Ep 249 – Why AI Won’t Cut Headcount First | Jenny Molyneaux, Vercel

1. AI won’t cut headcount first — it’ll cut spend

Jenny’s big insight: despite the hype, AI hasn’t dramatically changed headcount plans for most people leaders she knows. The first real impact? Tool spend.

Her team at Vercel has already rebuilt expensive vendor solutions in-house using v0 — including a custom total rewards visualizer and an internal org chart tool.

“We’re not replacing actions we’d hire people for. We’re replacing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in tools we can now build ourselves.”

The takeaway: before AI reduces roles, it’s going to shrink your software budget.
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2.  HR should be the beta test for AI adoption

Jenny’s approach is to experiment internally before rolling ideas out to the whole company. Next month, her people team will run a full-day AI “show and tell” and hackathon to swap use cases, build new tools, and stress-test ideas.

The goal: build a repeatable format for company-wide adoption.

“We didn’t have to start with, ‘Get comfortable with AI.’ Everyone here is already AI-pilled. Now it’s about finding opportunities to cut cost and increase productivity.”

3.  SaaS is changing — customization wins

Jenny believes the easiest tools to rebuild in-house are the ones you want to customize. At Vercel, that meant ditching off-the-shelf engagement surveys for a completely redesigned, Vercel-specific version.

The new survey targeted real hypotheses about employee sentiment and used question formats (like drag-and-drop prioritization) that their vendor didn’t offer.

“We revealed way more by making it our own. People even thanked us for understanding their life at Vercel in the way we asked questions.”

4.  The “manager stack” is the holy grail

If Jenny could wave a magic wand, she’d build an integrated AI tool that joins one-on-ones, tracks follow-ups, references leveling guides, nudges managers in Slack, and writes 90% of performance reviews for them.

“All the pieces exist. I just don’t know anyone who’s bundled it yet.”

Her advice to vendors: start here. The demand is real.

5. Just start building — even if it’s not useful

Jenny’s biggest advice to HR leaders curious about AI? Clear your calendar and build something. It doesn’t have to be work-related — she once spent days building an app to preview how a couch would look in her apartment.

“I learned more by getting my hands dirty with something I’d actually use than all the dinners talking about how AI could change HR.”

The sooner you build, the faster you’ll see where it can replace tools, improve processes, and create new possibilities for your team.

6. Data is your ticket to influence

For those just starting in HR, Jenny’s number one piece of advice is to get great at analyzing data.

“The rest of the business speaks in data, not vibes. You can’t 80/20 your core metrics — be in the weeds and know them cold.”

Thanks for reading. See you next time!

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