AI startups: Sell work, not software

Most enterprise AI providers are selling shovels today. Tools that promise to execute familiar tasks faster. Generate presentations and contracts faster. Sell a thousand personalized emails.

This is the gold rush logic of enterprise software. Take something you already do and expand its scale and scope.

The real opportunity lies elsewhere, though. ... See more

First, AI agents are likely to lead to new go-to-market strategies for SaaS companies. With potentially fewer humans in the loop, there is likely to be a further decoupling of seats/users and contract value. To capture value, LLM applications will need a new scaling factor for pricing: variable value-based pricing is a plausible solution.

Moreover, ... See more

Sobriety source #2: AI as the next platform shift. Every wave of new companies that transforms their respective industries is fueled by a major platform or technology shift. The advent of the web did this. The smartphone and mobile applications did this. And there is no doubt that AI is our next wave. But does every new wave always necessarily favo... See more