Deprecated Developers

A manifesto for building what comes next

Dedicated to everyone who trained the models that replaced them.

The premise

AI is eating software jobs. You know this. You might be living it.

Companies are laying off engineers and designers and product managers and replacing them with Claude and GPT and whatever comes next. Some of these layoffs make sense. Some of them are cargo-cult nonsense by executives who read one LinkedIn post about "AI transformation."

Either way, a lot of talented people are suddenly without a place to build things.

This is the important part!

Deprecated Developers is that place.

We're a community of people who've been displaced by AI—or who see the displacement coming and want to get ahead of it—who come together to build new things. Not side projects that languish in private repos. Real products. Shipped software. Possibly companies.

The model

Think of it as a hackathon long hackathon with consequences.

Traditional hackathons are 48-72 hours of caffeine and chaos that produce half-finished demos nobody ever touches again. We do 6 months. That's long enough to build something real. Long enough to learn if an idea has legs. Long enough to discover if you actually want to work with these people.

6 months changes everything

Each team runs one product from idea to launch. Everyone contributes. Everyone learns. At the end, we ship it into the world and see what happens.

The only invalid outcome is not shipping.

Every product we build has AI at its core. That's not a constraint—it's the point.

Why AI?

Because it would be poetic, and we're not above poetry.

Reclaiming the thing that replaced us

The technology that displaced us is also the most powerful tool for building new things that has ever existed. We should use it. Every product at Deprecated Developers has AI at its core—whether that's building AI tools, building with AI, or building things that couldn't exist without AI.

We're not Luddites. We're not bitter. We're pragmatists who happen to be very, very good at the thing that's supposedly being automated away.

Let's see about that.

The team

Four people. That's it.

One Lead, two developers, one designer. The Lead is also a builder—a developer or designer who takes on additional accountability for product vision and team coordination. Small enough to move fast, communicate clearly, and avoid the coordination overhead that kills projects. Large enough to build something real.

Small teams = less drama

If the product succeeds, those four people become co-founders. Equal stakes, shared ownership, aligned incentives from day one.

With only four people, roles blur—and that's a feature. The designer will write some code. The developers will do user interviews. The Lead will push pixels when deadlines loom.

"That's not my job" doesn't exist here.

By the end of a build, everyone understands the whole product, not just their corner of it. That's invaluable if this thing becomes a company.

What makes a great idea

We're not looking for "the next billion-dollar startup." We're looking for ideas that:

Scope is everything

Solve real problems — not solutions in search of problems
Fit four people — if it needs a team of 20, it's not right for us
Play to our strengths — we're technical people who understand AI deeply
Can ship small first — scope creep kills projects, especially small teams
Excite the team — people do their best work on things they care about

Ideas are pitched by community members at any time. Anyone can propose. The best ideas get published based on feasibility, AI-centricity, interestingness, and whether they could realistically reach $10K MRR.

When it works

Some products will get traction. Users will show up. Revenue will follow. At some point, a side project becomes a real business.

Threshold	$10K MRR — enough to prove strangers will pay for what you built
The split	Equal. Four co-founders, same stake. No negotiations.
Platform	5-8% to keep the lights on and help future teams launch
Terms	Defined before you start, not negotiated after you succeed

When it doesn't

Not every product will succeed. Some will launch and get no traction. Some will pivot mid-stream. Some will produce useful learnings but no viable product.

Failure is data

This is expected and okay. The goal isn't a 100% hit rate—that would mean we're not taking enough risks. The goal is to ship, learn, and get better.

Every team that ships is a win, even if the product itself doesn't take off. You still shipped something, learned a ton, and have a portfolio piece. You can keep running it as a side project, open-source it, or sunset it gracefully.

Who we're looking for

You don't have to have been literally laid off. "Deprecated" is as much a mindset as a status. If you feel like the industry is changing under you and you want to be part of building what comes next, you belong here.

We expect

Technical competence — you should be good at something useful
Self-direction — nobody is going to tell you exactly what to do
Communication — async work requires clear written communication
Collaboration — play well with others, give and receive feedback

We don't expect

Experience ≠ credentials

A specific background or pedigree
A GitHub full of green squares
Previous startup experience
Youth (we don't care how old you are)

The collaboration ethos

Great work happens when talented people actually work together, not just alongside each other.

That means:

This is the culture

Asking for help early, not after you've been stuck for three days
Reviewing others' work with care and honesty
Giving feedback that's direct but kind
Receiving feedback without defensiveness
Celebrating wins that aren't yours
Picking up slack when someone's struggling

If you've only ever worked in environments where people protect their turf and hoard information, this will feel different. Good different.

How we work

Async by default. We don't all live in the same timezone. Some people are doing this full-time while job hunting. Some are doing it nights and weekends while employed. Both are valid.

Decisions are documented in writing, not made in ephemeral calls. If it's not written down, it didn't happen. Meetings are rare and clustered, not sprinkled throughout the day.

10-20 hours/week is the baseline

You need to actually show up. This isn't a Discord server you lurk in. This isn't a mailing list you occasionally skim. If you join a team, you're committing to meaningful contribution for 6 months.

We don't mandate hours. We're not going to track your time or install surveillance software. We trust you to manage yourself.

But if you commit to something and then disappear, that's not okay. Life happens, and we get it. But communicate. "Hey, I got a job offer" is fine. Ghosting is not.

Transparency by design. Almost everything we do is public: governance documents, product proposals, decision logs, contribution records, post-mortems. Especially the failures. Transparency forces clarity, builds trust, and helps others learn from our experiments.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a nonprofit? Not yet. We're starting as an informal community. If we grow enough to need formal structure, we'll likely become a nonprofit or cooperative—something aligned with the community's interests.

Do I get paid? Not during the build—this is volunteer work. If your product hits $10K MRR and becomes a company, you're a co-founder with equal equity. Then you can pay yourselves.

What if I get a job mid-build? Congratulations! Let the team know immediately. With only four people, one person stepping back is a big deal. We'll figure out whether you can reduce involvement or need to be replaced—but communicate early.

What's the time commitment? It varies by phase and by person, but expect 10-20 hours per week. Less than that and you're probably not contributing enough. More than that consistently and you might be burning out.

What if our product doesn't hit $10K MRR? That's fine. You still shipped something, learned a ton, and have a portfolio piece. Not every product becomes a company, and that's okay.

Why equal equity splits? Because unequal splits cause drama, and drama kills startups. Four people building together for 6 months are all essential. The Lead isn't worth more than the other builders. Equal stakes, equal commitment.

Why does the platform take a cut? To sustain the community. Servers cost money. Tooling costs money. Someone has to keep things running so future teams can launch. The percentage is intentionally small—we're not investors, we're infrastructure.

When does this start? First teams likely launch Q1 or Q2 2026 after we've tested the platform. We'd rather be late and solid than early and chaotic.