{
  "id": 16879297,
  "title": "A tech founder says he was 'pretty wrong' about lean teams in the AI era",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/28/a-tech-founder-says-he-was-pretty-wrong-about-lean-teams-in-the-ai-era",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-28T09:05:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-founder-wrong-about-lean-teams-ai-era-chatbase-2026-10"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Chatbase CEO Yasser Elsaid has announced plans to double his company's 40-person team within six months, despite previously advocating for leaner teams in the AI era. In a post on X, Elsaid admitted that he may have been wrong about the effectiveness of smaller teams in the age of AI. While AI models have become extremely smart and capable, Elsaid believes they are not yet fully independent and still require human input to guide their development and ensure customer satisfaction. Elsaid's decision to expand his team comes as other companies, such as Block, Coinbase, and Cursor, have implemented leaner teams or even laid off staff, citing the potential for AI to streamline processes. However, Elsaid argues that the best AI models are not yet capable of fully replacing human decision-making, product vision, and customer engagement. He estimates that around 90% of Chatbase's engineering work now focuses on product development, such as research, customer conversations, and crafting specifications for AI agents. Elsaid believes that while AI will continue to advance, the human element will remain crucial in shaping the future of AI-powered software.",
  "summary": "Yasser Elsaid, Chatbase CEO, says his startup is doubling its 40-person team because he believes AI still needs humans to build great products.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}