for and it starts with you and your support - 7K+ of you and counting.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

#gratitude #thankful #HappyThanksgiving

Sobremesa - my new favorite word

The plates are empty, the wine’s half gone, and no one’s reaching for their phone ....just ideas, laughter, and truth.

You know that moment, the one after the meal.

 The conversation deepens.

 The laughter softens.

 Time slows down.

 No one’s in a rush to leave because what’s happening around the table is rare: people being fully present.

These are the moments I live for.

 The ones where connection turns into collaboration.

 Where ideas start flowing, walls come down, and you leave feeling seen and inspired.

We chase big wins, big goals, big stages… but sometimes the most powerful spaces are the small ones.... where trust builds in real time.
If we could bottle that energy , curiosity, listening, genuine exchange, and bring it into our teams, our meetings, our lives...

Imagine what we could create.

When was the last time you stayed long after the meal because the conversation was just that good?

Shoutout to 🌎 Jacquelyn Nicholson and Krysten Conner for another memorable dinner in the books. Ladies, we need to remember to take pics. 

 #Leadership #Community #Connection #TheLabMindset #GrowthMindset #HumanFirst

If your to-do list is running your life… it’s time to flip the script.

Most creators and founders are wearing all the hats and burning out trying to keep up.

But what if you could cut your workload in half without cutting the quality of your brand?

I’m teaming up with Graphy Inc. to show you how to use AI as a true creative partner.

One that helps you move faster, create better, and finally breathe again.

Save the date:
📅 Monday, Dec 8

 ⏰ 11:00 AM CST

 📍 Live on Zoom

If you want smarter systems, sharper content, and more time back in your week, don’t miss this.

Save your seat - registration in the comments!

#AI #AIforCreators #partnership

Open the door! 🚪 

Most people say they’re waiting for the right opportunity.

But the truth?
Most people don’t even realize the door is already open.

We picture opportunity as this dramatic moment spotlights, trumpets, a clear sign pointing the way.

But in real life?

Opportunity usually looks like a cracked door you’re scared to push on.

I’ve walked through a few doors in my own life:

🔹 From clinical scientist to go-to-market leader
🔹 International moves
🔹 From “maybe someday” to actually building the life and career I wanted

None of these moments showed up as a grand entrance.

They showed up quietly disguised as a whisper, a nudge, a feeling that said: “Try. Just try.”

But here’s the provocative part:

Most people aren’t stuck because they lack opportunity.

They’re stuck because they’re unwilling to walk through uncomfortable doors.

Doors that require you to bet on yourself.

Doors that ask you to leave an outdated identity behind.

Doors that don’t guarantee applause on the other side.

Every transformation ,every reinvention,starts the same way:

You notice the door.

You get curious.

You take one step.

And then everything changes.

So here’s the real question for this season of your life:

👉 Are you actually open to the possibilities in front of you… or are you waiting for permission to walk through the door?

Because no one’s coming to open it for you.
You do that.

One step.
One choice.
One door at a time.

#growth

Excuse my crazy Saturday hair. 🤣 

Shoutout to Sendoso for my Winter Wellness Kit because self-care is NOT selfish.

This was such a nice touch that just keeps the Vegas Wednesday Women experience one of my November highlights.

This is your PSA to find the right community because there's nothing like great conversations and experiences to light you up!

#experience #community #gratitude

December used to feel like the month you wind down.

Now?

It feels like the month I level up.

It’s my birthday month. 🏹 🎂 Don't judge - yes, I really celebrate me all month!

My reflection month. 🪞 

 My decision-making month. 🤔 

 My “step into your next version” month. 🚶‍♀️‍➡️ 

I’m not rushing.

 I’m not forcing.

 I’m simply choosing to grow intentionally, consistently, boldly.

This is my season. 🙌 

The one where I back myself fully, refine as I go, and build the life + work I actually want.

Let's face it work life balance is a MYTH. It's about priorities and I'm being even more intentional about my 5-9.

If you feel the shift too… welcome.

Lean in and buckle up because success is messy! (yep, another #randisueism)

Share what you're leaning into in the comments.

#GTM #leadership #growthmindset #thelabmindset

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” 
-The Great One aka Wayne Gretzky 🏒 

I submitted an application to speak on the stage at TEDx Princeton.

I reached the first round (which I celebrate 🎉) and then didn’t get the final cut (which I own).

