Cartoon - The Miscommunication

In the rapidly evolving SaaS landscape, incumbent companies risk obsolescence by treating AI as mere feature enhancements rather than a fundamental business model shift. Drawing parallels to the e-commerce disruption of the late 1990s, this article argues that AI-native startups are redefining workflows, threatening established systems of record. With advantages like deep customer relationships and cash flow, incumbents must aggressively defend their moats through low-margin AI strategies, transparent two-engine models, and evolving pricing. CEOs are urged to act decisively in the next 12 months to ensure relevance and durability amid this once-in-a-generation transition.

The SaaS model is not collapsing, but it is being exposed. As AI agents move from assisting work to executing it, interfaces lose leverage, pricing models fracture, and value migrates to execution, data, and control. What looks like a market panic is actually a reallocation, and it is forcing builders to confront where real durability now lives.