Elon Musk, Satya Nadella (File photos)

As the AI race hot up in 2025, the corporate leadership in Google, Microsoft, Meta and other tech companies changed the way companies work. Driven by the high stakes of the AI race, the world’s most powerful tech leaders shifted into what Silicon Valley calls “Founder Mode”. From personally walking factory lines to writing code, these five CEOs are personally architecting their companies’ future success.

Sergey Brin (Google): From physics books to AI Agent-first coding

Google co-founder Sergey Brin returned “full-time” to spearhead Google’s AI offensive after ‘Code Red’ situation at the company. Brin’s is said to have spearheaded Antigravity, the company’s newly-unveiled agent-first coding platform. Interestingly, Brin also featured prominently in the launch video alongside the team from Windsurf (acquired for $2.4 billion). Brin is reportedly in the office “pretty much every day,” working on Gemini model training.

Satya Nadella (Microsoft): Urgent restructuring at company

Despite being a “professional CEO” and not a founder, Satya Nadella’s 2025 behaviour has been described by Microsoft’s Deputy CTO Dee Templeton as “Founder Mode”. According to a report by the Financial Times, Nadella has flattened Microsoft’s hierarchy, overhauled senior leadership, and hiring key figures like Meta’s Jay Parikh to create a direct line to his office. Nadella is said to be working hard to better compete with Amazon and Google in infrastructure.

Elon Musk (Tesla): Chip deal with Samsung

Earlier this year, Tesla and Samsung announced a chip partnership. Company CEO Elon Musk said would “walk the line personally” at Samsung’s new Texas facility to accelerate progress. He also secured an agreement allowing Tesla engineers to assist Samsung in “maximizing manufacturing efficiency” to ensure Tesla’s hardware timeline stays ahead of the industry.

Mark Zuckerberg (Meta): Small teams with big outputs

Mark Zuckerberg has made a ‘Superintelligence’ team for billions of dollars, pivoting Meta towards “startup mode” by concentrating power in the hands of elite, talent-dense units. The company’s goal is frontier research and Zuckerberg believes small teams are the “optimal configuration” for winning the AI arms race.

Brian Chesky (Airbnb): The ‘Skip-Level’ strategy

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has publicly slammed conventional leadership advice to “get out of the way.” Chesky manages his $79 billion company like a startup, personally handling “hire, fire, promote, and manage” decisions for employees several levels below his direct reports. Chesky argues that “skip-leveling”, which is talking directly to those reporting to his management team, is the only way to maintain a relationship with the people doing the work.