On the surface, a “no” feels like a rejection. 

But through the lens of the #labmindset where success is messy, testing/refining/iterating is built in this is simply data for the next cycle.

Here's what I’m affirming:

🙌 I said yes to the shot. That matters.

🔁 I’ll refine the pitch, the message, the delivery.

🔇 The stage I didn’t get today is not the only stage I’ll ever get.

🗣️ Missing this one doesn’t mean I’ll never speak. It means I’ll speak better.

Big ambitions carry messy processes. If everything were clean, we’d never grow. 

The mess signals: you’re doing something real.

If you’re in that “first round / almost / not yet” zone please keep shooting.
 
The truth is: the only guaranteed miss is the shot you never take.

What shot are you going to take (or retake) this week?

#GrowthMindset #RefinementLoop #Leadership #SpeakUp

😴🐾 when mom‘s up too early working on side hustle her coworkers are low energy 🤣

#sunday #earlystart

Lately I’ve been thinking about how intentional we are (or aren’t) about what’s next.

Not the 5-year “perfect plan” kind of next.

The honest next:
➡️ The next chapter
➡️ The next experiment
➡️ The next version of you

One of my favorite ways to get clear is revisiting Ikigai – I-K-I-G-A-I – that sweet spot where:

   •   What you love
   •   What you’re good at
   •   What the world needs
   •   What you can be paid for

all overlap.

Most of us don’t sit down and rethink this after our early career. 

We just keep going. Promotions. New titles. Bigger goals. Same autopilot.

But here’s what I know:
   •   It’s never too late to start something that feels more aligned.

   •   It’s never too late to try something completely new.

   •   And every journey is wildly, beautifully unique. There is no “behind.”

If you gave yourself permission to be really intentional about what’s next……
 not what’s expected, but what’s true for you ……
what would you explore?

👉 What’s the “something” you’re quietly thinking about that might be next?

Drop it in the comments or just write it down for yourself. Naming it is the first step to making it real.

#growthmindset #leadership

Eat the freaking cake.

For years, I let other people’s opinions live rent-free in my head.

“Should you really be eating that?”

“You’d look so much better if…”

“Wow, that’s… a bold outfit.” 

As women, it can feel like our bodies, our plates, our wardrobes and even our careers are open for public comment. 

All. The. Time.

Here’s where I’ve landed:

I’m done apologizing for existing.

I’m done “earning” treats.

I’m done shrinking myself to make other people comfortable.

If I want the dessert, I’m going to eat the freaking cake.

Not every moment of my life has to be optimized, tracked, or justified.

Because life is short.

Because joy is not a reward, it’s a requirement.

Because the people who matter don’t love me for the size of my jeans or the calories on my plate.

They value my impact, my heart, my brain, and my voice.

So here’s my nudge for you today:

   •   Wear the outfit you actually love.

   •   Order the dessert.

   •   Take up space in the room and at the table.

You don’t need permission to enjoy your own life.

🍰 What’s your version of “the cake” that you’ve been telling yourself you have to earn first?

#leadership #authentic

Elizabeth McCalley.eth 🦋

StartStak.ai

An AI-Native firm with expertise in emerging technology enabling growth through new markets and buyers.

AI services are focused on business strategy & go to market, defining business value for buyers, routes to market, launching new products and portfolio (re)positioning.

CEO & Founder

Pavilion

CEO Member & DFW Chapter Leader

Panzura

Repositioned the company's software portfolio into a new market to capture higher value buyers focused on analytics. Developed corporate messaging aligned to CEO industry imperatives, and advised on a go-to-market strategy engaging alliances & tech ecosystem partners to accelerate growth. Engaged with analyst firms such as IDC and Gartner to gain alignment on market approach and define value for new line of business buyers of analytics and insights.

CRO Advisory- Vice President of Strategy & GTM

Salesforce

-  Established business strategy for business unit start up; sales strategy and Go-To-Market for new $1B channel within Salesforce enabling outsourcing providers of IT, Horizontal and Vertical digital process services. 
- Defined market, process service types & scope with near- and longer-term priorities.
- Identified key obstacles and barriers to success. 
- Defined TAM and financial requirements/resources for GTM team to operate successfully.

