# Think Wider, Not (Just) Bigger

#concept

## Summary

Theo Browne's core reframe: you can't out-improve the models by "getting better" at your craft, so raise ambition instead — and specifically expand **breadth** (range of areas a product covers), not only **depth** (features per area). "If your idea doesn't feel stupid, it isn't big enough."

## Current Understanding

- **Match ambition to the model.** New models are qualitative eras (tool-call → long-running → orchestration; see [[ai-agent-evolution]]). You only feel the gain if the task *requires* the new capability. Work that made sense on the prior model won't feel different on the next.
- **The tier shift.** Every project category moved down one slot: yesterday's startup is today's side project; yesterday's "too big" (full-stack cloud) is today's startup; a new bottom tier appeared — **a markdown file** (see [[code-as-throwaway]]). The top ("too big") is genuinely open — train your own model? your own OS? compete with npm?
- **Breadth is now viable for small teams.** Old rule: pick a vertical, go deep (you can't out-breadth an incumbent). New rule: bolt a *serviceable* adjacent layer into your product in a day or two of prompting — cover enough that users can **start**, and be the right **shape** so users extend you (the **Slack effect**: it became everyone's agent platform not because it's good but because its shape invited extension).

## Evidence

- Eras, tier-shift table, breadth-vs-depth, Vercel-vs-AWS, Slack-as-accidental-platform, "pick an idea that feels stupid" — [[2026-07-14-everything-we-knew-about-software-has-changed]].

## Related Pages

- Concepts: [[code-as-throwaway]], [[decoupling-identity-from-profession]], [[context-as-scarce-resource]]
- Entity: [[theo-browne]]
- Timeline: [[ai-agent-evolution]]

## Contradictions / Uncertainty

- "Bolt a database platform in a day or two" is an ambition claim; reliability parity with incumbents (RDS) is explicitly *not* promised. Status: tentative.

## Next Questions

- Which adjacent breadth layer is highest-leverage to add first for a given product?