Full Stackers

I've long believed in the value of cultivating "Lowercase Skills" - being a an uppercase Strategist who can also design, or a capital 'P' Producer with a knack for teaching. But last week I discovered a novel - and more integrated - twist on this concept: ‘Full Stackers’.

It comes from the world of software development. Full Stack describes engineers with expertise across the entire "stack" required to build and deploy an application. 

Today it’s applicable to many more domains.

Troy Young’s newsletter has a great riff on the Full Stacker concept:

“It’s never been easier to start a company, birth a brand, build a thing, make media, grow a community, sell a service. Full Stackers are well suited to this world… open minded people unafraid to use tools and learn new things to “get shit done. They are the revolutionaries.”

If you’re a Full Stacker, you can create a strategy, build a financial model, and spin up a prototype. You can design a sales campaign, write the copy, set up the meetings. 

Even better, you can iterate, pivot and adjust - in real time.

Troy believes there’s real power in being Full Stack. I’m inclined to agree.

But what's your take?

Is this just ‘generalists’ by another name? 

Or in a brave new world, does it pay to be Full Stack?