2 founders answer

What is organisational debt and why should founders worry about it as much as tech debt?

Josh's definition: "systems and processes that exist outside and around the product... you take any part of the organization whether it's accounts payable or recruitment and chances are it's definitely probably not AI native." AI-native companies starting fresh don't inherit legacy operating processes. Incumbents do, and that gap is what Josh thinks will define the next decade.
— Josh Foreman, InDebted (Ep 32)

2 founders on this question

Different founders, different playbooks. Here's how each answered — preview first, full take one click away.

JF
Josh Foreman
InDebted · EP 32

Josh's definition: "systems and processes that exist outside and around the product... you take any part of the organization whether it's accounts payable or recruitment and chances are it's definitely probably not AI native."…

Listen ↗
See Josh Foreman's full take

"We haven't yet seen real cases of people overcoming or people getting through sort of the old debt — and that's the part that's troubling me." Tech debt is visible; organisational debt is invisible until it breaks something. Every function that wasn't built AI-native — finance, HR, customer success, legal — is a future integration project. Companies that built those functions in 2015 are now carrying debt they didn't know they were accumulating.

JF
Josh Foreman
InDebted · EP 32

Josh's definition: "systems and processes that exist outside and around the product... you take any part of the organization whether it's accounts payable or recruitment and chances are it's definitely probably not AI native."…

Listen ↗
See Josh Foreman's full take

"We haven't yet seen real cases of people overcoming or people getting through sort of the old debt — and that's the part that's troubling me." Tech debt is visible; organisational debt is invisible until it breaks something. Every function that wasn't built AI-native — finance, HR, customer success, legal — is a future integration project. Companies that built those functions in 2015 are now carrying debt they didn't know they were accumulating.

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