RVP New Business Unit Startup: Industry Portfolio Executive

Led partner sales team for Healthcare and Life Sciences industry vertical for GSIs & SI partners. Drove 229% of plan for new logos, resulting in 35% YoY growth, and achieved $218M in ACV, marking 20% YoY growth. 67% partner engagement and a 13% YoY growth.
- Salesforce FY21 Peak Performance Club Winner
- Led First Salesforce Chicago Marathon Team for the National MS Society, Raised 71K

RVP Partner Sales Alliances, Healthcare & Life Sciences

Workday

- 125% of plan. National Sales Team for Healthcare ERP, $50M Revenue Closed
- New business development for enterprise sales of Workday’s ERP platform 
- Buyers: CFOs, CHROs, CIOs, COOs and SVP SCM
- Engaged and created value for Workday alliance partners aligned to market goals.
- Built 50M in pipeline. Closed 12M TCV with the largest post-acute care organization in 8 months.

Sr. National Account Executive, Healthcare Key Accounts

- Corp Strategy: Led cross functional strategic projects to guide product management and sales teams to bring Watson Health analytics offerings to market.
- Analyzed and documented market requirements for cloud industry solutions within Life Sciences Real World Evidence and Value Based Care, incorporating both payers and providers.
- Created strategy framework for Life Sciences product managers responsible for business analytics & insights offerings.
- Defined market requirements and buyers of $1B analytics solution area of Real World Evidence (RWE). 
- Established point of view for the application of emerging technologies in the healthcare market including cognitive, interoperability, blockchain and cloud platform data services.

Watson Health Market Strategy & Development, Value Based Care & Real World Evidence 

- Led large cross functional team to create strategy, product and solution requirements as well as Go-To-Market for Watson Health’s data platform-as-a-service. 
- Developed use cases for data and analytics services targeted at healthcare and life sciences buyers.
- Led competitive market analysis, evolving business requirements, market opportunity sizing and established points of competitive differentiation for the Watson Health Cloud Platform.

Sr. Offering Portfolio Manager- Watson Health Cloud

- Led IBM’s Global Healthcare Cloud Strategy with responsibility for making recommendations to capture solution selling market opportunity in healthcare for various business models.
- Developed healthcare market messaging, created seller enablement assets and client facing communication for multiple cloud based industry solutions. 
- Drove 75M+ in revenue for cloud based solutions supporting IBM regional healthcare field teams. 
- Contributed research and writing for several IBM Healthcare Industry papers

Global Healthcare Industry Solutions Sales Executive

- Managed an enterprise Business Analytics Software team to drive LOB sales across 28 large accounts. Example clients: Exxon, Pepsi, American Airlines, Sprint, USAA, and Walmart. 
- Rebuilt and refocused team by setting sales goals, forecasting management, sales process discipline, structured call planning as well as on-boarded 
professional hires into IBM. 
- Developed 50M in new pipeline in 6 months positioning key wins at Sprint, USAA, and Exxon. 
- Gained knowledge of advanced analytics and cognitive principals such as pricing elasticity, market basket analysis, process improvement and consumer insight/intimacy.

Enterprise Sales Manager- Business Analytics Solutions

- Led 45+M in competitive new logo B2B enterprise software sales, developing new market in Texas.
- Strategic focus on collaboration, analytics, data management, security, application and data integration. 
- Led several “First-in-Industry wins” at national accounts like Tenet and MD Anderson.
- 2008 (108%, 21% YTY Growth) 2009 (304% of FY 399% YTY growth) 2010 (172% of FY 220% YTY growth) 2011 (130%), 100% Club Award 2009, 2010, 2011, IBM National Eagle Award

Sr. Software Account Executive- Healthcare

- Responsible for IBM B2B enterprise sales to The Texas Medical Center in Houston; executive relationships, leading complex solutions and consulting services sales. 
- Grew territory 103% exceeding revenue and signings targets. 2006 (118%), 2007 (114%), (2006) IBM VP Award, Pacesetter, 100% (2005), 111% (2004), 100% (2003), IBM Leadership Award, IBM Rookie of the Year

Healthcare Client Account Executive

CEO @StartStak | Strategy & GTM | Advisor | TED Speaker | Pavilion Executive + Chief Member I AI Artist & Practitioner

Hello! I’m Elizabeth McCalley 🦋, CEO of StartStak, an AI-Native company focused on early stage companies. With a passion for enterprise software, emerging tech, and services, I have dedicated my career to driving revenue for organizations. 

