Fly.io CEO Kurt Mackey steps down as the company pivots to agent-native compute

Fly.io CEO Kurt Mackey is stepping down

Kurt Mackey announced he is stepping down as Fly.io CEO, with Scott Johnston taking over. The company also raised new funding and launched a new iteration of Sprites, a compute environment built for AI agents. Mackey argues AI is turning software development into a spreadsheet-level skill, making opinionated public cloud designs from 2020 a bad bet. Fly.io just had its best financial months ever, but a public comment from Theo Browne doubting the company's survival by year-end hit a nerve and drove this change.

Why it matters: Three events stacked — CEO change, funding, and Sprites launch — with a candid letter that has judgment and numbers, not PR fluff. Not scoring 85+ because Fly.io isn't a tier-1 industry player; the impact outside infra circles is limited.