Forget Knowledge Workers - The Real AI Opportunity Is Deskless

A thesis piece by Fee Barry (Tidal Ventures), who's been spending too much time thinking about people who actually work for a living.

Tech Bros Suddenly Discover 2.7 Billion People Exist

In a shocking revelation that has Queensland VCs scrambling to update their investment theses, it turns out there are billions of workers who don't spend their days in Aesop-scented offices arguing about font choices on Figma. These mythical creatures—known as "deskless workers"—apparently make up 80% of the global workforce and include nurses, tradies, delivery drivers, and other people who actually keep society functioning.

While tech founders have spent the last decade creating 17 different ways to schedule Zoom meetings more efficiently, these frontline workers have been stuck with clipboards, paper forms, and WhatsApp workarounds that would make a product manager weep into their oat milk latte. "We've suddenly realised there's this enormous untapped market of people who've been using the same technology since 2005," explains a venture capitalist who requested anonymity because they're embarrassed it took this long to notice. "Turns out not everyone's job involves Slack and complaining about free lunch options."

The State of Deskless Tech: Somewhere Between "Abysmal" and "Is This a Joke?"

The current technology stack for frontline workers resembles what Silicon Valley rejected as inadequate somewhere around the time The Black Eyed Peas were still topping charts:

• Hardware: Whatever smartphone they already own, probably with a cracked screen

• Software: A horrifying patchwork of legacy systems, spreadsheets, and WhatsApp

• Documentation: Taking photos of paper forms or creating voice memos at 10pm

• Coordination: Literally just yelling across rooms or hallways

Most deskless workers have developed elaborate workarounds that would qualify as "ingenious hacks" if done by a 23-year-old Stanford dropout, but are simply called "part of the job" when done by a nurse who hasn't had a bathroom break in eight hours. "I interviewed a nurse who takes photos of patient charts, then manually types them into three different systems after her shift ends at midnight," reported a startup founder who's now pivoting from building "Uber for plants" to healthcare documentation. "Apparently she'd love technology that doesn't make her want to quit her profession entirely."

AI Could Actually Be Useful Here (For Once)

Unlike generating slightly different pictures of cats wearing sunglasses, AI might actually serve a legitimate purpose for frontline workers:

• Voice-first interfaces: Because typing notes while delivering a baby is apparently challenging

• Real-time triage assistance: Helping decide which emergency to address first (currently done via gut feeling and prayer)

• Automatic documentation: Converting spoken words into formatted reports without requiring 2 hours of post-shift admin

• Workflow automation: Chaining tasks together so field technicians don't need seven different apps to complete one job

The tech finally exists to deploy these capabilities on-device, even offline, but most AI companies are too busy creating chatbots that help knowledge workers draft emails slightly faster.

The Opportunity: Massive, If You Can Stop Being Precious About It

The market opportunity is enormous, but capturing it requires founders to actually talk to people who work with their hands and understand environments where "just Google it" isn't an option because there's no Wi-Fi 50 metres underground or in remote healthcare facilities.

Key requirements for success:

• It must work offline: Shocking concept, but sometimes internet connections aren't available in mines, construction sites, or rural areas

• It can't require typing: People delivering emergency services or repairing critical infrastructure can't type 60wpm on a glass screen while wearing gloves

• Five-minute training max: Nobody has time for your two-week onboarding program

• Battery life matters: Your beautiful AI solution is worthless if it drains a phone battery by lunchtime

Why This Actually Matters

Behind the snark lies a genuine problem: the people doing society's most essential work have been systematically underserved by technology. While knowledge workers enjoy ever-increasing productivity tools, frontline industries face critical labour shortages, burnout, and mounting administrative burdens.

"These are the people who keep us alive, fed, and functioning as a society," notes an industry analyst who's been shouting into the void about this for years. "Maybe it's time we built technology that serves them instead of optimising notification systems for social media platforms."

Early movers in this space won't just tap into a multi-billion dollar market—they might actually build something that matters.

The Rocket Advocate: The investment thesis newsletter Queensland VCs forward to founders with "Thoughts?" added at the top.

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CALLING ALL QUEENSLAND FOUNDERS: Are you building solutions for deskless workers? We want to hear from you. If you're tackling the frontline technology gap, contact Fee at fee@tidalvc.com.

Queensland is uniquely positioned to lead this revolution. Our state spans massive distances with remote workforces in mining, agriculture, and healthcare—the perfect testing ground for solutions that work in challenging environments. We've already dealt with connectivity issues, harsh conditions, and distributed teams for decades. While Sydney founders obsess over office perks, Queensland has been solving real-world operational problems out of necessity. The combination of our resource sector expertise, world-class healthcare facilities, and experience with remote work makes Queensland the natural birthplace for the next generation of frontline technology. Let's show the southern states that innovation happens in the field, not just in gleaming harbour-side offices.