The Quote That Every CEO Should Take Note Of:

"We're about to find a much bigger problem, which is shadow workforce, where I don't install SaaS as a tool so humans can work. I install SaaS as a console so agents can work. And so I'm not installing a CRM. I'm installing a direct inside sales department."

🎯 The Four Great Reallocations of Tech

Alistair Croll just delivered the most important business framework of 2025. Every major technology shift creates a "before and after" - a massive misallocation that reshapes entire industries overnight.

We've seen it four times. The fifth is happening right now.

1st Reallocation: Desktop → SaaS (2000s)

• Before: Companies built for shipping discs once a year

• After: Continuous software delivery, subscription models

• Impact: Entire sales and organizational structures transformed

2nd Reallocation: Hardware → Cloud (2010s)

• Before: Companies investing millions in permanent hardware

• After: Pay-as-you-go operating expenses

• Impact: CapEx became OpEx, infrastructure democratised

3rd Reallocation: Traditional Media → Social (2010s)

• Before: Companies structured for paid media campaigns

• After: Earned impressions, viral marketing, community building

• Impact: Marketing departments completely restructured

4th Reallocation: Human → AI (NOW)

• Before: Allocating budgets to human developers and workers

• After: AI agents performing the same functions at 1/100th the cost

• Impact: This is where we are today. Most companies haven't realised it yet.

🚨 The Shadow Workforce Revolution

Here's what's actually happening in boardrooms right now:

Yesterday's Shadow IT Problem:

• Sales guy puts in credit card → gets Salesforce

• CIO loses control of software stack

• 50 rogue Amazon accounts on company Amex

Today's Shadow Workforce Crisis:

• Employee puts in credit card → gets entire AI sales department

• HR has no idea how to manage "hybrid human-AI teams"

• Should they give the employee a bonus or fire them?

The Real Examples

🏪 Instead of a CRM → You install an AI-powered inside sales department 🏭 Instead of project management tools → You deploy autonomous project delivery agents 📊 Instead of analytics software → You onboard AI data science teams 💰 Instead of accounting software → You hire AI financial departments

💡 From Unicorns to "Millions of Tiny Horses"

The venture capital model is about to collapse.

The Old Model:

• Build generic, complex platforms (like Salesforce)

• Hope 1 in 1,000 startups becomes a unicorn

• Scale through complexity and customization

The New Reality:

• AI can build hyper-specific solutions overnight

• Tock - CRM built specifically for high-end restaurants that charge upfront

• Studio.inc - Scheduling for tattoo parlors with location privacy

• Every niche gets its perfect solution

Why build one complex CRM when AI can build 1,000 perfect ones?

⚡ The Speed of Change is Unprecedented

Real numbers from this week:

• $2.5M project → 45 minutes with AI

• Traditional 2-year development → Same-day delivery

• Complex trading decisions → 1.8 milliseconds

"We were quoted $2.5 million yesterday to build this thing, and you just built it for us in 45 minutes."

This isn't incremental improvement. This is orders of magnitude change.

🔥 The Brutal Truth About Capital Markets

"If we now have a thing that can extract the efficiencies of the system and there's no more profit to be made other than essentially a machine allocating capital algorithms... We now have a system that looks like trading, but what it's actually doing under the covers is finding market inefficiencies and extracting revenue from them."

Translation: AI isn't just disrupting trading. It's perfecting capitalism itself.

When AI can identify and eliminate market inefficiencies in milliseconds, what happens to:

• Day traders? Extinct in 6 months

• Investment banks? Automated away

• Financial advisors? Replaced by algorithms

• Market makers? Obsolete

We're approaching Adam Smith's perfect market - and it's terrifying for anyone making money from inefficiencies.

🚨 The Three Orders of AI Impact

Most Companies Are Stuck on Level 1:

1st Order: "How do I do my job better with AI?"

• Using ChatGPT for emails

• AI-assisted coding

• Efficiency improvements

2nd Order: "Do I need to hire another person or can I use AI?"

• Replacing specific roles

• Augmenting teams

• Cost reduction

3rd Order: "Does this business continue to exist?"

• This is where the real disruption happens

• Entire industries becoming unnecessary

• New economic models emerging

⚠️ The Government and Society Risk

Here's the part that should terrify you:

"The real risk is that the reason fascists lose is bureaucracy is hard and if we make a system that makes bureaucracy unthinkably easy it may be impossible to install a fascist state that we cannot counter as free-thinking citizens."

The Double-Edged Sword:

• ✅ Good: $8,000 legal work for $3 of AI tokens

• ✅ Good: 99% of benefits claims processed instantly

• ❌ Bad: Perfect surveillance becomes trivially easy

• ❌ Bad: Dissent might become impossible to organize

🎯 What You Need to Do This Week

For CEOs:

1. Audit your "Shadow Workforce" - What AI are employees already using?

2. Identify your industry's inefficiencies - AI will eliminate them first

3. Plan for 100x cost reductions - If you're not preparing, competitors are

For Investors:

1. Stop funding "complex platforms" - AI makes them obsolete

2. Look for "tiny horses" - Hyper-specific AI-powered solutions

3. Avoid any business model dependent on human inefficiencies

For Employees:

1. Learn to orchestrate AI systems - Don't compete with them

2. Focus on creativity and strategy - What humans do best

3. Prepare for rapid role transformation - It's happening faster than you think

🔗 The Bottom Line

We're not just seeing another tech cycle. We're witnessing The Great Reallocation - the most fundamental reorganisation of human economic activity since the Industrial Revolution.

The question isn't whether this will happen. The question is whether you'll be ready.

What are your thoughts? Please share in comments.

Want to see the full technical demonstration and business insights? Watch the complete AI Hackerspace Live session from June 27, 2025 (See details in comments)

https://video.agentics.org/media/t/1_3atosphg/370465892

What's your take? Are you seeing "Shadow Workforce" in your organisation? Share your thoughts below. 👇

#AI #Business #FutureOfWork #ShadowWorkforce #AITransformation #Leadership