According to Inc, a former CTO referred to as “Bob” quit his job a month ago and, within two weeks, launched a mobile app automating services for an overlooked B2B2C sector. He built a minimum viable product (MVP) over a single weekend and is already in his “busy season,” generating revenue while passively managing the business. His story is part of a growing trend of “tech industry castoffs” leaving behind quarterly OKRs and valuation obsession to build specific tech for hungry, niche markets. These builders are embracing a key strategy: aiming for a 51% share of a small, well-defined market rather than a 0.1% share of a hypothetical billion-dollar total addressable market (TAM). The article positions 2026 as a potential inflection point for this new, pragmatic tech movement.
The backlash is real and profitable
Here’s the thing: Bob’s story isn’t just a feel-good tale. It’s a direct indictment of the modern tech corporate machine. The malaise he felt—pointless processes, conflicting OKRs, layoffs for investor storytelling—that’s the daily reality for thousands. So when someone with a decade of experience and a full bank account walks, they’re not just leaving a job. They’re rejecting an entire broken system.
And they’re taking a radically simple approach with them. No grand mission to “change the world.” No five-year plan to IPO. Just a clear problem, a specific audience, and the technical skill to cobble together a solution fast. The math, as the article points out, is embarrassingly obvious. Dominating a small pond is easier, more stable, and often just as lucrative as being a minnow in an ocean full of sharks. It’s a back-to-basics ethos that big tech forgot.
The hidden barriers nobody talks about
Now, let’s not get carried away. This “misfit tech industry” narrative is incredibly appealing, but it glosses over the massive privilege required to play this game. Bob could build an app in a weekend and launch in two weeks because he had “all the necessary ingredients stocked in one brain and enough cash in his bank account.” That’s the ultimate barrier to entry.
This isn’t a path open to the junior developer just laid off with two months of runway. This is a luxury rebellion for the already-successful. The article admits there will be winners and losers, and that’s true. But the pool of potential winners is heavily skewed toward those who already won in the old system. They’re using their severance packages and stock options as venture capital. Is that really a new industry, or just a sabbatical strategy for the tech elite?
Can it scale or will corruption creep back in?
The biggest question is sustainability. The article ends with a warning: “the same source of corruption that put the traditional tech industry into its box… is waiting there to corrupt Bob.” That’s the real risk. What happens when one of these niche apps actually hits that 51% share and starts to grow? Do they resist outside funding? When growth slows, do they avoid layoffs? Do they stick to their simple tools, or do they feel the pressure to build a sprawling “platform”?
I think the initial wave will be pure and profitable. But scale changes everything. The moment you need to hire a team beyond your immediate network, you reintroduce process. The moment you see a competitor, you’re tempted to chase growth over stability. The flywheel of bullshit is hard to escape because it’s often tied to the mechanics of scaling a business, not just corporate greed.
A return to craft, but only for some
Basically, this trend is less about building a new tech industry and more about a return to tech craftsmanship. It’s engineers and product people wanting to see the direct impact of their work on a real customer, not on a shareholder slide deck. That’s a powerful and healthy correction.
But let’s be clear: this is a boutique movement, not a mass revolution. For every “Bob” building a profitable automation app, there are a thousand other essential, complex problems that require teams, capital, and yes, even some process. The real hope is that this mindset might infect the larger industry. Maybe VCs will start funding real businesses, not just growth fairy tales. Maybe companies will remember that serving a customer well is the point. That’s the real win. Not everyone can be Bob, but everyone can learn from his refusal to do bullshit work.
