Feeling Like Google: How AI Turned Us Into Our Own Worst R&D Org
The Pit
There’s a specific kind of unease many of us have been carrying lately, and it finally has a name.
We feel like Google.
Not the money part. Not the dominance. The sprawl.
Too many projects. Too many directions. Too much internal brilliance. Very little cohesion. Almost no profitability. A quiet sense that we’re extremely capable - and increasingly ineffective.
AI didn’t cause this directly. It enabled it.
The Illusion of Progress
With modern AI tooling, starting is almost frictionless. Ideas no longer cost time; they cost curiosity. Every thought can become a repo. Every itch can become a prototype. Every “what if” can be explored immediately.
The problem is that our internal filter broke.
We used to ask: Is this worth weeks of effort?
Now we ask: Why not spin it up?
And that question is poison.
Because when everything is cheap to start, nothing is expensive enough to finish.
Capability Is Not Company-Building
Here’s the uncomfortable truth we’ve been avoiding:
We’ve been confusing capability expansion with company progress.
We have:
- More code than ever
- Better architecture than ever
- Stronger models than ever
- More optionality than ever
And less clarity than at any point in the past.
AI rewards generation, not commitment. It gives instant dopamine for building artifacts, not delayed reward for building businesses. Over time, the feedback loop shifts: we feel productive without being effective.
That’s how founders quietly turn into internal research labs.
Tooling Made Us Worse (Not Better)
This is the part no one likes to say out loud.
Better tools didn’t make us more focused.
They removed the natural constraints that used to force decisions.
When iteration is cheap:
- Rewrites feel justified
- Scope creep feels harmless
- Shipping feels premature
But finishing still requires the same old, unautomatable things:
- Saying no
- Exposing work to users
- Charging money early
- Living with embarrassment
AI doesn’t help with those.
It helps us avoid them.
The “Google Feeling” Is a Smell Test
Large companies decay when coordination outpaces clarity.
Solo founders decay when imagination outpaces commitment.
If you recognize this pattern, it’s already a warning sign:
- Many projects, no flagship
- Endless “improvements,” no users
- Vision that always lives slightly in the future
- A sense that things will cohere later
Later is where unfinished companies go to die.
The Turn: Awareness Is the Advantage
Here’s the silver lining most people miss.
The moment we can name this failure mode, it loses its power.
This sprawl isn’t permanent. It’s a transitional state - what happens when leverage increases faster than our decision-making discipline. Once we see it clearly, we can correct for it faster than organizations ever could.
Unlike large companies, we can change course immediately.
What We Did Next at The Shop
That’s exactly what we did at The Shop.
No grand pivot. No manifesto. Just a hard reset on focus.
This wasn’t about working harder or adopting new tools. It was about removing everything that wasn’t essential and forcing ourselves back into contact with reality.
1. Declaring Idea Bankruptcy
We didn’t need pruning.
We needed executional clarity.
One project survived.
Everything else was archived - not paused, not “someday.”
If killing ideas felt uncomfortable, that was the signal we were finally doing the right thing.
2. Redefining Progress as External Proof
From that point on, progress meant one of three things:
- Someone uses it unprompted
- Someone pays for it
- Someone complains when it breaks
Commits didn’t count.
Architecture didn’t count.
Potential didn’t count.
3. Intentionally Reducing Firepower
If our tooling encouraged endless iteration, it was misaligned with our goals.
Constraints forced decisions.
Decisions created momentum.
We chose to be slightly slower and decisive rather than infinitely capable and stuck.
4. Anchoring Everything to Pain or Profit
Every project had to answer one question now, not later:
Who is hurting, or who is paying?
If the answer was vague, aspirational, or future-dependent, the project was dead.
AI wouldn’t fix that.
Nothing would.
Focus Is the Real Moat
Execution used to be the bottleneck.
It isn’t anymore.
Selection is.
The founders who win in this era won’t be the ones who can build the most.
They’ll be the ones who can:
- Say no fastest
- Stick with yes longest
- Tolerate boredom while others chase novelty
AI gives leverage.
Leverage without restraint produces sprawl.
Restraint without leverage produces mediocrity.
The work now is not to explore what we can build.
It’s to commit to the one thing that must work - and protect that focus ruthlessly.
If This Feels Familiar
If any of this resonates - if you’re sitting on too many half-built ideas, drowning in optionality, or feeling productive without making progress - you’re not alone.
We went through it. We’re still actively guarding against it.
If you’re dealing with similar struggles, reach out. Sometimes the fastest way back to focus is comparing notes with people who’ve already made the cuts.