My approach is grounded in making non-obvious connections and staying steps ahead of market trends. I synthesize complexity and provide a clear, big-picture perspective to guide organizations into the future. I thrive on the challenges and opportunities that emerging tech solutions present.

StartStak is pioneering how companies utilize AI to get to market with precision. We are in the business of enabling the art and science of revenue and to help companies to stop pivoting.

🔹 StartStak specializes in: 🔹
- Market Strategy & Insights 
- Product Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Digital Marketing 

🔹 Principal Executive Skills🔹
- Enterprise Software and Services Sales Leadership
- Market Strategy & Business Development
- Alliance Management
- Executive-Level Presentations
- CXO Relationships & Negotiation
- Team Building
- Strategic Planning
- Market Research & Analysis
- Product & Portfolio (Re)Positioning
- Understanding of Emerging and Startup Technology Markets
- Analyst Engagement
- Web3 Fluent & Crypto Native

#StartStak #AINative #analytics #AI #StartUps #entrepreneurs #Strategy #Innovation #SaaS #Growth

elizabeth.mccalley@startstak.ai

Executive Member

I have one heck of a partnership to announce today! 🥳

I care deeply about two things: doing meaningful work, and making the path easier for others to be successful too. 🤝

#Founders who are choosing to build a business from nothing already won, just by making that brave choice. The $0-3M path is very hard, even for founders with significant experience.

There is a pattern in the market whereby many early stage companies get stuck in what we call, "The Messy Middle". Peter Walker posted an excellent picture of this on X last week…..and I annotated it! 😃 (Hope that’s okay).

The Messy Middle is that really uncomfortable and unpredictable stretch after an MVP and before “traction” or stabilizing metrics investors love like NRR, LTV, CAC, pipeline velocity that tell the clear story called "Product Market Fit" (PMF). 

PMF is the most important milestone of an early stage company. Waiting list sign ups don’t count!

There are no clear startup industry metrics nor accepted frameworks for this part of the early company journey, because there is little empirical data. 

Navigating this part of the journey feels like a mirage in the desert.....or a gauntlet one survives. 

I believe there are valuable patterns and insights we can uncover from qualitative information, so we can take the guess work out of getting to PMF.

As such, I am thrilled to announce StartStak.ai will be leading new ground breaking research in partnership with SaaStock, the leading global events company for early stage founders. 💜 🩷 🤝 

Our collaborative research initiative is called: "The PMF Gauntlet: A Qualitative Deep Dive into the Founder’s Journey from Hypothesis to Market Pull".

#StartStak will be leading first party research on four cohorts of founders across different stages of their PMF journey, gathering valuable, qualitative insights around how they navigate ambiguity, evaluate opportunity, and make important calls when the path forward is as clear as mud.

Our shared goal is to build a practical, evidence-based framework to develop new tools for this often elusive phase of getting to market stability. In my heart of hearts, I am a researcher and this just fits with everything we are about!

This work is a natural extension of both StartStak’s mission and SaaStock’s commitment to supporting early-stage teams led by Alexander Theuma. We are thrilled to be working with Chloë Dormand, David Umpleby and the team!

Take a look at #SaaStock here: https://www.saastock.com/

#StartUps #PMF #Entrepreneurship

Founder & CEO @StartStak.ai | Strategy & GTM | TED Speaker | AI Practitioner & Artist | Chief and Pavilion Executive Member

Our stealth founders…🥷

We LOVE them and we are in on it:

👉The careful planning 
👉The excitement 
👉The “I can’t believe we are really doing this 😳….FINALLY🥳”.
👉The consternation.😅
👉The calculating risk. 

That last part is why they call us. 📞

When you are self funded, are under crazy time pressure and can make no mistakes implementing your new company, the only company you call is StartStak.ai.🙌

We have a LOT of Gmail addresses, crazy weird data on our founder buyer journeys and it is super fascinating. 

These founders have no existing websites, you cannot find the name of their company on LinkedIn and lots of other clues that they are in serious stealth mode. 

It’s all greenfield and a super fun ride. We have a number of teams like this now…planning. 

We have the darkest of the dark funnels.

#Stealth #Founders #Sprint

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

The center of the world for the future of financial services will be built in Dallas!

Welcome to Texas, Coinbase! 

The largest U.S.-based crypto exchange has chosen the Lone Star State as its new home, a strong signal that Texas is now the hub of digital-asset innovation.

We’re proud to see more industry leaders planting roots here!

🦃 Happy Thanksgiving! 

