The rise of HI-ICs | Elena Verna (Lovable)
Sep 28, 2026 · 19:23
Elena Verna, who led growth at Lovable, argues AI has broken the old rule that more reports equal more impact, enabling high-impact individual contributors who can find a problem, decide, execute, ship, and own the outcome alone. She became an IC at Lovable after being fired out of her management role, now spending 90% of her time building—pricing pages, prototypes, analysis—instead of meetings. She calls AI 'average intelligence' at your fingertips, so only one or two areas of exceptional craft are needed. For this to work, organizations must flow information freely (Lovable has no titles, just ICs, leads, and heads, with Slack agents for docs), grant authority with accountability including the right to fail—she has cost Lovable millions in failed experiments—and decouple pay from headcount, arguing ICs should out-earn managers. Her survey found 42 of 51 managers want to return to IC roles; management should be a career choice, not a promotion.
