Aggressive AI automation drives extreme lean operations
The guest argued that companies should proactively automate roles and reduce headcount ahead of the technology curve to force rapid AI adoption and eliminate organizational bloat.
The argument
The guest explained that AppLovin cut staff by 50% in several departments (like creative production and HR) by betting that AI would automate these roles. This strategy prevented employees from remaining in 'dead-end' roles and forced the remaining team to adopt automation tools faster, resulting in an industry-leading EBITDA per employee of $10 million.
The thesis, stress-tested
✓ What validates it
- ✓EBITDA per employee remaining at or above $10 million
- ✓Successful automation of creative ad production without quality degradation
▸ Risks discussed
- ▸Morale hits from aggressive layoffs
- ▸Potential operational bottlenecks if AI tools fail to fully replace human labor
Hear it yourself
"And in the absence of these changes, I feel like I would have would have felt like I'm giving away a big part of my own ability to be stable and happy. And by getting that back, I became a better CEO of the business. I became someone who could be more thoughtful and who could be more long term focused. You said in 2022, you fell you kind of dropped it in very casually. You fell 92%. I mean, 92%. What does no one know about respectfully being in a trough? And I can say it now given we're out of the trough, but,"
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