December 2025
https://www.inc.com/joe-procopio/the-great-tech-industry-backlash-of-2026-is-coming/91277096
Joe Procopio’s piece in Inc. Magazine tells the story of “Bob” — a 15-year tech CTO who just resigned without another job lined up.
Not because he failed. Because he succeeded at the wrong game.
Bob’s company is profitable. Growth is slow but stable. Yet the board demanded 30% headcount cuts anyway. Why? Better numbers for investors. Not strategy. Theatre.
Bob isn’t leaving tech. He’s leaving the tech industry.
There’s a difference.
Bob’s story isn’t unique. It’s a symptom of what Procopio calls “enshittification” — the systematic trading of innovation, creative freedom, and long-term vision for quantifiable productivity, OKR checklists, and quarterly profits at any cost.
The Great Tech Revolution of 2025 fizzled because techies don’t make good revolutionaries. They make good workarounds.
Side hustles. AI exploitation. Quiet quitting. Coffee badging.
None of it worked long-term.
What’s left? An army of disillusioned executives who’ve figured out that building really good solutions for a single type of customer beats building one solution for every customer on the planet.
Here’s what Bob’s board is about to do: