magne ilsaas

PSA to Tech Founders + VCs: The Creative Director Is the Most Underrated Hire in Tech. In a world where AI has commoditized execution, taste is the new growth lever. And the Creative Director? They’re your moat. Not the prompt engineer. Not the growth hacker. Not the product manager. The creative director. In an age of AI, they’re no longer a “nice-to-have.” They’re as critical to your business as your CTO or Head of Product. Because AI didn’t just change how we work, It commoditized it. Design. Code. Strategy. Content. Automated. Outsourced. Replicated. In a world where software is infinite, brand is your final moat. And the creative director is the architect of that moat. ⸻ Welcome to the era of the Creative Polymath. Not the designer with the best Figma shortcuts. Not the marketer chasing shallow engagement and fleeting trends. But the one who: • Thinks like a director • Writes like a screenwriter • Imagines like a set designer • Consumes film, architecture, fashion, subcultures… • And knows what feels iconic, long before the data proves it. They don’t just make decks. They design new realities. ⸻ Because in a world where anyone can generate content… The value isn’t in creation anymore. It’s in the curation. And that requires impeccable taste. Taste you can’t teach with mood boards, dashboards or spreadsheets. This is why the right creative director is no longer a cost center, They’re your cultural strategist, your growth multiplier, your maker of meaning, Your 10x creative engineer. ⸻ The most overlooked strategy in tech? Hiring someone who innately knows what not to ship. Because that’s the creative director’s superpower. Discernment. They will be the soul of your story. The architect of your world. The person your CEO will turn to and ask: “Do you believe in this?” ⸻ And here’s the shift no one is prepared for: As AI levels the playing field, brand becomes the business strategy. Not simply a function of it. And brand won’t be led by committees or CMOs obsessed with data and alignment. It will be led by creatives with vision. With taste. With range. With teeth. ⸻ So if you’re building the next great company… Don’t just hire someone who can make it look good. Hire someone who can make it feel inevitable. Because in the coming decade, your brand will be the only thing they can’t copy. And the creative director? They’ll be the one designing what can’t be commoditized. ⸻ Investors hunt for visionary founders. Startups chase engineering unicorns. But if you’re not also hunting for a creative savant, and world-builder, you’re building a castle with no walls. Read that last part again. ⸻ My advice: take a note from David Carradine’s 1970’s hit show, Kung Fu, Wonder the earth. Find yours. Create your moat. Because in the decade ahead, taste will build empires.