Brett Taylor

Google Local copied yellow pages and flopped despite homepage traffic, leading Brett to pivot to Google Maps which drew 10 million first-day users and reshaped mapping.

Brett outlines frontier models, tooling, and applied-AI agents as the three meaningful markets, warning startups to avoid capex-heavy foundation models.

Brett argues outcome-based contracts turn software sellers into genuine partners because revenue depends on delivering the customer’s goal.

Sierra earns a set fee for each AI-resolved call, directly tying revenue to the $10-$20 cost a customer avoids per deflection.

Brett says he lives by Alan Kay’s idea that building things yourself is the surest way to shape what comes next.

He states that "agent is the new app", forecasting agent companies will evolve like SaaS and win by workflow value rather than model tech.

To clear one-word replies on Friendfeed, Brett introduced a neutral one-click ‘Like’ after rejecting a heart icon so discussions could focus on substantive comments.

Brett outlines developer-led, product-led growth, and direct sales models and urges teams to pick the one that matches how their buyers evaluate and purchase software.

He believes fully autonomous agents will spark economy-wide productivity gains similar to the 1990s ERP revolution.