AI won’t kill SaaS, but it will expose the weak ones
And just like before, the real companies will survive
This week, $1 trillion was wiped off the market caps of U.S. software giants like Microsoft and Salesforce. The narrative is overly simplistic: “AI is going to kill SaaS”.
At the recent Web Summit Qatar, AI founders and VCs pushed back hard.
Glean's founder (valued at $7B) said software won't die, it'll embed AI and keep going.
Miro's founder said valuations are "crazy" and will correct, but gave it about two years.
And Amino Capital's Larry Li sees the bubble deflating, especially for the big players.
The dot-com comparison keeps coming up. but people always take the wrong lesson from it.
Yes, a ton of companies died. But the internet didn't. Amazon didn't. Google didn't. Hundreds of real businesses with .com in their name didn’t. The real companies with real customers and real revenue survived and thrived.
The frenzied hype might have taken a beating but the technology didn't.
AI will be the same. The noise will shake out. The companies actually solving problems and generating revenue will still be here. (Hi, that's us.)
What I found most interesting: a non-AI founder on a panel said he's being benchmarked against AI companies growing 1,000% year over year. Imagine pitching your perfectly healthy business, and the investor is comparing you to a rocketship that's also on fire. That's the market right now, and I feel for those founders.
Oh, and OpenAI is reportedly set to lose $14 billion this year AND more than $340 billion chased startups in 2025, with 65%+ going to AI. The money is flowing, despite the overexcited headlines.
Dax is the Co-Founder & CEO @ FOMO.ai, and the author of 84Futures.com.