‘AI isn’t coming for coders first’: Shark Tank’s Anupam Mittal says managers could be endangered species soon

“AI isn’t coming for the coders first. It’s coming for middle management,” entrepreneur and Shark Tank judge Anupam Mittal said, calling it a hard reality many managers need to face.

In a LinkedIn post, the Shark Tank India investor argued that traditional seniority no longer guarantees value. “In the old world, seniority was a proxy for knowing the process and coordinating work. You got paid for knowing who to call and how to get things done. That knowledge premium is now zero,” wrote the Shaadi.com founder.

Mittal pointed to his own investments as an example, saying he backs companies with Rs 300–1,000 crore in annual recurring revenue, run by roughly 50 employees and powered by AI agents. In such setups, roles without direct execution are at risk. “The ‘VP of Operations’ who doesn’t actually operate anything is an endangered species,” he said.


According to Mittal, the future belongs to the “Individual Contributor Plus” — people who can build, code, create, align or sell, while using AI to multiply their output. “AI isn’t the answer to everything, but it’s excellent at non-deterministic workflows and unstructured data. Exactly where managers once excelled,” he added.

He also issued a blunt warning: if a role is largely about coordination with no measurable output, it becomes overhead. “And in a high-interest-rate world, overhead gets cut,” Mittal said.

That’s why, he argued, professionals must learn to build, not just manage. “Question default thinking. Synthesize fast, separate signal from noise, and turn it into judgment.”

Later, Mittal clarified that his post was not an attack on managers but a reminder to adapt. “It’s no longer about the number of people you manage, but the outcomes you create,” he said.

His remarks come amid widespread layoffs across industries. In 2025, more than 122,000 global job cuts were reported across 257 companies, according to Layoffs.fyi. In India, Tata Consultancy Services laid off about 2% of its workforce — around 12,000 employees — in July 2025, citing global uncertainty and the shift towards an AI-led organisation. Several other firms have also reported silent layoffs as AI-driven coding and automation gain traction.