This is one of my favorite holidays of solid cooking and spending time with my family.

It is also a good time to pause to appreciate all the people who make StartStak.ai possible. 🩷 

I am grateful for the early stage founders who trust us and show up every day with courage and conviction to do the work.

Our partners who work with us on innovative ideas and breaking ground on things that have never been done before. 🙌 

And the people on this team who bring excellence every day - the early mornings and late nights, the expert work and process discipline, the problem-solving, the moments of creative breakthrough, and all the messy parts in-between.

Building anything meaningful is a human first effort.

I hope today brings you all good rest, great food, and the chance to be present with the special people (and pets) in your life. Cheers from Harvey Cat. 💜

Thank you!

#Thanksgiving #StartStak #Family #Friends #Holidays

On Saturdays, I work more than any other day of the week, uninterrupted. 


This morning, I am thinking about the word "architecture". In the post AI era, architecture is not about how technology fits together. An AI-Native architecture is also people and process, but unlike our usual understanding.

Digital transformation is evolving more quickly than we understand at this point. I think in the future (soon), architecture for AI-Native companies will be discussed as the "company architecture" because #AI is doing work along side, and in collaboration with people, who have machine specific expertise.

Fact: 👉 You CANNOT scale down architecture, only up. 

This is the reason monolithic applications have a hard time going down market to support tiny companies. Their services are not composable in a way that is consumable for the "long tail" of the market. This is why companies like AWS can support tiny workload and mass scale at the same time. This is also why Microsoft and Salesforce are in deep trouble- among other reasons. 

As it relates to AI-Native companies and their people....

In traditional companies, jobs are containers. Fixed scope. Clear edges. One person, one box on the org chart. Your polymaths might get two or three.

AI‑native companies don’t work like that.

In AI-native companies, a person’s “role” is less about a function and more about a surface area of responsibility. They range across product, ops, support, strategy—wherever the problem lives. Where their knowledge ends, they extend themselves with AI. Research, drafting, analysis, coordination, even parts of execution are offloaded, multiplied, mirrored.

This approach helps avoid waste, bloat and unnecessary spending provided these people are deeply skilled in how they work, as well as their edges.

In our case, the output of one person at StartStak.ai isn’t 1:1 with a normal FTE. It’s closer to a small team—five, ten people’s worth of motion—depending on how far they lean into the supermodels and advanced tools.

That’s why the question “How many FTEs do you have?” misses the point. It assumes a world where people, process, and technology are separable and scale linearly. 

In an AI‑native "company architecture", technology is also like people. It thinks with you, works beside you, and erases the old math and myth of scale.

Headcount is the wrong unit.
Capability is the right one.

Our unit economics are going to be a thing to study. I am excited for that future. 

#AI-Native #StartStak #Leadership #BreakingBoundaries #NoRules

As a reminder, technology is not innovation. 🚫 

Innovation is a new idea, a way of solving a problem or doing something differently. Usually, innovation is born from constraints and testing limits.

Some of the best innovations do not even use technology at all. 

There is a term from psychology that applies here called "functional fixedness". 

What is that?
👉 Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that causes people to see an object only in its traditional or most common use, limiting their ability to find new solutions to a problem

I think it extends beyond only objects to complex concepts as well.

What I see in the #startup space is a lot of this exact problem. 
👉 The same business plans, business models and GTM strategies 
👉 The same playbooks for growth
👉 The same formulaic pitch decks, competitions and the investor flywheel
👉 The same boring ideas of what successful founders need to "have" and "be" in order to be successful

The #founders who are the innovators, never get stuck on "one thing". By definition the most talented founders are those with new ideas and can get them done, 👉  no matter what. 

AND...the craziest part, is that #investors, who are naturally risk adverse, often cannot see them, because of "functional fixedness". 

This is the literal definition of an "innovator" spoken by the great Thomas J. Watson.

“Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost. ”

I have some crazy ideas alright. 

Our clients who love us do too. This is why we resonate and do 10 impossible things before breakfast building new companies. 🐛 

Happy Monday ya'll.

taplio

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Randi-Sue Deckard 🔬

Elizabeth McCalley.eth 🦋

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taplio

The Battle

Randi-Sue Deckard 🔬

Elizabeth McCalley.eth 🦋

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Randi-Sue Deckard 🔬's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreElizabeth McCalley.eth 🦋's LinkedIn Performance

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